Vegetable garden spring 2011

 This post is for us. I like to photograph what we plant every spring. Sure beats keeping notes!

 

Garden in our side yard.

'Supersweet 100' cherry tomato

Yellow plum tomato

'Celebrity' tomato

Zuchinni (also two yellow squash started from seed)

Green bell pepper

We decided to stick in some vegetables rows in our back yard.

Yellow plum tomato

'Supersweet 100' tomato

'Red Beauty' pepper

Yellow squash (started from seed)

'Maroon' Aggie carrots (started from seed)

Beans along fence (started from seed)

First chimney swift!!

Yes, I was outside awhile ago, gardening, when I heard a familiar twitter! I looked up and spotted our first chimney swift of the season! Naturally, I ran inside and sent an alert to Paul and Georgean Kyle with ChimneySwifts.org. They monitor spring sightings on their Website. 

Welcome back, guys!

Native plant sale!

Today was the annual native plant sale in Boerne, hosted by the Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. I'd been looking forward to it for WEEKS. My mother went along, too. So many, many plants! It was heavenly! Needless to say, James and I came home with lots of new additions, like blue-eyed grass, coralbean, bluecurls and a new variety of salvia. Plus more Texas betony and fragrant mistflower. I'll properly identify everybody later.

We got to see our friend, Skip Kphart, a NPSOT member. He was busy, manning the butterfly demonstration garden. He even had a live monarch caterpillar, chomping on a Texas milkweed. Too cool! Even my mother was impressed! I also made a new friend, Veronica Hawk, who's also a NPSOT member. I really want to join the society, but I just haven't yet.

I can't wait until next year! In the meantime, the Wildflower Center in Austin will host a native plant sale next weekend. Check it out!

Pinks and purples...

 

Some plants are blooming for the first time. So I had to take some photos, naturally!

Hill Country penstemon (Penstemon triflorus)

We bought this last March on my birthday, and it's finally bloomed.

Spiderwort
Tradescantia 'Purple'

We bought the spiderwort on my birthday, too.

I thought this was wild foxglove. Wrong! Looks like a globe mallow (Sphaeralcea angustifolia). James transplanted it from a ranch east of town to our Wildscape nearly two years ago. 

 

 UPDATE MARCH 27, 2011–I took some more photos of the spiderwort and penstemon....

Dilemma

I've got a problem.

Wasps. Probably carpenter ants, too. I've spotted both on and around the house (outside).

James doesn't like wasps. I'm okay with them. However, I'm beginning to see how they could become a bigger problem because they're currently scoping out our garage for nest sites. Not good.

I don't like pesticides.

Last year, I'm pretty sure I saw a toad with only one eye. Which means a birth defect. Not good.

Time to do a little research. I'd better HURRY.

Any suggestions?

Live owl cam in Austin

Hey, it's time to check in with Cathy and Bob Howell of Austin. They have a live camera on their eastern screech owl nest box. So far, their female hasn't laid an egg yet. It is SO COOL to watch! In the last two years, their owls have been ahead of ours, family wise. We had baby owls in 2009 but not 2010. Since an owl has been roosting again in our box, we're hoping to have little ones again. They are FUN to watch once they start climbing up the box and peeking out (check out our photos from 2009).

Mystery bones

James found this jawbone in our front yard. Anyone care to guess what furry animal it once belonged to? (Help?)