h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Th 9 May 2013

Found one of the local wild orchids in the garden today, a rather nondescript mass of small (5/64" dia. x 1/2" long) florets that at its best somewhat resembles a magnolia cone.

This one is unusual in that its flowers are white, while usually the flowers are a complex mixture of brown red and violet streaks.

I've created a special area for it and will be nursing it along.




My first Tigridia flowered today.

Sa 12 May 2013

Up with the dawn today.

The neighbor's scotty raided the cat food dish in the night as usual.

The birds have plucked the husks of the tomatoes they'd destroyed and cast them on to the path.

Going out to scatter seed for the birds, I spotted a 10 inch blue headed desert iguana in the garden.

I hope it finds a niche it likes and sticks.

W 5 Jun 2013

Found a caterpillar on the vining milkweed I started in the garden to provide food for monarch butterfly caterpillars, the single most common butterfly locally.

So far as I know, nothing else can eat that milkweed.

Back after a long hiatus.

Did my usual 8:30 pm walk around the garden, checking to be sure everything is secure, no water running that's not supposed to be.

For once, everything seemed well watered enough not to need an evening watering, even after along day without water, though, without fail, I'll
need to give some early in the morning tomorrow.

The cantaloupe growing on a support cone in a 16 liter bucket has 3 sets on it at the moment, two growing vigorously, one almost ripe.

Nothing else producing at the moment except the red okra, one plant per 5 liter bucket, which is just beginning to.

I usually let the set the first pod to seed, otherwise they seem to get discouraged.

Casaba sprouts coming up in another 16 liter bucket.

The first of my Cherokee purple tomatoes flowered today, a week after being transplanted from a 2 liter starting pot to a 16 liter.

They should in full fruit in early autumn.

Previously I've considerable difficulty getting them started.

Last time it became clear the culprits were small birds uprooting the seedlings and eating them as soon as they sprouted, so this time I started them in a half inch mesh chicken wire cage built on a shipping pallet for a foundation, 80% germination from seed from specimens purchased at a produce store.