Mantid sighting, not much else

It was wonderfully chilly overnight, dipped down into the mid to low 60's. Going to climb up to mid to high 80's by the time I have to be out and about so closing up a bit later than before. Sadly, there is a heat wave coming next week, 90's for at least three or four days. No wind right now, but was windy yesterday so that is a big tell on how the weather is shifting. I watered really well today in preparation for the weekend and next week.

Just a picture of a crow feather dappled with water from the morning irrigation. I thought it was fascinating with the water droplets on the feather. No tree or sky pictures so that's it for the thumbnail.

 

One of the many reasons I can never find Manny is he blends in so well (duh, that's what they're known for). He's getting more green now so instead of blending in with the brown leaves, he'll be blending with the leaves. I sprayed the bushes real quick to see if he would move which is how I spotted him. Hopefully the water on the leaves will bring insects for him to eat. It's going to be really hard to put up with those bushes when they're really dead if he's still hanging around. I'm still wondering why they're turning brown other than age.

The tomatoes are doing good, probably will be harvesting by the end of September and into October, if the plants last that long. That big tomato will be ready by then at least, the other two small plants I transplanted later have flowers but they're so small. That bed needs soil so badly but I have no extra money again for doing that, maybe I can spare $10 for one bag of soil. 

Flower on the Fish Pepper! And wondering if those Jalapeños will ever get bigger. They're all still half the size they should be but as soon as they start changing color I'll cut them off to use.

So more planning for not only winter but next year is on my mind. Winter is going to be lettuces, cilantro, if I do carrots they won't be the honkers I planted this year. Sweet peas for the spring but again, dwarf variety next time. Radishes, again smaller ones than the ones I have. I will try the cauliflower if I have the room. And patience. What else for winter? Oh! Potatoes and onions of course. I have some celery seed and fennel, that might be fun to sprinkle in with the lettuces. I know Fennel gets huge and grows wild in the canyons oh I wish I had the room for an artichoke.

Yep Cilantro and Cauliflower needs to be started next month to plant out in October, Carrots the month after that with, Garlic (I wish), onions, but no potatoes on that list. Hmmmm.

Potatoes are January, if I wanted cauliflower I would have needed to start the seeds inside now. Carrots plant out in September.....riiiight. So will have to see what I have and what I want to plant that I can start now. The seasons are so screwed up now that you can't really follow a chart that was made even five or six years ago. 

Besides I don't have the room to plant anything out in the next month or so.

A change up in the garden

Signs of late summer: Crepe Myrtle in bloom against a green tree and an aloe plectilis (I think?) that is surviving in cramped quarters for years. A bit cooler today and I got a very early start so it was still foggy this morning when I looked outside. May only get up to 83 today compared to 89 yesterday, yay!

 I finally decided after seeing how many dead squash there were due to not being pollinated and the fact the vine was hitting the sidewall and turning, making problems for the fruit to lay straight, I cut it back and ripped it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were three ready to harvest and the rest were either shriveled or just flowering... very productive vine, I just don't have the room for it to grow properly.

 

I got the cultivator out and dug around, pulled out the base after cutting the plant into about four pieces. Yes, the soil does and was relatively moist but there were still some dry spots around the poblano on the left, so digging and watering happened.

The next major chore is dumping out the compost buckets and working those leaves in. I might have to use the crate and maybe find a tarp somewhere. I was concerned that some enterprising animal would come by during the night to dig up the fresh soil but no signs of that this morning, will see over the next few days what happens. 

I counted no less than 15 tomatillos between all four plants! Woohooo! They must have heard my threat of yanking them out if they didn't produce. I counted and took pictures of all 15 or16 of them because it was so great to see them finally producing. Change in weather? Threats? Pollinators? All of the above? Some of those are not in places I would have pollinated so I guess the winged pollinators are doing their job now. Biggest one is about an inch and the smallest are about pea size. Wooohooo! ::happy dance::

Since the tomatillos are all different stages I may only have three or four at a time that are ready to harvest. I don't know how long they can keep but from what I remember it's at least a week or two so here's hoping I get some salsa out of those. Not sure what the purple ones are going to look like roasted and blendered. Will have pictures of course when that happens, may have to mix in some green ones from the store. Cannot wait! I made a great salsa verde way back.

The onions are not looking like they're building bulb diameter much, that worries me because the front one I know I've kind of broken some of the leaves and that may have signaled it to stop growing. Hard to say but won't be pulling them at least for another month.

Still no sign of Manny today, he's hiding out really well this time.

I have more tomatillos fruiting!

 Today and yesterday it was only in the mid-to high 80's so we didn't turn the AC on until afternoon around 1 or 2. Getting much cooler at night as well so it helps incredibly with cooling the apartment overnight. AS for the garden, still suffering and getting daily watering. Still not a whole lot of pictures because garden is boring right now.

Sunset last night as close to the actual color as possible thanks to a filter. Sicne the sun is setting sooner now I have to watch the daylight out my bedroom window carefully in the afternoon so I don't miss the opportunity to check things in the evening.

I discovered three husks that definitely looked like they were filling out. Wooo! Not sure if they were ones I pollinated or not but it's something at least. Oh and have not seen Manny the last two days, hope he's doing okay and is just hunkered down and molting somewhere.

I remembered my clippers today and took off some of the lower branches that were sticking out as well as one or two of the more brown stems on the south bush. If I was sure that Manny was gone I'd cut back that left hand one almost completely. I also watered of course, made sure to dig around the plants and loosen the soil so the water penetrated more. Hope to have that remedied next season.

Another few squash are actually growing due to my efforts so the plant stays for a while. You can see how the smaller ones are shriveling up and browning at the blossom end. I did notice that male flower and pollinated the flower on the left.

