IT'S A TRAP!

"tasty treat" says the doodle bug

doodle bug damage to potato plants

In the dead of winter, in the back corner of our back yard we put in a mini-hugelkultur.  We rescued some logs from this pile we'd been seeing for a couple of months.  By the way, the huge discarded tree pile is still there.  We piled logs for the base then added sticks on top of those.  The next layer was straw and dry leaves.  Finally we added a few bags of topsoil, some with compost and some without.  Just a little side note here, many garden centers will give you a sizable discount on bagged dirt, mulch, compost etc if you're willing to take the ones with torn bags.  I got a few torn bags of topsoil from Home Depot.  They were wrapped in plastic and the gentleman who told me about the discount even loaded them into my car for me.

Lots of potatoes went into the hugelkultur along with some strawberries and thyme and a few dill plants.  All that decaying material attracted some doodle bugs (pill bugs, sow bugs).  And then it attracted more.  And more.  And more.  Doodle bugs are great in small numbers.  They act much like earth worms, eating decaying material and processing it into healthy soil.  The problems come in when their numbers explode.  When they overrun an area and there are too many of them to eat only the decaying material they start to go after fresh young food sources .... like potato leaves and small strawberries.

mulberries in a beer bottle

hand picked doodle bugs in a clear beer bottle

The great news is that these "pests" don't have to die they just need a new job.  Doodle bugs can be trapped and relocated to a place where their feeding habits will be beneficial.  Ours are getting moved (gradually) to the compost bin.  A pile of leaves would be another good location.  Yesterday I hand picked a bunch and dropped them into a empty beer bottle.  Over at the compost bin I gave the bottle a little tap or two to make them ball up and poured them right in.  Since our mulberry tree drops a great number of berries everyday we also have a paper sack with some kitchen compost and mulberries that I'll be relocating to the compost bin today and we'll be adding a bottle with mulberries today.  I'm sure it would be much easier to kill them off than it is to give them daily walks to the bin but the walks are good for us, the compost is good for the teeny little crustaceans and they are good for the compost.  Not to mention that whatever might be used to kill them probably wouldn't be good for other insects as well.  We don't allow any chemicals in our gardens.  Some doodle bugs will be allowed to stay to break down the bottom layers of the hugel and killing them off wouldn't allow us to leave some there.

doodle bugs "trapped" in a clay pot

Update a few days later.  The paper lunch bag of kitchen compost was GREAT for attracting doodle bugs.  Unfortunately, it was also great for attracting Rufus.  My sweet little dog tore that bag open and scattered bits all around.  Next I tried brown beer bottles with mulberries inside.  I caught a few butterflies but no doodle bugs.  Yesterday I put out a clay pot with a few mulberries and some straw.  This time I caught a BUNCH of doodle bugs and a bunch of ants.  All of those critters got dumped into the compost bin and I refilled the pot with more straw.  It seems that this may be the method that will work.  We're hoping that daily doodle bug removal will save the potatoes and the strawberries.

What do you do about your doodle bug removal?

Alternative Tomato Cages

red brandywine cage by my beautiful man

Some of the tomato plants are starting to get big, spreading themselves out rather than growing up tall.  Since they are also flowering and starting to fruit it was time to cage them.  The standard tomato cages you find in the store always bend and lean over by the end of the season so we looked for alternatives.  We decided to go with stretchy garden tape and bamboo poles.  This way we can add more support as it's needed and replace bits that bend or break.  My beautiful man won the 'most beautiful tomato cage' contest.  Ok ok.  There was no contest but his looks way better than the ones I did.

working on the green zebra cage

the green zebra cage

Uh oh.  Pictures of me.  I'm making the cage for the Green Zebra tomatoes.  The bamboo poles are plenty tall enough and we'll be adding tape as the plants get bigger.  This will allow us to adapt the "cage" to each plant's individual growth habits.

black krim with a single stake

The smaller plants have only received a single stake so far.  We will add support for them as it is needed.

compost added to purple cherokee

straw added to purple cherokee

While we were working with the tomatoes I decided they needed some more food.  All of the plants got some compost mixed in with their dirt and a dressing of straw on top of their soil.  A few of the plants were looking a little nitrogen deficient (yellowing bottom branches but good new growth) so those plants only had some coffee grounds mixed into their soil.

purple cherokee's first tomato

The first Purple Cherokee tomato also happens to be the very first tomato to show up.

the first yellow pear was a beauty

The first Yellow Pair tomato only got it's start the day before a bad storm with high winds.  In other areas this same storm spawned tornadoes.  Unfortunately, the next day I found the poor thing down in the dirt.  Hopefully another will show up soon.

