Garden Update: May 2010

Current garden status:

For the first time since I've lived here, my magnolia is in bloom!


The trees by my lanai are in bloom as well. Now that I have these blooms to help me identify them, I think that I am now comfortable identifying these as Shady Lady olive trees.

The lubbers are infesting the yard-- both big and small lubbers.

So far they haven't been destroying my vegetable plants, but they have been eating the sheffelera. That's alright by me.

My gardenia is in bloom now...


I do nothing to this thing, but it seems to love it's location. I fear it won't do so well after we cut down the ficus, which currently provides it with shade.

The rubber vine is in full bloom right now.

I love this shot that Woodrow got of the rubber vine.
Pretty!

More veggies and other updates

I decided that for Mother's Day I would give my mother a potted okra. She likes okra, and like me has been growing a few veggies.


I am now growing an assortment of herbs, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and melons.

I also noticed the other day that one of my Plumeria (Frangipan) seems to have died.



Perhaps it took a bad hit from a lawn mower or weedeater. I was told by a nursery person that these are especially sensitive to damage caused by weedeaters and bumps from mowers.

I also bought a plant at an arts and crafts show Saturday. I don't know what it's called, but it looks like a colorful version of a Hens and Chicks succulent.


I thought that it might be pretty in front of the house, where I have no hose to water potted plants.

Not bad!

Unfortunately I uncovered a carpenter ant nest when I moved a pot yesterday. Well, unfortunate for me. The lizards were all very excited! They all came running when they saw what was going on! I had three of them vying for the buffet. I learned that the adults ants must have a fierce bite, so they are avoided by the lizards. The lizards seemed to be concentrating mostly on the winged ants, and occasionally an egg.






Grody! But I found both the ant and lizard behavior fascinating!

Dueling Lizards

This morning I went out to check my garden and see what needed watering. As I walked over to check the new veggies, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and heard a *thunk* on the deck. Startled, I turned to look and saw two lizards on the deck, one on its back and the other one had a hold of it by the throat. I watched for a minute or two, and other than occasionally clawing at one another, they didn't move. I wanted to get video of the match, but I feared that the minute I turned my back they would depart, and I wouldn't know where they went or what happened next. I sprayed the hose in their direction, and it barely fazed them. So I decided to risk running for my camera, and sure enough as soon as I turned my back and stepped away, they broke apart. However there was no need for concern-- they weren't going anywhere. I ran and got my camera, and got a few shots of the lizards...


Then I watched in fascination as they kept at it, maneuvering around one another, looking for the tactical advantage. Then they started sparring again.



And again...



Did you see the way that he flipped the other one right off the strawberry pot?! Awesome move! I could watch that over and over!

It was very interesting to watch! The "thought" that would go into their maneuvering around, looking for the advantage, was really fascinating. I'll be looking for these big boys in the future!

Planting a small vegetable garden

Today we spent a couple of hours working in pretty searing intolerable heat in order to prep part of my giant raised bed for plants. I plan on ripping this bed apart and create 2-4 small square beds in its place, or a couple of long, narrow beds. But it will be awhile before I can do that. So for now I decided to prep a portion of it for a small vegetable garden.


Katy was there to supervise our work.



We moved a bunch of the dirt out of a 10x3 foot area, and mixed in potting soil, compost and top soil. Then I planted the poblano pepper, jalapeno pepper, green pepper, cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe and two eggplant.



Plus the other day I potted an herb bucket and in another bucket I put a Rome tomato plant with sweet basil.

But looky here! I was surprised to discover a bloom on the old pepper plant from last summer! This has been totally neglected, unwatered and in a weed-filled pot, yet there it is!


Yes, I weeded it now that I see how hard it is trying to survive. And I still have a couple of strawberry plants popping up...


And my mango tree, despite the freezes we had this winter, is trying to put out a small harvest as well. So far I've spotted two mangoes...



Also the other morning I was out in the yard when I noticed that my mahogany have lost their leaves (which they seem to do this time of year). Then I noticed this...



I haven't figured out what the heck that is! It's webbing full of leaves, forming a basket. I don't know whether that was purposeful or what. But I did see some lovely new little leaves coming in on the mahogany...