There are flower buds on the Fish pepper! I technically should have pinched it out a while ago but it was being covered by the squash leaves and I kept forgetting. I also couldn't resist and pulled off one of the jalapeños, half the size it should be so am still waiting for the others to grow more. If they ever do.

That's all I've go for today. I'm hoping next week to budget a bit tighter so I can manage to save money for soil. Need to start stockpiling now so I have some for the winter beds. Whenever that happens.

 

 

A bit cooler today, yay!

 It is now 2:30 pm and we have yet to start the AC because it's only gotten up to 82, but just might run it for a few hours to get ahead of the afternoon blast furnace in the front of the apartment. So breezy and warm but tolerable. Not that many pictures really, so here's a repeat for the thumbnail should it choose today's post for an image.

 Crepe myrtles still blooming but didn't walk that direction yesterday.

Manny was out yesterday but not today or last night so likely is hiding somewhere and laying low. I watered the wall to raise the humidity just in case. Definitely cooler and more humid closer to the ground. I keep forgetting to bring my clippers down to the garden, I stop at my basket, pick up my hat, pause and ruffle through my memory to see if I need anything else and then head for the door.

I 'think' that little tomatillo is actually growing. It's stiffer at the base and bigger around than the other ones that have lost their flowers. Considering I need about ten to make a good salsa it's not really a milestone. The tomatoes are all forming up nicely and have four at the moment that will be ready in a couple of weeks. Tomatoes, in September....such a late, late crop this year. Sigh. I also twisted off a good number of the failed fruit on the squash. It is so full of fruit that if I had enough male flowers I would be giving them away like zucchini. Such failure crop this year on everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I wanted to show in these photos is the unusual flower parts and how they're arranged.  The pollen bearing anthers are curved over the central pistil so it's very difficult to get any cross pollinating done with anything other than tweezers and a q-tip. The only way I can see is pulling the anthers off the receiving flower and removing the pistil from the donator flower and then try not to break any of the parts in the process. Totally and completely not worth my time and energy so this will be a no go next time. I'll stick with tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers for the summer. 

It's a lot like corn, you need a lot of space for as many plants as possible for cross pollinating. I also planted much too late, like the tomatoes, so the heat is doing a number on the flowers and preventing pollination. I'd rather grow tomatoes honestly but it was worth a shot.

That's all I have for today,doldrums of summer.

Manny still around a butterfly and minor calamity

 At least it won't be 90+ today. Still blazing sun and warm wind though so shade is your best friend on a day like today. Which there is none of in the garden.

The clouds yesterday evening on the South-East horizon. They never came close as far as I know and that was around 6:30 in the evening. Sunset is coming sooner and sooner now because a month ago I would be going out around 7 and the sun was just setting.

Manny was still hanging out, but in a very odd position last night. I think he was changing locations on a very, very wilted plant. Don't know why he's so pale but hoping that's just a sign of molting coming soon. So here's the info on molting mantids: 

"There are several indicative signs of an approaching moult in mantises. Refusal of food, lethargy, erratic vibration-like movements, inflation of the abdomen, elongated and extended legs, open raptorial arms, and large, swollen wing buds in sub-adult mantids."

Well, I can see two or three signs right there, I need to keep the moisture level up though because another paragraph said that a failed moult can be from low humidity/moisture. They were talking about captive ones of course so  I'm hoping that isn't the case with Manny. With the slight change in color I'd say he may be changing to green when he gets done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it was definitely dry out there so grabbed the hose and started watering. I then decided to up and pull the potatoes. Really do not have the patience for them and discovered that the one small one that I nicked a month ago is what was growing. Also, the 'thorough' watering I did only went down about a half inch. Dry dirt underneath so a more thorough flooding happened.

 

So that bed was the worst, the other two were still okay but gave them some water as well. No wonder the potato was dying and hoping that I can add some soil and a higher perimeter on that bed before next season.

I was able to pollinate two  more squash this morning and looks like one is almost ready to pick. This means that I have to hold off ripping it out for another week. I really think I'll stick with cucumbers next year. This whole babysitting the plant only to have so many fruit dying on the vine is ridiculous. I am about ready to give up on the tomatoes too. The peppers and onion are about the only things worth saving in that bed, and that baby potato. Which will take forever to make any spuds since it didn't start with one. Luckily when I fill the bed with more soil, it can tolerate being buried.

I decided to dig up the carrot and zinnia behind the plants. Carrot went to the compost pile and the zinnia originally I put in the front of that bed but then realized it was going from full shade to full sun and would likely fry. so I tucked it under the tomatillo where the potatoes were.

A Western Buckeye butterfly was flitting around the mint plant, along with two Cabbage White. I need to remember to do that next time, as soon as I have room and more soil. I got a really quick video of it flitting around and what you can't see in those two photos is the right wing is shredded.

Very short and kind of shaky I hate my phone. But you can see as it swings around the edge of the right wing is shredded along the edges. This is likely it's last season of life.

 And the calamity, as I was digging the soil for the potatoes...the trowel handle broke in half. Not surprising as it's been sitting in the sun and it was old when I started gardening. so I'll be replacing that next month. Still usable just not very comfortable and I have no duct tape to fix it.

A hummingbird just flitted up to my window then swung back and perched on a small thin branch of the jacaranda. Flowers are all gone so they are likely using the feeders downstairs and it's not really nesting season anymore but we have a resident few that hang around.

So winter veggies plan is: lettuces of all sorts, carrots, potatoes, cilantro and onions (bunching) and will try the cauliflower again maybe. Not going to mess with peas, will wait until November to 'maybe' plant Sweet Peas again or find a shorter growing variety.

Sheesh.