We're looking forward to canning lots of salsa and tomato sauce this fall as well as some stewed tomatoes and whatever else we can make.  I'm sure we'll be sharing a lot of tomatoes with friends as well.  We have big heirloom varities, some paste tomatoes and these little yellow pears.  What kinds of things do you like to make with your tomatoes?

Onions Already?

onions freshly plucked from the ground

In February we planted some onions.  18 each of 10/15 and Granex and then 9 red onions.  We decided to go with transplants for two reasons.  One reason was that onions from seed take much longer and we were excited.  The second reason is that our favorite local garden center had them available.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I'm learning so much of this as I go so each step of everything I'm googling and reading books.  There is a LOT of information out there and, of course, not all of it is good so I try to verify things with a few sources before going with it.  If I publish anything here I find to be wrong I will make a new post to correct myself.

the onion garden with fallen leaves and flower heads

Earlier research would have been helpful but I'm learning now that if you plant onion transplants that are thicker than a pencil they are more likely to bolt early or finish early.  Another factor that can cause early bolting is a late freeze.  The problem with early bolting is that you get small onions.  We had two late freezes and I certainly did plant some of the bigger transplants so we're going to have tiny onions.  Next year I will likely plant a small number of onions just as early with a few sequential plantings after that and I will plant primarily smaller transplants.  I will also be planting a fall crop in late summer so I have some ready super early.

Another project we're doing is seed saving.  Unbelievably, saving seeds from the plants you grow is actually illegal in some countries and some American farmers have been found guilty of such in court.  This just blows my mind.  You can legally only buy your food or buy the plants and seeds each time you need them.  I'm learning to save my seeds from as many kinds of food and beneficial plants as possible and if this does become illegal I guess I'll be a criminal.  I'm just not going to (literally) buy into the GM food monopoly and I don't want to financially contribute to that poison parade.

onions sorted (10/15, red and granex)

These onions were pulled out of the ground 2 days ago, on Saturday.  They've been sitting on top of a shelf on our back patio where it's warm and dry.  This completes stage 1 of drying.  To start the next step I sorted the onions by type.  We have 10/15 from Aggieland, Granex which are supposed to be the best for onion rings (if they get big enough) and some sort of red onions.  I am getting better about labeling and taking notes, I promise.

removing seed head

Before starting the rest of the drying process I removed the flowering seed heads and dropped them into paper bags.  Each type of onion has his own bag which is labeled with the type and today's date.  They will be allowed to dry on a shelf until they are ready to break them open and remove the actual seeds.  At that point the dried seeds will be removed to a labeled and dated paper envelope where they will wait to be planted.

onion seed heads and borage seed heads drying on a shelf in our (non-climate controlled) shed

leaves removed from onions with stumps a few inches long left behind

The next step of the drying process requires most of the leaves to be removed.  Stumps of about 3 inches are left on the onions to keep them from rotting or being invaded by bugs.  The onions were then returned to the outdoor shelf to dry for two more weeks ... except the ones that are going into tonight's dinner.  Honestly I'm wondering if any will survive the two weeks without us eat them.

