Graphocephala coccinea

The other morning I saw one of these guys, a Scarlet and Green Leafhopper. I thought for sure that I was seeing things in my bleary-eyed morning stupor. I also didn't have my camera on me. Whatsthatbug.com confirmed I wasn't dreaming. The colors in nature are so impressive.

June 4th--Bring on the beans

On June 4th, I saw my little beans sprouting. I stood over them as a proud momma for several minutes willing them to grow strong and proud. Did I mention that after being with DH for almost 6 years, I just found out that he loves lima beans? Well, that's why they have found a home in my garden this year. I haven't really ever tried to grow anything from seed, so I am super excited that this worked.

As a side note, the weekend of the 14th, we had guests over to the house. They were concerned that we wouldn't have "a mess of beans." Don't worry, they were concerned my little garden wouldn't produce enough to sneeze at last year and we definitely had more than what we could eat.

The Misfit Daisy

I stopped by Lowe's a while ago and came across this Gerbera Daisy on clearance for only $1.99!. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it had a clearance sticker on it. Now it's blooming :)

First Strawberry

June 15th brought the first strawberry!! It was beautiful, luscious red. I let my cousin do the honors. Turns out I should have left it for a little longer :) It wasn't exactly what you would call sweet. But it sure did look good!

More Trouble--rust?

The same day I found the aphids, I also found this on my lima beans:
Jeez! I definitely didn't have this many problems last year. Again, Tom did some googling for me and came up with the idea that it is some sort of rust, possibly caught from some nearby soybean field. When I got home from work, I plucked off the affected leaves (all bottom leaves). I have not noticed any since (fingers crossed).

Aphid Attack!

So a week or two ago, I went out to the garden to harvest some more lettuce. Tucked into the leaves, I found a LOT of bugs. Ack! I didn't know what they were, so I took a picture. I showed it to Tom and he googled--low and behold, I have aphids. Crap. I should have known what they were--I did work at a greenhouse after all. All this time I thought I knew what aphids look like; I wasn't even close. Doh.

I have since posted a request on freecycle for ladybugs. No luck. I had one response suggesting I sprinkle seven dust which I don't consider an option. I have also read a couple other blog posts that say Home Depot sells them-not in this neck of the woods! I did some more investigating today and found that I can probably control them with jets of water and sprays of soapy water. So far it seems that the little buggers are not harming the lettuce, just freaking me out a little.

First Harvest!!

May 30, Mom and Dad came up to spend the night. I made dinner for them. But the exciting part is that I used my first harvest!! The lettuce was beautiful!!

Planted the First Round of Beans

On Thursday, May 29, I planted my first squares of beans. One square slenderette, one square lima, nine seeds per square according to Mel. I will end up with three squares slenderette and two squares lima. I hope that I can keep up with them, it seems like a lot of beans. I also hope that I planted them correctly. I plan to plant them two weeks apart for a continual harvest.

Here is a look at the progress of the garden.

Stephanie's Strawberry Patch

Last year, right after I planted my garden, miss Elfie was outside unattended. The next thing I knew she had dug up quite a bit of what I had just planted. Then there were a couple other places around the house that she wouldn't stop digging up. I tried a couple different methods--one of them was yelling at her with rage, I hate to admit--but it wasn't working. After a thorough internet search, my last effort was to build a designated spot for her to dig in. My brother affectionately calls it Elfie's Sandbox. The neighbors were totally baffled. Apparently no one else has googled what to do when your dog is digging up your garden. Anyway, I got the same wood that I used for my garden beds, assembled a box and filled the bottom with sand. Elfie laid in it twice. That's it. Not one little paw full of sand ever got dug. BUT what matters is that she hasn't dug anywhere else either! Bottom line is that now Elfie's sand box is my strawberry patch!! Listen to the squeals of delight!

I tried to use Mel's mix, but I couldn't get vermiculite. I know they have it at Bennett's, but that is the only place I have ever seen it. They didn't have it at Altum's or Jones'. Also, I wanted to use the peat alternative that I used last year from Menards, but no one here seemed to have that either. Small bales of peat at Altum's were $20, $6 at Lowe's.

I am not sure what variety I got. I bought bare root plants from Bennett's in the cooler. I remember that they are ever-bearing. Perhaps I will remember to call and ask what they are.