Gathering seed pods

Gathering the seeds of okra and beans is so satisfying for a lazy gardener such as myself.

Just let the stuff dry on the stem/vine and pop them off store, label and save!

Here's some okra pods looking great and harlequin-esque:

It's really cool when they dry because when they're ready to be gathered they typically split open at each edge.

You may need to be careful when the weather is rainy though because water can seep in and cause the seed case/seeds to mold within and then the seeds you so lovingly wanted for next year might be diseased or nonviable.  Toss all moldy seeds you might find while gathering, or even whole pods if it looks pretty dire.

Okra seeds are great because there are so many seeds within one pod.  Each "line" or section of the pod has a long row of seeds in it and if you allow them to grow, ripen and dry completely on the stalk you are definitely assured more seed that you'll probably need.  I have at least 15 of these pods dry and happy on various stalks.               

Same goes with beans and peas:

easy-peasy!

(well, ok I haven't saved my pea seeds yet because I grow so many varieties near each other that I am all worried and Gregor Mendeled-out about them, being pretty sure I won't get something true if I were to save and plant them, but I'm probably just being paranoid). 

Gah, those square genetics tables!   They're coming back to haunt me!

Randomness.... trying to keep up!

Alas! High winds have broken my handmade 2 year old trellis! The beans! The bean! They have all, fallen down.

:(

That was nice and Shakespearean dramatic eh?

But yes, to be specific, only a third of the trellis broke down. I still was able to harvest quite a few snap beans prior and even after the fall:
These are the same beans too that I brutally burned with baking soda, so little loss there. Good time to replant too anyways, the vines were getting ridiculous! The only issue now is finding the branch clippings from neighbors to create another trellis. Maybe I'll just knock some nails into the fence and string some twine this time around.

The area where the beans were planted was in a raise bed with okra and strawberry plants, so I like to believe that they were getting some legume lovin', nitrogen fixing goodness.

I wasn't entirely certain if it is best to dig under the bean plants back into the soil to keep the nutrients in, or just compost the vines/leaves, but from what I've been readin, it seems that you can just cut the vines at the base and let the nitrogen fixing nodule roots go back to whence they came and allow the next crop of whatever enjoy it.
So, that sounds like a good plan. I am trying to decide whether I want to grow pole beans there again because it was such a good place for them, at the the bed 5 to its left is still full of cucumber vines and I can't plant there. But I also know I need to take into account that crop rotation thing. I think as long as I plant something different in the spring I should be fine.

More things of interest! Snake!
(skin):


























Anyone able to recognize what kind it is? It's 32 inches long, though I am sure longer by now if it was shedding. I am hoping it's not one of the 4 major poisonous ones in the area, but if it is... well, we all leave well enough alone. Though if I recall, the poisonous ones have diamond shape heads and this one looks triangular.

It's sort of a love-hate relationship because I know it's taking care of all the bunnies and mice, but then again it probably eating all my beneficial toads/frogs...and I haven't seen many lately now that I think of it...

FINALLY,
remember that praying mantis I saw hiding out underneath the hummingbird feeder some days ago? Well it got BIG. Double the size from last time. I would have taken a pic of it but well, I noticed the hummingbirds were acting a little antsy by the feeder and then reason was, when they got near to drink the mantis was actually taking SWIPES at the birds! It was at least half their size by now and those arm/claw things seem to have some good reach. So......... I immediately went out and with a long stem of perilla because its so utterly disposable at my house, I relocated its happy green self to the cucumbers/okra bed where I then realized I had lots of cucumber/okra flowers with lots of pollinators buzzing about, so I hope it doesn't feast on so many beneficial things that fruit doesn't set....
That would be ironic.

Anyways, adieu and more later.

Gardening, gardening, diddly dee. So much to learn....

I admittedly have been sort of lazy around the garden these past couple of weeks lately, not wanting to fuddle around there because of all the rain, bugs and having gotten myself caught up in a million things. Which is a pity as I like how productive I feel getting up early, walking the dog and then nearly first thing I do is check out the garden and make sure all is right in it at the morning and finding that it's still well before noon is when I feel it's a good start to the day.

I hadn't felt like that until today morning when I severely pruned back some hedges (hate 'em but they're part of the "bones" of the property and then I don't have to plant other things there). Massive prunage occurred as some branches were way out and wonky, preventing light from getting to the branches below and I also noticed that the bushes were afflicted by soft pink scale, also called strawberry scale, which took out one of the otto luyken's in my backyard last year. So, neem spraying will probably have to occur.