(You might notice Rufus in a lot more pictures.  My beautiful man has enacted a "if mommy is outside you're outside" rule with him and now he beats me to the door most of the time.  He's a good little guard dog.  The best thing is that he's well trained not to eat food without permission.)

onions returned to shelf to dry some more

onion leaves and mulberry branches in the compost

The leaves from the onions were cut into smaller pieces and thrown into the compost bin along with the mulberry branches my beautiful man pruned off a tree today.  Everything big that goes into the compost bin gets cut down to sizes that will break down faster.  My beautiful man turns the bin every day or two.  A wonderful earthy smell floats up out of it now.  It doesn't smell gross or like decaying food.  We've noticed the butterflies are back feeding from it.  In fact, I was "attacked" by several while cutting up the onion leaves.

After their 2 weeks on the outdoor shelf the onions will be cured for an additional 2 weeks.  I don't remember all the details on that yet but I'll post about it when the time comes.  Sadly, the early smaller onions don't keep as well.  I suppose that fact actually works to my advantage since I don't foresee all of these making it to the curing stage.

compost bin, mulberry tree and our neighbor's flowering plant that calls the butterflies

It feels great to harvest a food that we grew and create no waste in the process.  We eat the food and the scraps all go into the compost.  I will say that I am very fortunate to have a partner who supports me in all my "hippie" ways and helps me with these endeavors.  And I do love seeing him smile when he checks on the plants or eats the food that we grow.

a butterfly friend on the wall of the compost bin

Peas Yummy Peas

peas fresh from the garden

Rufus enjoying a pea

My beautiful man, Rufus and I have been enjoying fresh peas from the garden lately.  Well, we've been enjoying them IN the garden lately.  Every day I pluck off a little baby pea for Rufus and he happily gobbles them down.  Barkley always turns his nose up at them so Rufus has been getting his too.  Yesterday I finally went out and harvested all the peas that I deemed big enough to eat.  Sadly, there were only enough for one serving.  Tonight the man and I will make a run to the grocery for some pasta and a few other veggies and we'll cook up something yummy with them.

beautiful man securing trellis

Today we ventured out to check on the gardens and my beautiful man decided it was time to add the extra trellis netting for the peas.  He just taped and tied it onto the pvc frame we use for tarping in the winter.  Then he drove screws into the bed borders and tied off the bottom of the netting to those.  The peas now have trellis on 3 sides.  We're hoping this will prevent overcrowding and keep harvesting easy as the newer plants grow up.  The holes in the netting are big enough to easily reach through.

flowers

While he was working on the netting I noticed that we had a whole bunch of new flowers popping out.  I really don't remember so many flowers and buds being there yesterday.  Perhaps I over looked them but I believe a lot are a result of the plants having extra energy since I pulled the big peas off yesterday (and I got a few more today.)  Harvesting food that is ready allows the plant to dedicate it's energy to new growth.  Once those newer plants come up we should have plenty at each harvest.

3 sided trellis

Notes:  These are two varieties of snap peas. 2 rows of Sugar Snap Peas from Burpee went in the dirt in mid-March.  Those were followed by successive plantings of 2 or 3 rows of Cascadia Snap Peas from High Mowing Organic Seeds on 4/2/13, 4/15/13, and 4/29/13.  All of the peas harvested so far are the Burpee Sugar Snap Peas and I can honestly say that, even raw and sun warmed they are quite delicious.

Other Note:  The whole thing looks so small next to my beautiful man but feels so tall when I'm standing next to it.  I guess that happens when you're a short lady with a tall man.

and now .... random pictures of peas ....

a wolf spider that tried to help

"smile you beautiful man"

happy little pea flower

more new flowers

a teeny plate of peas

 

cluster of flower buds

The Butterfly Garden

butterflies in the compost.  fall of 2012

Late last fall my beautiful man and I noticed hoards and swarms and legions of butterflies in our compost.  I found a "Bring Home the Butterflies" seed mix at a local garden center and sprinkled them during the winter.  I have to admit to checking the area anxiously and often despite the viciously cold winter.  Ok, it wasn't all that cold but we didn't really have a winter at all last year and I got spoiled.

little baby butterfly garden

The seed packet boasts 28 kinds of flowers but so far I've only seen a few.  Maybe they come up and bloom at different rates.  Or maybe I seeded them too close together and the bigger plants are choking out the smaller ones.  We'll see.  The earliest plants to come up were so cute and little.  At last our butterflies would have their own area to feed on.  But there are no butterflies yet.

a bee at work.  i got in close.  i didn't zoom!

