Mini carrot harvest.

I'm a total failure when it comes to bulbs(beets, carrots, radish). They never grow the way they suppose to do.

Lettuce 2011

There are lettuces ready to harvest from 45 days to 70 days and here in the city the last 2 days we reached 96 degrees Fahrenheit when the normal temperatures should stay at 80 F at this part of the year. That's why you take your chances and sow in the middle of February a lettuce ready in 70 days, that way you have it ready a little before the heat goes wild. If a frost arrives after the middle of February you just simply cover it from the weather, but overall this 2011 we never saw spring frost after the middle of February.

It was breakfast time and I haven't been eaten vegetables lately, so when I saw my little romaine lettuce ready to harvest, guess what happened?, yes I ate it! with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese, good way to start my day.

Dwarf sunflower

Only 16 inches tall. They named it "Junior" at Burpees seeds I suppose because is a small of a kind taking in concideration that other varieties grow from 4 ft to 6tf and some like the mammoth sunflower may even go 9-12 ft.

This dwarf sunflower already got lots of flower buds, but none has not been opened yet.

4 days latter the first bud opened.

First 2011 green beans harvest

In Texas we had been in a very critical drought, some people say is like something never seemed before, but my brother tells me otherwise. The only fact is that there are wild fires in some counties, luckily none close to home. It basically means no rainfall. The last month was well below rainfall average and since I sowed my green bean (60 days ago) seeds only twice rained and it was only one of those times that we had 10 minutes of torrential rain and then nothing more, it was like a message saying: "I know there's not rain here in a long time" and in a desperate measure, there is your water! and then vanished.

So much of a story for the final results, what's that?... The harvest!. You know I realized there's no much of a harvest for green beans when it comes to growing them in squared foot boxes, it's a waste of space, but anyway, the point here is taste and how prolific they are.

"Royal burgundy". Nice big purple bean pods, crispy, but for my taste they are kind of something bland. Not very prolific, round in shape, not very crispy.

Royal burgundy.

"Golden wax improved". The seeds gave me only 50% germination rate, but the prolific rate is good. My brother liked it, it is very crispy-crunchy and lite flavor. They are yellow-green color and round in shape.

Golden wax improved.

"Dragon tongue" is a beautiful pod, bad news is that is flavorless in my opinion because it had an excellent germination rate and is a rabbit producing. I'ts kind of more flat than round in shape, meaty.

Dragon tongue.

The other beans I got were kitchen king and tenderpick, but because their rate germination was from worst to medium and considering the taste, I find it worthless to even mention them!.

Overall I just picked around half of my green beans harvest(1/2 lb), overall I have 1.5 lbs.

For now there's nothing more to say about green beans, until late in the summer when I sow other bean varieties and fall brings the results.

Slime mold

Few days ago I noticed a yellow almost fluorescent substance in a little part of mulch in my garden box, it was fresh and bubbly like fresh glue. At the beginning I tough it was an insect substance like an early stage of larvae, so I went for my sevin insecticide  and sprayed some, but the very next day I went to see it and it was already dried out, solid, like a termite nest material. Finally after research I know it was slime mold.

New sod inside patio

Around 3 weeks ago we added St Augustine sod(Palmetto and Raleigh) to the front and back patio and seems to be holding up well.

Here is the reference brochure to take care of the lawn the whole season.

Leaf miner larvae trail

My green beans leaves always get the leaf miner marks, but only very few.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

Here is not that cold, well 2 days ago it was I suspect the last cold night at 46F(in the last 3 weeks only twice we retested those lows, you know, feels more like summer at this point) , but today at 89F at 1:00PM the stinky bug called my attention, lucky me I had my camera with me. Globalization brought this little fella to America!. There it was flying and landed on my fence.

Red and Black Mason Wasp

I've found 3 or 4 times this insect in my garden in the last month or so. It's a female the one scouting below.

Bee-ware

Who knows what they liked so much at the bottom of my square ft garden box, it's been 2 days since they've been there.

The martian arrival

Every time I go to the garden in the morning my camera is with me so pictures can be taken when an insect parks in there, that way I can identify them. You know they look pretty, with their colors and all the fuss, but no!, not all of them really are. The monster below is a clear proof of that! and myself grabbed the sevin insecticide just to let him(or her, maybe both in case of an hermaphrodite) know the boundary crossed.

One day latter his relative was here(maybe they send a rescue team when I killed the other one the previous day).

Whatever it is They seem to be here early in the season.

Cucumber flowering

They have big leaves and hairy stems, best of all They are a machine production and only takes around 50 days to start bearing cukes.

Burgundy beans

The flowers and stems are burgundy color as well.