Mostly Welcome Garden Visitors

Have you seen the Blue Mud Dauber Wasp before? This is my first time. This is an impressive bug. Very large wasp, this one was probably more than an inch. They eat black widows! Not that I have seen any around here. I believe there are two of these hanging around my Limelight hydrangeas. They are very pretty, shiny, fuzzy and blue! From what I have read they are not aggressive. They are pretty quick flyers though, getting a snap shot of them is difficult!

 This Lacewing was hanging around my milkweed. I have Milkweed Aphids (tiny yellow plant suckers 😡) so I hope this aphid eater sticks around and takes care of them!

Last year was the first time I had ever seen these Snowberry Clearwing Moth's (not a bee). I had one last year. This year I have two and they spend all their time in my garden! One day my daughter saw one just sitting on a tomato leaf which was odd because they seem to never stop fast flying....like a humming bird, which is why they call it hummingbird moth, it hovers while it eats. Later I caught the two mating and showed my daughter. She blurted, "They had a date and the girl was late!" Cute and funny. They are a really cool creature! I love them!

I'm not sure if this is a welcome visitor or not. Not on this day, as he had a bee in his grasp. If he is going to eat bad bugs I'm all for him but if he is eating my bees....not so much. This is a Robber Fly.

 Early in the season this guy was living in my butterfly bush. I kept finding white cabbage moth wings with no body. So I moved him for fear he would get a beautiful swallowtail. I put him in the bean bed and he has been doing a beautiful job taking care of the bean bugs and bean beetles and he has grown every time I come across him. He has gotten so big and his back wings have started to turn brown. He truly is huge! And my beans look better since they are not being devoured by bean beetles! I need to find another one to put into the squash bed. I believe the icicle radishes are helping to deter the squash vine borer but the squash bugs are impossible! It would give me great pleasure to see a Mantis devouring ALL the squash bugs!

 I have had a range of Swallowtails. The Tiger Swallowtail, Black swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail and some other black varieties that I have not seen close enough to know if they are Pipevine or Spicebush. Some of those black ones are hard to differentiate! But I love them in my garden, they are so majestic, graceful and beautiful! I have had several Tiger Swallowtails, sometimes at the same time!

 I have also enjoyed the presence of at least one Monarch that frequently but quickly visits my garden. It doesn't hang around like the Tiger and Zebra Swallowtail. They like to linger in the garden.

 This visitor is also welcome most the time, as long as she isn't digging in bare newly seeded beds. She keeps me company and keeps the bunnies away! She does however like to stalk the hummingbird feeder. Hope she never catches one!

 Oh the Bees! They are oh so welcome always! Pollinate, my friends! Pollinate!

Happy Gardening Adventures! What kind of welcome visitors do you have?

Harvest Monday July 30, 2018

It's Harvest Monday at Our Happy Acres

I have been away on vacation. We spent some time in Pensacola at Fort Pickens beach  watching Blue Angels practice 

 

Then we went on a wonderful Disney cruise with the In Law family.

View from Cast Away Cay, Disney Island.

While away the harvesting did not wait for me! I returned some piles on the counter and some was used by my caretaker and given away to friends while I was away.

 Belgium Giant

First of the Chinese noodle beans, The garlic which was also planted late and some onions

Some tiny onions cause I planted too late.

 I took the kids to Idle Wild Butterfly farm in Lousiville. The Rue was just covered in Giant Swallowtail caterpillars. I went and bought 4 Rue plants for myself this week because I WANT THESE!  Rue is a host plant but mainly citrus is a host plant for them more south.

 A few of my beautiful sunflowers! Love them!

 This one appears to have no background but this is up against the sky, it is a good 7-8 feet tall!

Hope you are having a fantastic garden week! 

Come follow me on intstagram 

@shawnannshomeandgarden

Harvest Monday 7/9/18

It's Harvest Monday at Our Happy Acres. Join in on the garden conversation and share your harvest and happenings in the garden!

My daughter wanted homemade potato chips for dinner last week so I told her if she digs them, I'll make them! I didn't get a harvest photo but I got a pic of the finished product. They were yummy. I baked them. I may try to fry them lightly next time.

 Beans, Cucumbers, white currant and cherry tomatoes and berries. Beans and cucumbers have slowed some but are still producing and the cherry tomatoes are picking up.

