Nature and Gardening

What's going on?

Every time I look at this picture I just giggle.

tuscan simplicity by Rafael Wagner

via Flickr

"Hills, sky, clouds. That's enough to get excited about the simplicity of Tuscany."

I am fortunate enough to live mere blocks from a local CSA farm (they hung on to a few acres of farmland when their family sold most of the area for a housing development) and we're getting into good harvest season. Today's haul: radishes, carrots, turnips, basil, cherry tomatoes, kale, edible flowers, onions, lettuce, oyster & lion's mane mushrooms. Veggies for dinner tonight! (and yes, if you can find me, you're invited).

If you have a CSA in your area, I urge you to check out the cost of membership. If you can afford it, it's usually a win both for small farmers and for the quality of your diet.

[Image description: plastic bags full of vegetables on a kitchen counter]

Because we can all use a bunny today.

[Image description: Small brown bunny hiding in some bush maple foliage]

I'm growing a Big Max pumpkin this year. This is my second year gardening and first time trying to grow a pumpkin.

Does anyone know if this is a male or female flower? I think I'm supposed to seal the female ones until later but also think I remember reading the male ones come first.

Really happy we decided to grow these from seed this year. The cotyledons come up in an adorable little whorl and create such a contrast with the young true leaves. We're also seeing tons of fireflies resting on them until I get close enough to take pictures.

15kg if berries I had in the freezer from last year. Set up 1.5 weeks ago. Now sitting 8% alcohol! I'll press it this weekend. Am so excited!

Plumbago is extremely popular as a landscape plant in my area (central Texas). It is drought tolerant and has light blue blooms pretty much all year. It tolerates light shade and generally doesn't have many issues with disease or pests.

My problem with it is that it is not native to my area. It's not even native to the same continent! As a lesser complaint, it's planted so frequently that I'd rather have something different.

As an example, one great alternative would be Texas turks cap. I already have quite a bit of that, though, so I'm looking for other options.

Any suggestions?

I did some searching, and apparently he's a Five-spotted Hawkmoth, aka my garden nemesis, the tomato hornworm! Never knew those hornworms grew into these adorable giant moths.

[Image description: Large moth sitting on back of hand, covering about 1/3. Moth is fuzzy, with grey striping and prominent yellow spots running down its back.]

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/676280

This is the first photo of the process. Get ready for some action

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/676280

This is the first photo of the process. Get ready for some action

I was just chilling on a rooftop terrace in the Austrian alps when this little guy came to visit.

This is the first photo of the process. Get ready for some action

I spent the day yesterday wandering around some trails in the Shawnee National Forest (southern Illinois) from the Golden Circle trailhead to Pounds Hollow and back. I didn't keep super good track of my route, but it was something like (trail numbers): 1440 to 154 to 001 to 155 to 001 to 137A to 165 to 166 to 164 to 001 to 180 to 185 to 184 to 183 to 006, bushwhack to 134 to 006A to 006B to 109, roadwalk Karbers Ridge to 001 to 010A. Whew! The River to River Trail Society has some excellent brochures with georeferenced PDFs that cover trails in this area.

The weather was a bit sticky, but not too bad - high temps in the lower 80s. Between some recent rain and increased horse traffic for the summer, low spots in the trails are getting pretty torn up in places, particularly as you get closer to the various horse camps. Poison ivy is out in force, ticks are too so take reasonable precautions.

The area is a mix of pleasant forests, clifftop vistas, and streambeds (almost all dry at the moment). Pounds Hollow Lake is one of the ones in the area created by the CCC building a dam in the 1930s and has a reasonably popular swimming beach, as well as rest rooms and potable water.

I had planned to camp at Pounds Hollow, but I stupidly forgot to pack cash to pay for the $10 fee, so what was planned as a 20 mile day turned into a 29 miler when I took the most direct route back to the trailhead where I started. There are a couple of other good spots along that route back, but all the water sources were dry or stagnant, and I didn't have enough water along for dinner & breakfast so I said the heck with it and came home. All told, 29.2 miles in just a shade over 12 hours. The last 4 or so were pretty tough, but I made it.

[Image description: southern Illinois forested hills receding into the distance, framed by trees and viewed from the top of Buzzard Roost]

More pictures at imgur.

Any hoya heads here?

This one had a learning curve, I'd heard they were thirsty but couldn't believe it needed that much water. After many lost peduncles, I've got one set of flowers opening and another close behind.

I'm hoping next year to try to grow a few plants on my apartment's deck. It's half sun and I live in a temperate area where I've had family grow tomatoes, potatos, peas, beans, etc.

I feel like any fruit or veg that can grow on a trellis should, in theory, work. Anyone have any lived experience to share? I'm not terribly good with plants, so I also ask the question "should a novice tackle this kind of project"?

Finally blooming after a long, dryer than normal spring!

singularity by Arx Zyanos

via flickr

"Photographed while walking through a nature reserve during a snowstorm and dense fog.

I used four times the exposure time and could create a high key shot by this way."