Really excited for these eggplant that are coming along nicely in the garden
Bill Ward
Fresh beans from the garden!
Fresh beans from the garden! I harvested them mostly so the plants will make more…
This weekend I built a new trellis for the tomatoes!
Constructed from 4 2x4s and a piece of ladder mesh truss, this is arguably the only structure on the entire property that is actually plumb and level.
The back row has 10 plants and the front row has six, all different indeterminate varieties. I am pruning them as a single vine up a string. Each one has its own string and hook so that when the plant reaches the top I could let out some string and let them keep growing!
Thanks to @nextlevelgardening for the strings and hooks and great videos explaining how! This is my first time growing tomatoes this way and I’m excited about how big they might get.
Monarch butterfly number four is off!
Our adventure of keeping the caterpillars alive is at an end and we can let our milkweed plant grow up in peace. Next year hopefully we’ll have some butterflies laying their eggs on them and we’ll have some outdoor caterpillar adventures but for now this comes to an end of our monarch butterfly cultivation…
Monarch butterfly number four coming soon to a sky near you!
Our fourth caterpillar is just about ready to come out of its chrysalis and spread its wings. It’s an amazing thing to witness but I’m glad that this chapter is coming to a close. I have other plans for that table and we’re looking forward to put the milkweed outdoors.
It’s a girl! Third monarch butterfly emerges
(I think)… The third monarch butterfly has emerged from its chrysalis and is getting ready to take off! The fourth one is still in a chrysalis (Not sure what’s the difference between a chrysalis and a pupa) and sadly the fifth monarch caterpillar died. But it’s always a wonderful feeling to see a brand new butterfly !
Beans are happening in the garden!
The flowers are gorgeous and I tasted a couple of the greenbean pods which are immature but tasty!
Monarch status update
Butterflies: 2 (gone)
Pupae: 1 (new!)
Caterpillars: 2
The bigger caterpillar is probably going to pupate in the next day or so as well
Stir fried cauliflower and beet greens from the garden
I stir fried all of the leaves from the cauliflower plant I harvested yesterday and from the beet plants I harvested today, along with the smaller beets, and served it to myself with some tofu and rice and it is delicious! So excited that my garden has reached a point work I’m actually eating it!
Second monarch butterfly emerges from its chrysalis!
Here is the whole saga of my second monarch butterfly coming out of his chrysalis and getting ready to take to the skies.
I brought it outside and had lunch with him (I identified the sex by looking for the spots on his wings) and did a bunch of photos and videos next to the garden where they would be plenty of flowers and lots of sun.
But it was windy and he was having trouble hanging on so I tried a few different approaches until finally settled on putting him inside a plastic storage tub and then putting that in the greenhouse. After a few hours of not much movement he suddenly moved his head back and forth and then just flew away! There will be more monarch butterfly content as I still have three caterpillars on the milkweed in my breakfast nook, plus I have lots of photos and video footage to go through.
Note: as fascinating as it is, please don’t try to raise monarch butterflies yourself; it can encourage the spread of a deadly parasite that has been ravaging them Monarchs’ population lately… I’m only doing it because there were eggs on my milkweed seedlings and I only want to make sure the caterpillars grow up successfully.
Monarch butterfly hatched when I wasn’t looking!
But I managed to carry it outside and it was able to get its wings working and fly…. I still have one chrysalis left to open and today discovered three new caterpillars!
The first strawberry from the garden tasted wonderful.
And there are so many more where that came from that would be ripening soon!
Garden is doing well!
tomatoes beginning to bloom, our first ripe strawberry, corn starting to make pollen, and our greenhouse full of spares. We’ve also got lots more veggies coming in soon
Monarch caterpillar makes a chrysalis!
One monarch caterpillar has made a chrysalis and is starting to transform into a butterfly.
The other one is reached full size and is happily chowing down on the milkweed leaves.
We got these caterpillars by accident. We were going to grow some milkweed so that next year’s butterflies would have a place to lay their eggs. But it looks like two eggs came along with our seedlings and hatched into caterpillars. So we are looking after those caterpillars until they are ready to fly off as beautiful monarch butterflies….
That said, it is not recommended to raise monarchs indoors. It can lead to the spread of a parasite called OE that is attacking the monarch butterfly population. See this site for more info: https://monarchjointventure.org/
Back yard garden is coming along!
Lots of veggies growing in their bags and more coming soon! gardening is very satisfying! Plus engineering fences out of bamboo and netting to keep the 4 legged neighbors away is a fun challenge
Deer decided the leaves of our baby plum tree were dinner!
I built a cage for it out of bamboo sticks and netting. Wish me luck!
Backyard lilies in bloom
Landlord lilies would not be our choice, but the flowers are pretty, and they are really thriving this year.
nn