We didn't even notice the last few weeks as the plants got bigger and bigger.  Not only did they start to grow and bloom beautifully but the garden started to expand as well.  I started noticing a bee or two feeding on the flowers but no butterflies.  Eventually I decided to get brave.  I'm afraid of bees but I really want a couple of hives.  I want the honey to help with my allergies and I want to help the bees.  Did you realize that every third bite of food consumed is thanks to bees?  And they're vanishing.  Poor bees.  They work so hard for us and they're dying off.  I want to help them.  So I've put a chair next to the butterfly (and bee) garden.  Every day I spend a few minutes sitting there watching them work.  There are more of them now.  I used to see one or two a day.  Today I saw 6 bees, yesterday there were 8.  I'm doing better at sitting still to watch them too. 

crimson clover?

New types of flowers are finally starting to show up and I'm looking up the flowers listed on the packet and trying to match them up.  I found a little red flower that might be crimson clover.  It's a pretty cute little flower.

my bee watching chair

Now I realize that you may be wondering what butterflies and bees and inedible flowers have to do with sustenance.  As I mentioned, bees are responsible for every third bite of food.  They pollinate and help our plants grow more food.  Butterflies work the same.  We've only just started to see them.  I think in the few hours we were outside yesterday we saw 3 butterflies and caterpillar.  The weather is finally starting to warm up so we should be seeing more soon.  The seeds sprinkled on the opposite side of the compost are starting to come up right next to the trumpet vine.  Once I replace the passion flower that didn't survive the winter we'll have almost one whole side of the yard attracting butterflies and bees.  All of this butterfly goodness surrounds the square foot gardens where our tomatoes, peppers, and all our other food will be helped by their happy feeding.

butterfly garden

butterfly garden

borage

butterfly garden

I've spent the last few hours looking at photos of the gardens and trying to decide what I should tell you about first.  Beginning at the beginning seemed like a good way to ... well ... begin.  But then I got tired of the word "begin."  I'm not sure why that happened.  We just started the Three Sisters Garden the other day.  Would that make a good start?  The Onion Garden is looking lush.  Maybe that would bring good luck?  And then I thought of it.  Lushy.  I shall tell you about Lushy.

Lushy the Garden Pelican

 It is my distinct pleasure to introduce you all to Lushy.  He is indeed a pelican.  I know what you're thinking.  "Pelicans don't like North Texas, it's too dry."  And you're right but it's ok, Lushy isn't real.  (Btw, you probably shouldn't tell him that.)

Let's start with the name.  On one of our trips home my biggest little sister and I decided that it would be useful to have flasks, particularly flasks that could follow us around.  Mind you, we were dead sober during this entire conversation.  We came to the obvious conclusion that we should get pet pelicans.  These pelicans would hold our alcohol in their bills.  Most of the time they would be well behaved but it would be unrealistic to expect that they wouldn't sneak a nip now and then.  Probably more nips than we know.  And so we named flask pelicans "Lushy."

Now I will share with you the story of my Lushy.  Shortly after moving to our little house with the great big yard in the middle of the right-next-to-the-city country my beautiful man and I visited a local garden center for some supplies.  That's when we saw Lushy.  He was just sitting there minding his own business like fake pelicans tend to do.  My beautiful man noticed the love in my eyes and asked the proprietor if Lushy was for sale.  Yay!  He was!  So Lushy came home to live with us.

Rufus and Barkley asleep after disc golf.

Since he came home Lushy has watched over the gardens.  Every now and then he gets restless and one of us has to move him from spot to spot until he finds one he likes.  Rufus and Barkley don't seem to mind him much.  They don't really bother him except for the rare occasion when one of boys mistakes him for a fire hydrant.  I'll be sure to get you some pictures of them in the yard.