 Pulled some carrots for dinner. And the first snacking pepper of the season! With more to come!

Basil, parsley, volunteer potatoes from last year, beans, tomatoes, snacking pepper, pitiful pickling cucumbers.

Enough potatoes between yesterday and today to have potatoes for breakfast and dinner! I won't argue with that! 😄 I picked the first Valencia tomato, the smaller orange one. Seems I am having a few tomato surprises in my garden for tomatoes. Don't know if I mislabeled seeds or if I saved them they didn't stay true to the original. I did buy the Valencia plant locally but I thought it read that it was a pink or red plum tomato. Surprised to see orange.

I'm always looking out for opportunities to take some nature photographs and practice with my camera, though I often still find myself using auto settings I am trying to learn some manual settings!

White Borage

 Swallowtail larvae, probably Eastern Black.

 American Goldfinch Male

 3 finches in the sunflowers

 Female

We went camping outside of Gatlinburg, Tn this week. On our last day we drove the Cades Cove loop and hiked to Abrams Falls. We saw this deer in the Cades Cove meadows. On our trail, we got all the way out to the falls and it began to thunder storm, heavy soon after our arrival! We had to hike back almost 3 miles in torrential rains with thunder and lightning and 4 kids 8-18 years old. Lots of screaming and one dead waterlogged phone 😐 It was a trip we won't soon forget. We were soaked as much as if we had jumped in the water hole, and the kids did.

Every week I get my farm fresh eggs from my friend who moved further out to the country a couple years ago to start her little farm. Thistle Rock farm. I love to get these eggs from her, the color on the outside and the intense color on the inside and I know exactly what she feeds and does not feed her chickens! Best way to have eggs if you can't have chickens yourself.

If your local, you can find Thistle Rock farm on Facebook. She has eggs but also we got to pick our own turkey out last year. That was lots of fun! I believe in the future she plans to have honey and other things. She has already got her bees. And it is fun to get to go out and explore her little farm any time we want, and wish I had one of my own!

Happy Gardening! Have a productive garden week!
ShawnAnnshomeandgarden Instagram 
 

A Colorful Harvest 7/2/18

I can't believe it is July! It was a very humid day yesterday with a heat index of 104. Needless to say I waited until the sun was all the way out of the garden before I went out to harvest and I was still drippy! 

It is Harvest Monday over at Our Happy Acres. Join the conversation and share your harvests!

Last week I had a nice 4 lbs of beans trimmed and ready for blanching. This week is shaping up to be similar. I should have a good amount for freezing, and I am happy with that!

 Picked the first harvest of carrots. This is a kaleidoscope mix. We had them roasted for dinner that very night! I love the colors! So bright and beautiful!

 I love the colors of the potatoes as well! I was so happy to find most of these so close to the surface. I could probably dig for more. This was only one small section at the soils surface.

 The first White Currant tomatoes. They are really small, about the size of a Matt's Wild cherry. The full size tomato is suppose to be a Monster Pink. This one is pretty average in size, we'll see what the rest of the season yields from this plant. My daughter ate ALL the tomatoes!

 The zucchini are not producing well. I have pulled one plant of 2 already. Mildew was effecting it quite a bit. No sign of the dreaded squash vine borer, so that is good. I planted new seeds, so maybe a later harvest is in store! I've really been enjoying trying new kinds of Zucchini Boat recipes.

The small tomato in the middle of that pile is the surprise tomato. I don't know what it is. Some sort of red cherry size tomato about an inch in size. So, I thought I was planting a giant variety and I got a tiny variety! 😳 And I guess I missed this pickling cucumber...it has gotten quite large. 😐

 My wildlife sightings that I have enjoyed this week.

A kind of bluebird. If you know what it is please share.

 I've spotted the monarch twice and I am so happy. This is the first year I have attracted the monarch to my garden!

Here he is on a wild onion I let bloom.

 Monarch in the orange cosmos

 This tiny little toad is not much bigger than the sidewalk pebbles. Very hard to see and blends in to the mulch. The last time I had a toad in the garden he always hid in the straw and I never could see him. I accidentally broke his leg but he stayed in my garden all season with a broken leg that never healed. I hope this one does not get under my feet and I am glad he is here!

If you're interested, my garden is now on Instagram

I hope you are having a great week in the garden! And I really enjoy your comments! Thanks for visiting my garden!