stubbed toes and mud pies

flowerbug

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It look like it should be doing something rather than just be pretty. Very nice looking piece.

it used to. :) the person who was using it passed away and his wife just wanted it gone and we seem to be the people who get asked if we want stuff like that ... i'm wondering when that pallet holding it up is going to rot enough to start falling apart and needing replacement. i've had enough pallet work for this year already so i shouldn't say anything at all about that. ! :)

it is missing two sides (sheet metal painted black now). i'm not sure if they broke or what. i don't look inside it (especially this time of the year :) )...
 

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watching the goldfinches thrash the seeds from the phlox. :) when i first scattered the seeds for those around and they grew the goldfinches didn't know they were around so i could harvest seeds when they ripened. but once they figured out the phlox was around they've never left it alone since.
 

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found the first tomato worm today. *squish* normally if there is one there is more than one.

left it laying on the ground and checked back when i finished some weeding in a nearby garden. something ate it. can't imagine wanting to eat something like that, but i guess some creature thought it was guacamole or something... :)
 
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flowerbug

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normal morning routine is to check the tomato plants for tomato worms (nine found so far, hope i didn't miss one yesterday). then scan the gardens for JBs, normall so far has been about a dozen a day scattered across the thousands of bean plants. not too bad, but i like to get them off the plants so they don't attract more... then whatever weeding i can get done before it gets too hot outside and then other projects as i can get to them. lately, not much possible to be done for those here. a lot of time having to be spent on other things not gardening related.
 

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up to about thirteen tomato worms found, so far, this morning i made it more of a challenge by not wearing my glasses. haha...

JBs about a few dozen. keep at them every day and they don't get too bad.

then i picked off the bulbules of the remaining garlic in a few gardens before it could drop and start up a lot of new plants. several thousand bulbules. eventually one garden will get cleared of garden, but the other is a back up planting just in case i ever lose my main crop then at least i have those garlic plants tucked in a corner where i can get some new plants to start over. so far i have yet to use these like this for any reason, so realistically i could remove them too, except it would be a lot of work and other gardens are a higher priority. a much larger garden where i mistakenly scattered thousands of bulbules many years ago i've mostly cleared of garlic now and it is currently being regularly mowed so all i get from there is green garlic if i want to dig it up. at the rate i'm going perhaps i can get the whole thing dug up and returned to production next year as a vegetable garden. we'll see. i make no promises... it is grass and weeds now and some green manure crops if i want to use them but i've not had to do that.
 

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today was interesting in that i went out to get some weeding done and must have disturbed a ground bee nest to where i had a bee coming after me. at first i thought it was a horse fly and so i was swatting at it and of course that is the wrong thing to do with a bee.

i had very few clothes on, but for some reason the bee did not manage to sting me but it hit my shoes, my socks, my gloves and my hat so after that it kept coming at me and trying to sting those spots repeatedly.

i gave up and came inside and changed some clothes but not all of them. so when i went back out it again attacked me. i then came in and changed the rest of the clothes i had on and went back out and tried to work in a garden the complete opposite side of the yard but the bees were still smelling the attack pheremones and me and weren't happy i was there. none of those managed to sting me either, but i gave up at that point figuring that Nature was telling me to come inside and be a sloth for the rest of the day. which i did until a few minutes ago when i went back outside and picked up my shoes that i abandoned and hosed out the birdbaths (so the deer and raccoons wouldn't have something to drink or play in all evening).

try again tomorrow...

posted this picture of the four purple beans i planted as an experiment to show the differences between the pod shapes/finish. the plants all look identical other than the pods being different. will see the seeds harvested eventually and be able to compare them too...

DSC_20200729_155846-0400_578_Purple_Beans_thm.jpg
 

digitS'

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The purple snap beans look appetizing in that photo.

Are these some kind of ground bee? Seems very aggressive for a honey or bumble bee.

Don't you think that you will have to find the nest and destroy it if you are to reclaim your garden territory?

Steve
 

flowerbug

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The purple snap beans look appetizing in that photo.

Are these some kind of ground bee? Seems very aggressive for a honey or bumble bee.

Don't you think that you will have to find the nest and destroy it if you are to reclaim your garden territory?

Steve

they're delicious when cooked for about 10 minutes in the microwave with some water. very productive beans in any soil i've grown them in. Japanese Beetle magnets, but they'll survive a fair amount of chewing. they're also among the earliest finishing beans for dry beans so they work very well here. i'm right now attempting to get some cross breeds going from them with the red beans i usually grow (and others too of course :) )...

the bees did not bother me this morning, but i'm just about to head out for this afternoon's gardening task so we'll see if any bees bother me... i expect not. i did wash my gardening shoes off well before i went out and all my clothes and me were also washed. i should be bee friendly smelling as usual. :)

since i have finished weeding the area where i think the bee's nest was at i hope that i won't have to disturb it again. i will certainly be a bit more careful.
 
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