Before the Heat there was stink bugs

And death follwed. I had to start picking everything in order to save it.








Here is a link to a pest I had to deal with earlier this season, I smashed 'em up with rocks, they gave me the heebee geebees... they were in larval form at the time.
http://earthfriendlygardening.wordpress.com/2006/04/03/ipm-the-colorado-potato-beetle/

Still Hoeing

I am still trying to get our garden together. UGH! I was sweating gallons last night. I probably have about 4 more rows to hoe. Then ofcourse I will be preoccupied all summer trying to weed out the ever advancing crab grasses (ever heard of aligator grass?) and turning the sprinkler on and off.
I have had a hard time finding a good source of seeds to fill in my garden but I did find some. I put in some parsley, butternutt squash and turnips yesterday. We'll see if they take...
I still have iceberg lettuce seeds, and parsnips to put in. I'll also probably try and start more tomatoes soon. I doubt we will be able to harvest much of this.

Growin'

Hey Y'all I'm growing corn!
This next photo shows about half our garden. The rain has been sparce, but the last two days it has finally cooled off and some rain has fallin'. Good thing two since we are on water restriction and I can only legally irrigate on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We have planted corn, carrots, green onions, leeks, basil, chives, dill, brussell sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, spinach, lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, cantaopes, watermelons, pumkins (pie), peas, zucchinni and yellow squash. We also have some volunteer cucumbers.

Tiller Magic

Farmer Mark went in on a tiller rental with the neighbor and tilled me up a garden more than four times the size of last years.
THe compost pile in the picture yeilded some great soil we incorporated into the garden and I have started a new compost pile off to the left. Unfortunately I think my dog Bluew ate most of the last round of kitchen scraps I put out there (yuck!).
This picture shows some of the old gardeninthe lower right corner. I forgot about hoeing rows and put stuff in and the drought has been trying to kill them since. I hear it has been the Driest May since the 1950's. Now that I have a nicely tilled area I feel like I have to fix the other one up, maybe move the plants and hoe some rows. Suggestions welcome.
Until the tiller showed up I had been going out each evening I could and turning a bigger garden one shovel full at a time. when I saw how fast the tiller did it I was almost sick to my stomach. Good exercise at least. Now the hoeing exercise starts.

Not from MY backyard exactly

This is a "Jay Leno" strawberry we picked at Bunn's Pick Your Own Starwberry Farm, on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Ninty-nine cents a pound. Nice sweet strawberries.
We attempted to make Jam but of course the first round came out as Strawberry Goo.

Planting time: results begin

These are some of our FREE trees growing in, Yea!

We also finally found enough rocks the finish the front garden and justify mulch.
I'm planting annuals for now but planning on perrenial shopping in August.
And this is the beginning of out vegetable garden.

Yard pictures

This first picture is of our new "Tulip" tree, which I believe is a type of magnolia, maybe. I'm ashamed to admit I don't know for sure. That is just what the neighbor called it. At it base are two Gardenia that I swore were azalea when I first picked them up. It's definately time to brush up on my ID skills.

Second picture here is of our freeze damage which zapped and nearly killed one of our Live Oaks, a Crape Myrtle and a Mimmosa at least. Look Closely and you will see shriveled up dried and dead, tons of little baby leaves.
This third picture here is of our Christmas tree, Gradys first Christmas tree, a little Blue Spruce with plenty of spunk. Only a few leaf buds were damaged in the big freeze.

Also we planted 79 trees left over from an Arbor Day celebration. Our foresry professor friend Bronson hooked us up with Green Ash, Shumard Oak, Overcup Oak and Bitter Pecan trees. They looked more like twigs, but with a special forestry tool he loaned us we planted all 79 in 24 hours. I am happy to report that 31 of them are alive and kicking! Thirty-one new trees for free! Wow!

I found a fellow gardener!

Birds we have seen in the last month:

Brownheaded Cowbird, Dark Eyed Junco, Morning Dove, Eastern Blue Bird, MeadowLark, Purple Finches, Crows, Red Tailed Hawk, Woodcock, Mockingbird

Mark's Dogwood

Question for You

Bluebirds are back!
So, should I keep this log going past one year?

We planted our christmas tree, a blue spruce in the way back, i thought that was a nice way to finish the year.

Now I need some feedback. Is this a blog to continue?