THE BLOOMING

I was making the bed the other morning and thinking about how hard it is to garden in Texas. In fact the hardest place I have ever gardened.....and there have been many. Our climate for gardening is like no other, although some may take issue with this.  Sometimes it is desert-like with no rain for months, sometimes tropical with endless days of rain. Wet summer, dry summer, wet winter dry winter. Winters can be mild and tempting but then the next will kill all those marginal plants you planted. Somehow you have to strike a balance and find what works for you, taking pleasure in the rewards that come your way. That can take years of experimenting. It was at this point that I opened the blinds to look into the Secret Garden and there was one of those rewards. A flash of pink. The Aechmea fasciata, which I had put outside in the shade of the Pittosporum was blooming. I hadn't looked at it for weeks and all that time it was quietly preparing to bloom.

I have had this plant for years and only kept it because even out of bloom it is attractive. I never expected it to flower again thinking that this could only happen under greenhouse conditions. I rushed outside and brought it to its new home, where it can be appreciated. I certainly plan to treat it a little more kindly and will rinse out the cup with rain water every week as per the care instructions.

There have been many disappointments this spring, the greatest being the discovery of the agave weevil in the Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' It has never done well and suddenly it started to look really sickly which made me decide to remove it and put it in a pot. It just came right out of the ground breaking off and exposing that hollowed out interior. There was the grub and then another. Three in all.

Agave weevil grub

I was able to cut off the top of the plant and will now try to nurse it back to health. And a week later I discovered another small agave, a few feet away, had met a similar fate. I am now feeling nervous about all the others, especially my beautiful Whales Tongue Agave, A.ovatifolia,  which is just a few feet away.
I quickly got over this because in the vegetable garden a nice surprise awaited me.  When I saw some kind of squash plant growing in the compost bin I moved it to the vegetable garden. It grew well but never produced anything other than a few tiny flowers. I guess it was just practicing because one morning a huge flower opened and very soon thereafter the identity of the plant was revealed. A butternut squash! No real surprise as we do eat quite a lot and of course the seeds always go into the compost.

So far so good on the squash vine weevil front. Maybe getting the plant in the ground so late has its benefits. Or is it ever too late for them!
As usual the tidy phase in the vegetable garden was short- lived. There is now a rampant growth of cucumber plants and Sakata sweet melon.

I was checking out the viability of some rather old seed packets by putting a number of them between wet paper towels. Every one germinated and I just couldn't bear to throw them away. I figured many of them would be eaten by the snails. I guess one or two was enough for them.

Sakata sweet melon

If you are not familiar with this melon Sakata Sweet has been a favorite in Japan and China for a long time. It is a small Heirloom melon, ripe when it changes from green to yellow. It is unusual in that the skin can be eaten. I hope that these ones from saved seed do as well as they did 3 years ago. They are growing alongside the cucumbers so I hope that will not influence their taste.
Every year will bring some new experiences in the garden, some good some bad but never give up. I haven't.

GARDEN SURPRISES

I love the common or garden coreopsis, golden tickseed, Coreopsis tinctoria. Especially when I get some variations on a theme. This year two different flowers have shown up.

These are the kind of surprises I love.

This is the kind of surprise I can do without. Yesterday I discovered my swiss chard eaten to shreds. Overnight!

Here's the culprit. They can move with some speed. I have seen them barreling across the ground.

Or should I say culprits. I no longer have any tolerance for these caterpillars and they are getting the bag treatment. Birds don't want them and nor do I. What are they anyway? I have so many of them. Some eat mint, some eat zucchini leaves, some eat chard.... in fact they eat everything.

Then there is the time spent on bended knee checking for the eggs of the squash vine borer. It's the only way to have squash.

A lucky catch. this morning I caught the culprit, but not before she had been busy laying eggs. A count of 15 this morning.

Tomatoes are looking good this year. I picked the first ripe one this week, which is a record for this garden. It was celebrity in more ways than one.

It looks as though we are going to have a late crop of beets this year. This is the first time I have planted them other than in the fall. Beets and beans in the same bed.

FIRST AND LAST

This is what I had for dinner last night. The first patty pan squash of the year and the last of the beets.

There was only one which was a good job because it was just me for dinner. Stuffed with sauteed garlic, chopped squash, yellow peppers a little ham and cilantro. Topped off with parmesan cheese. Beets were just dressed with some pomegranate vinegar and citrus olive oil. Orange and beets go so well together. Yummy. It was a timely meal because today I went out to look and see how many more squash were in the offing.

Good job I did because the squash vine borer moth has been at work. In fact it may even be multiples. I removed 37 eggs! I have perfected my technique using a small knife to scrape the egg and then squashing it on a smooth stone. I have never seen so many on one plant before , but that would go along with the huge number of caterpillars we are seeing this year. These moths have wintered over in their pupal stage in the soil to emerge and lay their eggs before disappearing back into the soil at the end of the season. I am going to call this one my trap crop, which I started earlier in the greenhouse. I have several others, started in the ground, and growing under netting, which I hope will foil the moth. Nevertheless I will be out there every day on my knees looking for those eggs. No housemaids knee for me, only gardeners' knee.

SQUASH VINE BORER

For years I have planted patty pan squash as an alternative to the zucchini. I prefer it, not for any difference in flavor but, for its shape. It is great to stuff. Of course it isn't easy to keep the plant growing all summer because of the visit from the squash vine borer, Mellitia cucurbitae. Every year they seem to get the better of me. In the past I could be seen every day on my hands and knees removing those eggs from the plant but even so they always got the better of me. Will it be any different this year. Only time will tell.

This year the bed is protected by one of the wonderful cages D made for me. They can easily be moved from bed to bed. However, I am fully aware that the moth may have been over wintering in the soil ready to fool me again. Lets hope I did a good job of removing all those pupae. When the borer hits I like to get the plant out before the larva has the chance to pupate. Another idea is to grow a trap crop. Have I seen the adult this year? No, but I guarantee there are some flying around desperate to get through the mesh. Incidentally, bees have mastered getting in and out, which is a great help.