Vegetables

“Uncle Wiggily wants his Ovaltine”

ESPatch May 18, 2014 8 comments

I planted three bronze and three green fennel plants this year to attract a few caterpillars.

I got more than I bargained for,

including quite a few inch worms.

After the munching onslaught and overnight caterpillar migration there was not much left of the host plants,

but they will quickly bounce back, ready for the next hungry wave.

My tomato plants are also currently under attack from the large sphinx moth caterpillar or tobacco hornworm.

But by far the strangest critter that has been showing up all over the Patch this past week or two is…

…here is a clue:

You guessed it,

Lacewing larvae, better known as “litterbugs”.

The larvae use velcro-like bristles to cover itself in a variety of mediums including, aphid / insect corpses (oh yes), bark, fungus…basically anything it can get to stick on up there on its back for protection.

This is a remarkable adaption but a hard shell just seems like a lot less work. I am not sure what this one picked up, barley? Sugar Puffs?

It is my belief that lacewing larvae are actually reincarnated hoarders that are being taught to restrict their collecting tendencies to what they can carry on their own backs.

A ludicrous proposition.

Moving Along:

I recently took advantage of the nice weather and took a trip to a local nursery to pick up some filler-plants to replace some dead fountain grasses. Unfortunately for me someone had strategically placed these three Arizona ‘blue ice’ Cypress trees in an unusual place in the parking lot.

I did not stand a chance.

I very rarely happen across the blue-ice, especially this size.

I picked out the one with the thickest and straightest trunk and before you could say

Cuppressus arizonica

it was hanging over my tailgate, heading to its new home.

There was however one obstacle (there always is) and it was slap bang in the middle of the spot where the cypress was to be planted.

It was like:

Only our turnip was an old hackberry stump and just like the storybook turnip, it wasn’t coming out of the ground without a fight.

“Ach, ye canna beat some neeps and tatties.”

Some rugby tackles, wiggling, root severing and general miserableness in the heat ensued. The fact that it was wedged and had partly grown into the fence made it sufficiently more annoying.

With the stump finally removed I set about digging the hole and immediately started to find ‘treasure’.

Our house was built in 1890 and previous owners of the property had buried their trash in the yard so a shovel in the ground anywhere back here turns over something!

These were the best pieces all cleaned up and ready to be added to our expanding collection of artifacts.

[Contemplates being lacewing larvae]

This mug from the 20’s was her favorite find.

Here is the young tree settling in after getting a good soaking of fish emulsion.

Yes I gave it to the tree.

DSC06243 - Version 2

Old yucca spikes make great ‘wizard wands’.

It will be some years before the little tree reaches the height of its opposite kin:

Kumo – his favorite way to travel,

and his favorite ornamental grass to induce vomiting.

On that note:

Stay Tuned For:

“Oh Frass!”

All material © 2014 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques

“Peas in a Pod”

ESPatch Feb 18, 2012 11 comments

“Please…no more rock tumbling talk…stop already…yawn.”

The day was finally upon us…excited anticipation crackled through the air.

Breakfasts were hurried, clothes were put on back-to-front as we all scrambled out of our back door. It was precisely 10 days 4 hours 36 minutes and 12 seconds since our rocks went into the final phase of their tumbling and polishing, and according to the directions, they should be ready.

The top of the tumbling drum was ceremoniously unscrewed accompanied by a loud trumpet fanfare that was emanating out of my pampas grasses. Eyes darted between us all, air was sucked into nerdy lungs as the top lid was slowly removed…

…even a strange Patch Ent gathered in close.

When the top of the cannister came off there was an audible gasp quickly followed by a collective ewww!

Yes, not quite the shimmering jewels we had in mind, but with a bit of rinsing and cleaning they polished up a treat.

Start to finish in just over a month, the venture has been a true test of patience.

We also have a lot of new and creative ideas as to what will be going into the rotating canister next; toe-nail clippings, sea shells, glass, teeth, Kumo to name a few suggestions of late.

Here is a macro looking through one of the rocks…snort.

Moving on:

Hot days one day,

freezing days the next,

Yes, it is another rather unpredictable winter in Texas.

I almost forgot to mention the bad hair days. As you can see the tooth fairy is having a difficult time keeping up with her incessant tooth dropping…brrr, she can barely make it through a sentence without another one falling out. At the very least one will protrude out at you at an ungodly angle as she struggles to communicate.

It has been warm enough to wake up the algae in my small pond,

and wet enough to stimulate fresh new foliage on my burgundy canna lilies.

Peas are now growing all over my perimeter fence line like weeds,

and how sweet they are.

The recent precipitation has greened up the Persian ivy,

filled out the loquats with fresh new growth and

lots and lots of fruit.

Lots of shrubs are about to bloom including this mountain laurel,

mock orange,

and my fatsia Japonica.

Gophers are almost ready to be cut back to the emerging new growth,

I think I will wait though until the old growth stops pushing out these unusual blooms. The plant looks like two different plants at this phase.

Finally:

After messing around with an opuntia fruit for some time, stepping on it and prodding it with a stick on the sidewalk, she picked it up, popped it in a plastic cup and added a dash of water…

The Betanin in the fruit made a great home-made crimson paint perfect for Valentine’s day pictures.

Stay Tuned for

“A Handful of Sand Dollars”

All material © 2012 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl xxx.