My jasmine is in full bloom, and I love the smell drifting around the lanai.


I still don't know what these two trees are that are in front of my lanai, but I like the look of them, even if they are too close to the lanai. They kinda look like Shady Lady olive trees, but I've never seen any fruit on them.

So it was a day of hard work, and I should sleep well tonight! We'll see how the vegetables and fruit do. It's getting hot out there. I hope that I can get them through the heat and keep them well-watered!

Garden Update: April 2010

Jeez! Has it really been 9 months since I posted here?! How is that possible? Well, the unruly garden is still unruly. We did some work in it today.

I've decided that the large ficus needs to come down, after a lot of debate and asking others for their opinions as well. The consensus is that the roots are a liability and will likely undermine the foundation. So Tommy started cutting off the ficus branches. Now is a good time to take it down, as the hard winter freezes caused it to lose at least half of its leaves.

Mom and I did a lot of weed-pulling, filling up a large 65 gallon can. Mom also lopped off some palm fronds, which got hauled out to the road.

One thing that has been going on in the yard is lubbers. I know. I always have lubbers. Only this time, it is baby lubbers. I first spotted them nearly a month ago, when I found about 30 of them around my swing and deck in the backyard.


Then a week or so later, I spotted a second nest in the...yucca?...located near my front door.

That's a lot of lubbers in my yard this summer! When Mom and I were pulling weeds today, we kept coming across lubbers scattered around the yard. I don't like to kill anything, and I also don't like to use chemicals around my place. So I decided to capture as many as I could and I'll release them in on a vacant lot on my way to work tomorrow. So I started collecting them in a jar. It was pretty tough, because as you let one in you would often find another would jump OUT of the jar! But in the end, I wound up with a jar of five lubbers!

So tomorrow morning a vacant lot will have five more lubbers, and my yard will have five fewer. I'll keep doing this, slowly getting down the lubber population without harming them or polluting the environment with pesticides.

The yard has TONS more work to be done, but at least I am beginning to get a vision. Things that I previously loved and refused to remove I am now planning on taking out. I want a yard that is low maintenance, and low water requirements. I'm considering doing some bromeliads for this very reason, like the ones that they have out at the bromeliad and orchid center.




Beautiful!

The mango has surprised me by blooming. We'll see whether it comes to fruition and I get any edible mangoes out of it.


I noticed the other day that something is eating up my loquat. Maybe the lubber babies? Today I bought a tomato plant and some herbs to start with. Next weekend I hope to plant some veggies in the garden bed.

I spotted Black Ivy (my black snake) recently, so she is still around and survived the winter. I also spotted a raccoon a few weeks back. Doh! I hope that doesn't become a problem.

Stay tuned! More to come!

Go Speed Racer!

There's a reason they call them Black "Racers".


She was so quick, I lost her. But then I spotted her about 8 feet away peeking over the "in need of mowing" backyard grass.

(I'll upload the other video when Blogger isn't acting up. I've tried twice now for about 45 minutes, and have yet to get it uploaded.)

She likes to hang out around my deck, and today I was out watering my potted plants when I turned around and spotted her moving right past me, within a foot of my foot. She really startled me, and I stepped backwards, bumped the rake, which proceeded to fall right at the snake (we'll call her Myrtle), and fell within inches of her. She spun around and I think may have striked at the rake handle, but it happened so fast I'm not sure whether or not she actually tried to strike. But then she continued on into the shade bed next the walkway next to the deck. I ran in and got my camera, and went looking for her. I found her at the far end of the lanai, where I got my video. Then she headed back towards the shed where I think she lives.

Critters in the Garden

I went out to water the potted plants the other day, and wound up scaring up a lubber (a giant grasshopper).


It tormented Shotsie.


I've had a rash of these things around my yard over the last month.

I've also seen the black snake around the screen door a few times now. Last time I saw it go under the bench on the deck. I got my camera and just got a couple of shots of it's tail.




The snake is about 2- 2 1/2 feet long. I love my black snake. Did I ever post the photos that Woodrow got of him/her behind the shed?