Lushy's first perch

the first carrot harvest

 Lushy looked on as we planted our first gardens.  A 2'x4' square foot garden was first followed very closely by a 4'x4'.  The smaller garden got catnip, lettuce, broccoli, peas, and cantalope.  The second received broccoli, green onions, pie pumpkins, carrots, sun flowers, lettuce, and quinoa.  We knew we were racing the clock, Lushy wouldn't let us forget.  The cantalope and the pumpkin didn't have time before the first freeze, which also claimed the second broccoli.  Some sort of pests ate every planting of sunflowers.  We didn't plant enough peas.  The broccoli in the small bed tasted incredible.  I wish we'd been able to eat the other one.  Since we'd planted only baby lettuces we just added the leaves to our store bought lettuce.  The quinoa did amazing but I never finished the harvesting process.  Life got a little crazy about then.  We let the carrots over winter and ate them in the spring.  There were only enough for a small serving each but they were delicious!

the first raised beds

early compost

The rest of the fall and into the winter we started a compost bin.  My beautiful man built me one according to the design I had in mind.  He's a sweetheart.  I'm not allowed to say that so shhhh.  The compost bin got new levels as it grew the need for them.  Both yard waste and kitchen scraps went into the bin.  Coffee grounds, bell pepper tops, egg shells, grass clippings, forgotten lettuce from the fridge and so much more. We built another 4'x4' frame even though we weren't ready for it just because we were excited.  



 

 Since then we've started one hugelkultur in a corner of the yard.  The one is planted with potatoes, strawberries, dill and thyme.  It looks like we're going to have a lot of potatoes, like, too many potatoes!  Another hugel is in the works but we're not rushing on this one yet.  The extra garden frame is now a working tomato/pepper/eggplant garden.  They're being joined by 2 kinds of lettuce, some baby carrots, chives, and soon some basil.  The original big garden is the onion garden this year and is Lushy's current roost. Onions of all colors, carrots, lettuce, garlic and green onions are all coming along nicely.  I fear the broccoli is done for now but I'll give it and the weather a little longer.  The catnip got moved out of the small garden.  It was taking over in a big bad way.  We'll have a lot more peas this year and we've added some collard greens.  Soon we'll be planting what I've started calling "full sized carrots."  I suppose I've come to think of baby carrots as the norm.

close up of bee ... no zoom!

We seeded a butterfly garden last fall and it's big and beautiful.  It doesn't have many butterfly friends yet but the bees love it.  Bees, of course, are always welcome.  Lushy likes the bees too.  He says he enjoys their buzz.  Hopefully next year I'll get my own hives.  I'm afraid of bees so every day I spend a few minutes sitting with them.  It's getting better.  Today one buzzed my head and I didn't run away, screeching and flailing my arms.  I even took a picture of a bee all up close and personal and without zooming in!  It is possible that I'm a little too proud of that.  Under the bird feeder I sprinkled handfuls of seeds meant to attract wild birds.  A soft lush bed of assorted leaves is all we have so far but I'm eager to see what flowers show up.  There are a couple of tiny flower gardens including my beautiful man's bluebonnet garden.  The seeds in these are just starting to emerge.  Someone may or may not have seeded a few anthills with wild bird seed as well.  I really don't know how much I should say about that.  The Three Sisters Garden is less than a week old and no seeds have popped up their pretty heads just yet.  There has been some muttering from Lushy about moving over there to watch the beans grow up the corn and the cantalope and pumpkin spread out.  Sometime this summer we'll put in a memorial garden for a lost pet of 18 years.  I'll plant him some more catnip and find plants that will attract butterflies to him.  He'll get some edible plants and some just for looks or sentiment.  Eventually there will be a shade garden by the patio.  There's an ugly patch of clay that needs some help.  After the good dirt, newspaper and earthworms go in we'll find some things to make it beautiful.  A keyhole garden is on Lushy's wishlist and I'd love to add a few more raised beds but we'll have to see what the summer has to hold.

my beautiful man

As we travel down this road my beautiful man, Lushy, the boys and I welcome your comments and questions.  Peaceful discussion is encouraged.  Please enjoy this journey.  I hope you come to feel a part of it.

Lushy the Garden Pelican