Planting the Fall Garden - Mid-September 2014

Now that we have had a cool front come through North Texas (it was 57 degrees on my back porch this morning), we felt like going outside and working in the garden.

This week, my husband alerted me to a fight on the back porch between a wasp and a spider.

The wasp won.  The poison has taken affect - the wasp drags the spider off to his lair.

A female ruby throat hummingbird was visiting my garden and fending off a lot of other hummingbirds today that were coming by to sip nectar.  She sat on the rose bush and anytime another hummingbird came by, she ran them off!

Here she is going in for a landing on the blue salvia.

Flapping her wings!

See her white tips on her tail feathers.

This is the first Praying Mantis I have seen in the garden this year.  He/She is checking me out!

Climbing on the rosemary now.

I'm not sure if this is a male or female.  It is not too large - possibly a male?

We cleaned up the garden this weekend to make it ready for fall planting.  The ratty looking tomato plants are still producing some fruit so we left them in the ground.

Jonie and Clara are enjoying some bean pods from the plants that were pulled up.

This picture shows the summer garden weeded and raked and nutrients (compost) added.  Many of the summer plants have been pulled up.  Believe me - it looks much better now!

We planted broccoli, cauliflower and swiss chard plants - all of these plants are "cool season" plants and can withstand frost and below freezing temperatures.  My husband also planted snow peas and green beans by seed - we are taking a chance by doing this though.  Beans cannot withstand frost.  Snow peas can take some below freezing temperatures - but they cannot take long term below freezing temps. 

Another view of this fall's garden.

My bell pepper plants have tons of blooms now and should produce fruit up until the first frost.   These plants were put in the ground in April and have produced well all summer long.

The plants are covered in peppers!  We will have a big fall crop.

And finally - we had a frog swimming around in our pool today.  I took him out immediately - I didn't want the chlorine in the water to harm or kill him.

 When I fished him out - I looked at the frog's spotted belly and webbed feet.

This frog is very green - just like Kermit!   I will update this blog post when I identify his specific type.

I sat him in one of the plant pots on the back porch so he could catch bugs for me.!

Life in the Garden: Early September 2014

The garden is in its summer dormancy now in early September.  There are not many birds or bugs to find in my yard so I thought I would post this picture of a pregnant Mediterranean gecko that I took back in July to add some interest to this blog post.  My daughter found her on the back porch, turned her over and wow - look what we saw!  Eggs!  I think she is about ready to lay them.  This is also a good picture of her feet - they are perfectly designed for climbing vertically up walls.

The rest of the pictures were taken the first week of September. 2014

The Vitex is still blooming and attracting Bumble bees.

My husband found a very small nest in the Trumpet vine yesterday.  We think it is a hummingbird nest based on the size alone.  We are not sure though.  The bird used toilet paper as nesting material - our house was TP'd this summer and we couldn't reach the top branches to get it all down.

We have way too many grasshoppers around here this time of year - ughh

We planted a Bur oak tree in the front yard in 2004.  It was a 3 gallon size and about 5-6 feet tall.   The tree is at least 25 feet tall now.  Bur oaks will reach a height of 60-70 feet.  See link for more information on this beautiful oak.  https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/quercusmacrocarpa.htm

Bur oaks are known for their large acorns.  Here is a green one.

Up in the tree.   Note how the leaves of the tree in the front yard have some kind of blight. 

The Bur oak leaves on the tree in the back yard look healthier.  They are very wide and chunky looking.

We also have a couple of Shumard Red oaks in our yard.  They are also about the same age and size as bur oaks.  They will reach 50-60 feet in height.  See link for more information.  https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/quercusshumardii.htm

 The Shumard red oak leaves have a thinner pattern.

The Shumard red oak acorns are much smaller than bur oak acorns.

About the only blooms we have around here now are on the Althea shrubs, also known as Rose of Sharon.  These flowers attract hummingbirds.

This time of year the Paper wasps are building huge nests.  We found this one on out back porch that will have to be knocked down.  See all the larvae in the nest? 

And finally - I haven't seen many birds around here this week except for the yacking (see their open beaks?) house sparrows visiting my back porch for a drink from the dog waterer.

Summer Post - and Status of the Hens

The garden looks pretty ratty on August 25 2014, here in North Texas, but I thought I would enter a garden journal post with the latest happenings.

The Jujube tree has plenty of fruit this season - at least it gives some color to the garden. 

The texture is similar to an apple.  I made a jujube pie last year using an apple pie recipe.  In my opinion, it wasn't as good as an apple pie, but if you want to use your fruit, it is good enough for eating purposes!

The pear tree is heavy with fruit this year, we have never made pear jam, but since we had such good luck making our peach preserves earlier this year, I think we may try making some pear butter.  I'll probably write a post on whether I was successful.

Amazingly enough, the recent cool fronts and rain here in North Texas spurred my tomato plants to start blooming and producing fruit again.  I have tons of Tommy toes for the fall!

The Persimmon tree is also heavy with fruit even though the tree itself doesn't look very healthy.  We may lose it after this season.

I have some awesome news.  Two weeks after the bobcat attack (where two of my chickens were killed during the night), the first white hen, Claire, (she went missing that day and we assumed the bobcat got her first), came back!  She must have flown over the fence and escaped!  My question - how in the world did she survive for two weeks without chicken feed and water?  Not only was the bobcat out there, but there are plenty of neighbor's dogs and coyotes that could have gotten her as well. 

Jonie is so happy to have her friend back.  They are inseparable.  Claire will put herself to bed each night in the chicken tractor, however, Joanie still refuses to go by herself!  She still sits in the back porch window ledge every evening and I have to carry her over to the chicken tractor.  She has not gotten over the bobcat going in their tractor during the night and killing two of her flock.  Needless to say, neither hen is laying now - the heat and the trauma have had their effect.

I cut my sunflower heads down - they are drying on the back porch.

The Turk's cap is blooming and attracting hummingbirds.

The Belinda's Dream rose is blooming now.  The blooms are not as large and pretty as they are in the springtime, but it is a flower nonetheless in the current heatwave - I'll take it.

The Trumpet Vine pods are pretty large.  After researching whether they are poisonous - I'm still not sure!  I found a post on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center web site about it.  My final conclusion - do not eat, and do not give to animals to eat, just in case.  They are interesting to look at though!
http://wild.its.utexas.edu/expert/show.php?id=9849

It is Cicada season now - do you hear them at your house?  They are LOUD!  I wrote a post about their interesting lifecycle last year - check it out!
http://rainbowmagicsparklebutterfly.blogspot.com/2013/07/anticipating-year-of-cicada-in-north.html

A Cow Killer in the garden - they feed on Cicada Killer wasps.

And finally, a Ladybug was visiting my garden this week too.