Thursday, June 25, 2009

Melons, Nymphs, and a Drowning Averted

The children had a birthday party to attend at Chuck E Cheese's this afternoon. I take every step I can to avoid this place like the plague, but the kids were incredibly calm, well behaved and had the time of their lives. However,on multiple occasions, I must admit I glanced wistfully towards the rear of the establishment and resolved to drown myself in the soda fountain, but we all survived and the kids brought home balloons which means Gibson won't come downstairs for a week.

I took this picture last weekend of the one cantaloupe that I've got growing. It's a tad bigger now. Since I don't have much trellis room, I grew these on the ground and they've gone at least five feet over the box. The bees seem to love the cantaloupe since this is where they seem to congregate and spend most of their time. I'm worried about them because they're right next to the peppers and I've heard rumors about not putting cantaloupe by peppers, but there's not much I can do about that now. The vines are looking a bit sad because of the ridiculous weather we've been having. It's consistently in the 90's and Sunday's going to be 97. It's not so much the actual temperature, but the humidity, and I know it's a cliche, but it's hard to breathe. I can only imagine it's affecting the plants as well. I'm now more grateful than ever that the garden goes into shade after noon.

Yesterday I posted that I got to watch a ladybug nymph turn into a ladybug. I couldn't get a picture of the nymph anymore, although I found several after I put the camera away, but I did get a shot of the transforming gal.
I also found these guys. They're so funny to watch because they move in a group. I touched one and he fell to a lower leaf. The rest of them directly followed. I'm hoping against hope that they're baby assassin bugs. They have the same body style and stance. I tried to do some research, but they look a lot like other nymphs as well. Can anyone offer any help? If they're evil, I need to get rid of them while they're in their gaggle.
Lastly, here's my harvest for the day. I picked several more cucumbers, but some of them looked pretty funky. The tomatoes are going to taste great with those cucumbers tonight with some celery salt, oil, red wine vinegar, chives and feta cheese. Those peppers were directly stuffed into this decanter with vinegar to make some more pepper sauce. Now that the chilies are turning red, it makes a real pretty picture. We've already made five of these to give as gifts. We gave one to our elderly neighbors down the road that have the "real garden" as says the boy, and they were thrilled to have it. They are growing collard greens now. I always thought collards were a spring and fall crop here in GA, but they said they've been growing them during the summers for 60+ years now, so who am I to argue. That pepper sauce is going to be good on them regardless.
The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

4 comments:

  1. Those are definitely assassin bugs. I'll post a photo of one just like that on my blog in a few days.

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  2. I never thought I'd ever say a bug was cute, but those bugs are cute! Whatever they are. I hope they are the good guys.

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  3. Woohoo!!!!! I'll leave them, then. Sweet!!

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  4. Yay for beneficials in the garden! That pepper bottle sure is pretty. =)

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