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Posted by admin to four leggeds, summer, wildlife on 2007-08-17, 07:57:00

Our apple tree eater wasn't too happy to find those little (super
strong) hotel soaps tied in her favorite snack branches! So far it's
working well. This was over a month ago, back when we had green
grass. Not a drop of rain in August so far. First clouds I've seen
all month are in the sky today, but only a 20% chance of rain. Come
on rain!

Post Feed Footer here

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Posted by admin to birds, summer, wildlife on 2007-08-11, 10:33:00

Here at Larrapin, we have three roadrunners who visit: Randy a large male, Rhonda a reclusive female, and Ricky, pictured here. This was yesterday and it was about 99 degrees, so even the roadrunner was panting a bit.

Ricky is a small male and not the least bit shy. He tags along, no kidding, when we walk with the dogs down the drive to the mailbox. Our neighbor thinks this is pretty funny. Ricky brings sticks, deadheaded flowers, dead lizards and even the occasional mole to the window and taps to get our (or the dogs) attention. He's like a winged, two legged cat that way.

When I go out to the garden I often hear a little "whirr" sound from the hedgerow -- as if Ricky is saying, "Hey, I'm over here." He is also nosy. Just this morning I was weeding and tossing the pulled up plants in a garden cart. I went inside for a glass of water and when I returned, Ricky was on the side of the cart, making sure I wasn't stealing any of his lizards I guess. He loves the weiner dogs, especially Buster. Blue could care less. (If I can figure out how to put a video on this blog, I'll put up a typical Roadrunner/Weinter dog interaction...)

And yes, he's very very fast. One day Buster (the dachshund/jack russell cross) bolted out the front door when I opened it and Ricky happened to be standing on the patio. (Neither event is too unusual.) I was terrified for a moment that Buster would catch him. Not to worry. Ricky sprinted down the lawn with Buster close behind. Then suddenly Ricky zagged about six foot to the right -- so fast I could barely see what happened -- and hit the ground. Buster tore merrily on past, barking like mad, never realized he'd passed his prey. Ricky got up an strolled away. All in a roadrunner's day... Since he is so fast, I have many photos of Ricky just like this one:

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Posted by admin to butterflies, summer on 2007-08-10, 15:09:00

Caught this lovely on one of the butterfly bushes. This has been an amazing butterfly year now that I'm planting butterfly bushes, parsley, dill and milkweed. More on that later...

I'd originally called this one a buckeye, but Tina alerted me that it's an American Painted Lady instead. We have so many in the garden this year and prior to 2007, the one butterfly I felt certain about was a Monarch. I have purchased the wonderful Arkansas butterfly book. I'll post that later too. Thanks Tina!

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Posted by admin to Other Gardens, garden, summer on 2007-08-10, 13:58:00

I visited my friend Susanna's lovely garden a few weeks ago and took these photos. What a lovely backyard to stroll around! I was part of a group getting a tour of her rainwater catch system, part of which is pictured below, which she uses for her vegetable gardens, trees and flower beds.

Susanna has a great gardening shed. I particularly loved her story of the mother fox who raised several litters of kits over the years in the crawlspace of this backyard gardening shed. The kits must have been wonderful to see.




How wonderful to have friends who garden wonderfully. And it never hurts if, like Susanna, those friends happen to be fabulous cooks! I've never liked Chard, but Susanna has a great recipe that involves ginger. Yum. I'll ask her if I can post it later...


Everyone needs a garden cart. How much better to have one that is personalized!

Susanna explained that her tiny vegetable garden has three layers of fence protection from critters -- the high bamboo with tape for deer, small low chicken wire for rabbits, and a decorative wire for armadillo. Seems to work. This vegetable bed is just behind the white shed. She gets lots of produce from a very small space.


Here's her rainwater roof catch system. I'd like one of these! The woman who built the system for Susanna is named Kaz and she is the one with her hand up, explaining the plumbing fittings...

Thanks for opening your garden to your pals Susanna!

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Posted by admin to edibles, summer, vegetables on 2007-07-25, 16:11:00

Like Connie, who responded to the "Do you know this flower?" post, I had no idea that okra has such lovely, if very brief, flowers. The Hill Country Red Okra from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds in the previous post continues to produce a good amount of BIG pods -- best eaten fried Southern style because it gets big so fast. Next year I'd like to try another variety in the Baker Creek catalog that has red stems, pods and leaves!

This photo is from 2006. I had leftover okra transplants and no room in the garden, so I put a few in various spots in flower beds around the house. I thought it was great. Plus, you could pick okra from the patio... This variety is Clemson Spineless and is great tasting and very productive. And all green.

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Posted by admin to summer, vegetables on 2007-07-21, 19:26:00

Know this flower?
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

Did you know an okra bloom was so lovely? This is an Alabama heritage red okra with gorgeous red stems and leaf veins...

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Posted by admin to edibles, summer on 2007-07-21, 19:17:00

Here's one of the ripening "Charentais" French melons as well as on of Larrapin Garden's most honored guests -- a monarch butterfly caterpillar who wandered over on the melons from the tropical milkweed growing in the same garden bed.

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Posted by admin to edibles, summer on 2007-07-21, 19:12:00

The monster vine...
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

Here's the watermelon vine, covering the whole raised bed, plus an 8 x 8 tarp...

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Posted by admin to edibles, summer on 2007-07-21, 19:11:00

Larrapin's First Watermelon!
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

Well, it's actually the second watermelon. I picked the first one and it wasn't ripe! What a disappointment. To make matters worse, even unripe, it was delicious to nibble. These are Tendersweets from Baker Heirloom seeds -- an orange/yellow variety. Before picking, I did study up on how to tell a ripe watermelon: thunking sound when tapped, white spot on belly, brown tendril above the melon... No dice. I think now the whole stem should be browning instead of just the tendril?

I've got two more chances coming up soon since two are getting pretty large on the vine. The vine is a monster -- taking up about 96 square foot right now! Of course there are two vines planted together, and also a french melon on the same raised bed. I ran the vines on a tarp beside the bed to keep down weeds....another learning experience, it holds water when it rains so I had to lift the melons up on little wooden pedestals to keep them safe...

Nothing makes you appreciate a vegetable or fruit --even the storebought kind -- once you know what a challenge that part between the seed and the table can be!

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Posted by admin to Flowers, summer on 2007-07-01, 09:51:00

June Poppies
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.