(thanks, www.yale.com)

I have a problem of neglecting the inedible plants at the house (unless their the groundcover ones that prevent me from having to mulch):
(love it! strawberry begonia, golden turkey vine, shade sedum and creeping jenny mix)

because I figure if they can't make it, they weren't meant to be there and if I have to put forth all this effort for something I can't eat or isn't that cool then I sort of don't care for the plant.

Example, I think my irises in the front are being affected by iris rot either the bacterial or fungal kind. The bacterial one, Erwinia carotovora, can be caused by iris borers that attach the base of the rhizome and the bacteria enter into it causing a soft nasty smell rot. This is a bacteria that is common to decomposition as compared to the fungal rot which is major problem apparently and is a dry rot officially called Sclerotium crown rot (so rotten it has 'rot' in its Latin name!), caused by Sclerotium rolfsii. The dry rot is actually brown and crumbly looking in the rhizomes and I don't think I've been messing with that because if it is there supposedly I need to do some major quarantining. (http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/pastpest/200507b.html)

More things I learned! How to identify ragweed:
http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/

I planted a lot of marigolds last year and scattered their seeds around too, so if you were to see this plant, without say, the flowers in this picture... you would think it was a marigold too right???? Other than the fact too that these plants get giant, about as tall as 4 feet, which tips me off that no, it's not a marigold. Wheee... This may explain some sneezing here.

And the fun doesn't stop here!!!! Because of the rain (I've been saying that phrase so much lately) I tossed around baking soda on my damp plants, versus making a baking soda solution to spray on the plants to prevent/treat fungus because I figured it would become a solution when the baking soda landed on the damp plants, why make them more wet?

Yeah, I totally burned my tomato and bean plants... but I think the tomatoes will make it. The beans could go for a second sowing anyways I noticed, so no huge loss. So, if you ever are tempted as I was to do something incredibly stupid like that, don't.

On a happier note, I has a harvest!

The butternut squash vine was showing signs of kicking it from borer damage, so I put it out of its misery and pulled it and kept the small squash fruits. ah well. I plan to make that area a flower garden of sorts to attract pollinators as I will be moving some black eyed susans there in the fall once they have gone to seed as well as some clearance gallon salvia's from Lowe's (about a buck apiece! Go get!)

I figure at this point, the vegetable garden is mostly established, and now I need to work on making it look goooood. Other than this guy:
(Ugly siamese Brandywine tomato says hi)

Bunnilicious

Forgot to note, and post pics of the bunny situation.

Some time ago I set up a super lousy plastic wire and bamboo pole fence to keep the bunny from decimating new bush bean plants I was attempting again. Unfortunately the asparagus that was interplanted with got mighty tall and bushy and has blocked out so much light that I think the beans are suffering (though I do see some bean flowers still!) Anyways, my fence was SO lousy (geez, that has a Holden Caulfield-esque feel to it doesn't it?) that I went out one day to find a bunny stuck INSIDE the fenced area. As it turns out, the Lousy Fence, curls under and as I didn't secure it well, bunny can get in, but bunny cannot get out. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. *clears throat* So naturally I wanted to humanely rid myself of it.

(DIREGARD PREVIOUS POST ABOUT HASSENPFEFFER)

Luckily my mother in law was in town and helped me distract the critter because it was one fast fuzz muffin. Not wanting to experience a bun-bite I donned a pair of leather work gloves AND got a pair of cushy silicone covered tongs to pick up the bugger. (Yes, it was a little ironic to be picking up a bunny with a food utensil with the intention to release it, rather than eat it.) Alas, no pictures of the tong-age as I was in a hurry to get it in a bucket.

I gave it huge carrot in case it was hungry, and out of some remorse (and for the photo opportunity to show how TINY the thing was).

Later we took the bunny to the park where it was released in a patch of poison ivy that I didn't realize I had stepped in until my mother in law point it out to me. Ah, that finally helped my poison ivy recognition skills, always a little weak there.

(Mom in law releasing bucketed bunny)











You'd think the bunny would flee, but noooo... it decided to be scared for a full twenty minutes as crowds of children marched past tempted to poke and prod at it unless MIL and I politely asked them not too (and under threats of poison ivy).

After thinking that I had seriously caused mental trauma on its hare-brain (sorry, can't help it), I attempted to pick the bunny up when it said, "Screw this," and loped off. Bunnies, grr.