Randoms pics from the garden

I took a few quick pics from our garden this evening:

Remember the swallowtail caterpillar I talked about in an earlier post? (it still hasn't hatched). Here is what the caterpillar looks like when it first hatches out of it's egg and before it sheds it's first skin:
Here is one of my dill plants already starting to flower:

Pea pods:

Pea pods no more:

The exploding cabbage

What happened to our last cabbage?

a. Some critter came along and took a bite out of the cabbage.
b. One of the boys (or both - they can do a lot of damage when they team up) decided to take a whack at it with a shovel.
c. It's the natural growing process of the cabbage.

Which answer do you choose?

Well, answer a. has happened to our cabbage before, but never to quite this extreme. Deer never make it into our area (since we're in the middle of a neighborhood, and our dog is pretty good at chasing out any critters that make their way into our backyard. So, this was not a critter attack.

As far as answer b. goes, we did lose one head of cabbage (rather part of a head) to an experiment (of which I was not informed). Angel decided to see if other plants would grow inside a cabbage! He planted a couple of bean seeds and a tomato plant into little holes he dug out of the cabbage head. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this (failed) experiment. But no little boys messed with the cabbage this time.

So that leaves us with the last answer. This is what will eventually happen to all cabbages as time progresses. The head of the cabbage will split open, and a seed stalk will emerge. Well, that's what I read anyways. I'm hoping it goes as planned.

P.S. I edited this post because apparently the answer to this question was not very clear. Is it clear now?

A's Gardening Show - Episode 1

My son A has big ideas. He has always had big ideas. They form in his head, and then he tells them to me. These are not just regular ideas (which he also has a lot of) like, let's build a plane out of these scraps of wood, or let's build a playhouse, but really big ideas. These ideas include everything from building a robot that will clean his room for him to inventing a machine that will provide food for everyone who is hungry to making laws that would make it impossible for people to litter. Some ideas are better than others. Most of them are just really good ideas (and not just from a kids point of view), and others are just out there. He is used to me listening to his ideas, and then saying "That's a good one! How could you make that happen?" Lately, when he comes up with an idea for a big project, I have him add it to his running list (I count that as handwriting for school!). I wish I had the time and energy and money to make all his ideas come true (I would LOVE a house cleaning robot!), but, as it is, some are forgotten.

So, when he pitched his newest idea to me, and I said, "Let's do it!" I could see the excitement running through his little mind. Big ideas.

His latest idea (pitched to me this last Sunday): He wants to film a gardening show similar to the one on the PBS Create channel. I can't remember the name, but the one where the guy picks a veggie, and then the whole show revolves around it - growing, cooking, cultivating, crafts, etc. He wants me to send it in to the create channel so that they will put it on TV. He wants to see himself on TV. He has been telling everyone since filming that he is going to be on TV. I have been fielding lots of questions from friends (and neighbors) asking what channel he is going to be on. He is super excited.

So, below is Episode One of A's Gardening Show. It is scripted by A. All I did was point the camera and then add some nice transitioning effects during editing. Did I say that he is really excited? I love his passion. I've watched the video so many times, I almost have his script memorized. I really love the boy he is growing into - it's amazing to watch.

So, enough of my ranting about how awesome my son is. Enjoy his first episode below.

Angel's Gardening Video Part 1 from Suzanne Mireles on Vimeo.


Oh, and I am going to send it to the PBS Create channel. What's the worst that could happen?

Quick caterpillar update

Here's another photo of the caterpillar that was preparing for his (her?) chrysalis. It is now fully encased. The little black blob at the bottom of the chrysalis is the outer skin of the caterpillar. I'm assuming it wriggles out of it, but I have yet to see it happen.

Hopefully we'll be able to see a butterfly emerge (or at least a new born butterfly). We've hatched these out in aquariums before, and it's pretty exciting.

Dill and the caterpillars

We planted 4 dill plants 3 years ago, and they have come back on their own every year since (sometimes in both spring and fall). We use them as part of our butterfly garden and plant them with cosmos (which come back every year as well).

We already have swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. The caterpillars that cocoon (it's actually a chrysalis) in the fall stay that way until the spring. Then the butterflies locate a patch of dill (or fennel, or related plant) and lay their eggs. Then the little caterpillars show up, eat a lot, actually shed their skin a couple times and change color then do this:

See the little tiny string on the side? That's what is holding up the caterpillar while it waits to form its chrysalis.
Oh, and those little black things to the left? That's caterpillar poop. Just FYI.


Here's a link to some more info:

Black swallowtail butterfly info

I'll post an updated chrysalis pic when I get one. Below is the same caterpillar a couple days before.

Our Garden is growing - March 2009!

As promised, here are some updated pics on how our garden is doing. You can scroll down to my previous post for the full before and after effect.




It looks a lot greener, right? Starting with the purple in the middle of the page and going across: 1st bed: purple cabbage, 2nd bed: Angel's garden, 3rd bed: empty bed. Next row: 1st bed: potatoes and beans, 2nd bed: onions, lettuce, beans, cosmos, 3rd bed: empty. The bed in the very bottom right hand corner is our spinach and green cabbage bed (which is almost gone - I'm going to miss fresh spinach!)

The cement block bed at the bottom contains one blackberry plant. My husband planted it there. I don't know how well it will do. I haven't researched blackberry plants yet. Add advice in the comments if you have it!







M's garden - he has one marigold, 2 peppers, and one tomato plant (that he dug out of my garden and replanted into his own - it's not doing too well).













This is A's garden. He's got a variety of things - broccoli, potatoes, beans, cosmos, peppers, peas, onions, and more.
















And here is what our experimental bed looks like. It's got tomatoes, peppers, and some cucumbers in the back.






The next post will cover the garden in our front yard. If I could, I would till up most of the grass and put in more garden beds. But then we might not be able to sell our house (when that time comes).

Backdated post - Feb. 2009

I'm backtracking on pictures here - I've neglected this blog, but, thanks to friends, I'm going to be posting here regularly (cross my fingers!) on how my garden is growing. I've added their garden blogs as well, so stop by and check out their gardens!

From Gardening pics Feb. 2009

Here is what the garden looked like in February. My husband added 3 new garden beds for me and the kids to play with. Yea!

From Gardening pics Feb. 2009

Behind M (who always seems to attract mud while in my backyard - he needs a sandbox!) is the new, larger garden bed my husband put in. It's not a raised bed - sort of an experiment. I planted red clover as a cover crop last fall and my husband tilled it up in Feb. and outlined it. We have planted tomatoes and peppers in it (pictures to come this week!)

From Gardening pics Feb. 2009

And, unfortunately, you will probably see that this picture has not changed much since Feb. I am not very good and keeping supplies and misc. stuff organized in my garden. These leaves (which I collected from people's trash pickup - can you believe they were throwing away good mulch/organic matter!?!?!?!) are pretty much in the same spot. They've been split open more because the boys enjoy jumping on them. And I have at least 5 garden shovels, but can usually only find one. I'm hoping to work more on garden organization this season.

Look forward to updated gardens pics and info this week!