Watermelon

    Yet another in my series of volunteer plants we couldn't grow when we purposely planted seeds. This time it's watermelon. Earlier in the season, right after we had filled the middle bed with cucumber and pepper plants, we found a clump of unidentified seedlings. It turned out they were watermelon vines that would grow so aggressively I had move one of the jalapeno plants out of the bed because it was covered in vines. Completely covered, I had trouble finding it. 

  The real surprise was that the melons we've eaten so far actually tasted good.    

   Lesson learned: always toss seeds in the garden, because composting pays off in more ways than one.

Here is a picture of one of the five, yes five, small watermelons the vines were able to produce before they died. 

   Side note: I have no idea why the died, but I suspect it was the heat and lack of rain, it's killed just about everything else, despite daily waterings.

We've been freezing the rinds and giving them to the chickens as a nutritious and cooling snack. Because it is too hot.

Thanks again for reading. I hope you have a bat-tastic day! 

Cucumbers

   The chicken wire seems to be working. The cucumbers out in the garden aren't growing very well, but they haven't been eaten. Yet.


   The cucumbers I bought are doing well too. Six survived. I'm afraid to plant them out in the garden; they will be staying in the front. I transplanted them into bigger pots the other day, they look ok.

   This is shaping up to be a terrible year for pests. Or a great year, depending on your view point. The kale have nasty green caterpillars on them. Some of the caterpillars are on the squash too. Speaking of which, if you have squash you should be checking for borer worm eggs on the under sides of their leaves and stems. If you don't sqush or otherwise remove the tiny red eggs within three days of them being laid they will hatch, bore into your plant, and eat it from the inside.

   The wind is terrible still. Ruining my internet connection, beating up the plants, and drying out everything.


  Bats Bizarre's having a mother's Day sale! Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your total purchase from today 4/29/14 through 5/9/14.

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Cucumbers And Other Garden News

I planted a row of cucumber seeds where the snow peas were this winter. When they didn't come up my mother and I planted two more rows, one of either side of the trellis. Some came up. And then something ate them. And mom's squash seedlings! There were dig marks were it grabbed one that hadn't sprouted yet. I'm thinking it was a skunk.

  I bought seven seedling from the store. (I will be keeping them in pots on a shelf on the porch.) Not long after that Mom noticed some more seedlings coming up. We covered them with chicken wire. They look like convict cucumbers. Wish us luck the wire works.

  I can't believe I had to cover the plants the night before last. I was afraid I was going to lose them all.



    Oh yeah, I also can't believe there are two tomatoes on one of the plants in the garden. Must be the chicken poop.

  
Happy Easter!

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I Guess It's Finally Spring

  

    I guess it's finally spring here. Or at least I hope so because we've got a lot of veggies in the garden and I would hate to lose them to a late frost. All we need is some crookneck and pan-patty squash, cucumbers, and for the tai peppers seeds to finally sprout. I still have some herbs and flowers to plant and a couple of plants that need to be transplanted. but for the most part we're on track.

  So far this has been a very strange year, most of the country is still frozen, normally this far south we've had plants in the ground for at least a month, but not this year. It was too cold for seeds to sprout in the green house.

   After two years some of my Dutch Irises finally bloomed! And they bloomed double! They are so pretty, no idea if the white ones died or are late bloomers but so far six of them are blue with yellow spots. Here is a picture of the first four to bloom. They are in pots on the porch so I have a very good view of them. The Hummingbirds love them.
 The Grapefruit is covered in blooms, but that last late frost killed the apple's blossoms. It was covered. We're horrified, but at least a couple stayed. And my Gladiolas are reluctantly pushing above the surface. 

                        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!