Brrrrrr

The cold front came in at about 3:00 this afternoon. Of course I had just started a fire in the chiminea and had completely torn up the giant compost disaster. So I had flames shooting out of the top of the chiminea and compost flying all over the place. Then, of course, it started to rain. I am lucky this way. Let me start a big messy project, and the wind and rain will show up to get me wet and and covered in mud. Thanks Mother Nature, thanks a lot. Somehow, I didn't catch the house on fire and the compost is now back in two piles instead of a giant mess all over the back of the garden.

It is going to get down into the 40's tonight. This is winter weather around these parts. Hopefully, we will get a little more rain to get the fall veggies off to a good start. The tomatoes are not long for this world. I hope the fruits get big enough for me to bring in to ripen in a bowl on the table.

How is your weather?

Let Me Explain This One More Time

I love my neighbors. Really, I do, but this has gotten out of control. Remember when I told him to feel free to put the grass clippings into the compost pile. I was grateful for the compost ingredients and didn't want them ending up in the landfill. A couple of days ago, I began turning and sifting my compost pile. I was about half way through this process when neighbor man mowed his lawn again. I found this mess this afternoon. Nice, he covered up my bucket, my compost screen, and a couple of tools.

When I told him he could use the compost pile anytime, I also told him to quit bagging the clippings once he got the lawn short enough that piles of grass clippings would not be laying on top of the grass killing it. Pretty much the instructions are to mow higher and more frequently. I patiently explained that the grass clippings fall down onto the soil, decompose, and create humus. This builds up the soil and feeds the grass. By bagging leaves and grass, we rob the nutrients from the landscape. Leave them if you can and let them decompose. Did he listen, does he have clue? Nope, he has bagged the grass ever since this.

Here is his lawn. Pretty sparse and mostly scrubby.

Here is my lawn. Never fertilized, never watered, and mowed to a little higher level. Oh, and I need to mention, about 1/4 the size of Neighbor Mowing Mans lawn. See the lawn behind ours. The other neighbor has a lawn service who scalps his lawn every two weeks whether it needs it or not. Another lawn no-no we will save for another day.

Broken Monkey

There will be no garden blogging today. I got a phone call from the school. Teenage Monkey had hurt his arm playing football. An X-ray showed a buckle fracture of his radius.

Halloween Kitty

I am Trixie and I love Halloween

Trust me. Just ignore my evil eyes. I mean no harm.

Bwahahahaha!!!

This is Better

Butterfly Days

We have not had very many butterflies visit this summer. Not really sure what the deal is, but they just didn't come.

There had not been a single Gulf frittilary caterpillar on the passion vine. I have seen very few adults. Today the beauty in the above picture showed up. Isn't she pretty. She did lay a few eggs on the vines, but I don't know if they will have enough time before it gets too cold for caterpillars.

Most summers we watch dozens of black swallowtail caterpillars eat my dill, crysalize (look I made up a verb), and come back to visit the zinnia. This year only one batch ate the fennel in the front flower bed. We had a black swallowtail visit today. I didn't see any egg laying. This is a good thing, because the dill is tiny and there would not be enough food.

Remember this from a couple of days ago.

It now looks like this. I planted it with carrots. Next week I will buy some leek seeds and add a few right down the middle. Should be an interesting looking veggie patch.

What are you growing this fall?

Design Collage

I am trying to get a job as a nursery manager/assistant color designer. Do y'all think this collage will help or hurt my chances?