Hello hello!
I have been meaning to write on this blog for about a week and just haven't made myself until this morning. Yes, today is THE DAY!
Garden talk: Our garden keeps growing and, unfortunately, so do the bugs in it! Every day I pick off these little green caterpillars that are munching away at my leaves. It's a lot of work, and a lot more work than I'd hoped for. Well yesterday I found this caterpillar munching away on a cabbage leaf.
I think it's a Tomato Hornworm Caterpillar. I haven't looked at my tomato plants closely since I planted them because I've been so worried about the cabbage getting infested. Today I will have to inspect the tomato plants thoroughly. One of my cabbage plants was so infested with caterpillars that I tore the entire plant out and threw it in the trash. I've decided to pick up some bt to spray. I'll keep picking until this weekend, and then I'll purchase some bt. I've read that people spray every 2 to 4 weeks.
Where do these little larva come from? Moths. They can lay 100 eggs at a time and if a person sees two moths flying around their leaves in the garden at night, that is 200 eggs they are laying!
Other news: I suppose this is “Art News”. I'm drawing a Flower Guy. I haven't finished yet, but this guy is also into flowers and gardening.
I thought I might try to illustrate the Flower Guy working in his garden and possibly riding his bike with a basket full of flowers and put a story to it. I haven't decided yet. I guess working with kids motivates me to a point. I also have great ideas and high drive, but the problem lies with having TOO many ideas to implement in a timely manner. :P I get around to some things, and not to others. Such is life.
Well, I plan to post the Flower Guy again when he's completed. :)
Note: The medium used to render the drawing is Prismacolor colored pencil.
Okay, I'm back with an update on the garden front. If you remember, I hate bugs—especially ants—so I tried to get rid of them with the Borax/granulated sugar mix. Well, that was all wrong! I needed to use POWDERED sugar. I don't know if I killed any ants or not, but I saw several crawling around yet. It wasn't quite the entire colony, but still gross! But here's the real issue. Not only are ants gross, they have eaten my seeds in the past and I wanted to get rid of them. Blah blah blah – I said all this in my last entry. So anyway, I tried the powdered sugar but I think they are just too darn smart and didn't go near it–blasted creatures!
So this next part is funny. I gave up on killing ants and planted seeds anyway. Did the seeds sprout? OF COURSE THEY DID! I was slightly worried, but that's because I tend to lean toward anxious thinking at this juncture in my life. :D (This too shall pass!) Haha. I got over the entire ant thing as soon as I laid my newspaper and straw mulch. Everything is growing nicely. I found a bug nibble on my bell pepper plants and sprayed them immediately. Since I sprayed, no more munchie-marks.
So here's the entire garden: planted, mulched, and all flowered up. I finished cutting sod for the gold stone and even planted some moss in the dirt around the edge (hopefully it will take off). Edward did a fantastic job on building the fence and Petunia shelves. I'm in awe every time I look out the window and see the garden.
Here's new garden-news. A new addition to our front corner garden is "Prickly Pear" cactus. It's a gift from a nice gardener-gal who lives just a little ways from us. I read that Prickly Pear is native to Minnesota, but I can't cite it, so …sorry. But it is all over the state. It thrives well in sandy soil and that's what we have here. The bloom is a big yellow flower – unlike other flowers I enjoy. The blooms are like a soft yellow wrapping paper tissue. I suppose ours won't bloom this year, but I'll be anticipating them next spring with camera in hand! :)
All right, tonight is “date night” at the local A&W for me and my Sweetheart. Time to go get all dolled up!
