Pollen Trollops

Pollinators rock... agreed? Agreed. So while many have specialized niches they occupy.. like squash bees.. there are also the flower floozies that will do any bloom. One example would be the metallic green sweat bee.

Pretty bugs actually... and I can honestly say I had a pair of shoes in the early 90's that same shade of metallic green. Yes, those were troubling times. I blame the nuns and serious 80's backlash.

The metallic green sweat bee.. let's just call them MGSB are such nectar mongers that it actually makes them wonderfully special. I know my pictures are horribly not in focus, but these bees move FAST. As far as pollinators go.. some have developed specialized hairs on bellies or legs to help them collect pollen to bring back and feed the kids. Often some will have a specialized diet to boot.
A bug's brain is a very tiny brain indeed, but they have their tricks to make the most out of their minds. When you garden.. you can use that to your advantage. People like straight neat rows of plants.. bees like a big patch of the same plant. If you are planting to attract pollinators.. remember that.
Because there is always rebels of the bunch... you get the few that also are a jack of all trades... MGSB fall in that category. They are the primary visitors to the Pak Choi blooms in the picture. They also hit up the spinach, cives, radish, dandelions, morning glories, roses... you get the idea. No color coding needed here.. they will go from a yellow flower to a pink one to a white one in a matter of seconds.
That's great when you are needing flowers to be pollinated for fruit set to be good.. but what a pain in the butt when you save seeds!! So if you have these zealous little beings in your yard, you may want to try to control when some crops bloom to help minimize out crossings of some strains should isolation caging not be an option. Another way to help slow down the chaos is making sure you have taller flowering plants between the crops and space them out as best as you can. There still will be some out crossing, but it will help minimize the percentage.

Here is a lovely bug site.

Random Nonsense & Tomatillo

I am trying to enjoy the iris while they are still here.

I should hand pollinate some of these as you can never have too many experiments.

So I snapped a picture of a field bindweed with the stronger pink coloring... right before I ripped it out and left it in the sun to roast. No worries.. it has sent out dozens of similar colored siblings. I literally spend hours everyday section by section ripping these plants out and continue to do so until winter nails them. Then I start again every spring.

Onion that will be left to go to seed. It was 1 bulb that has since divided into 3 separate ones.


The tomatillo that survived multiple frosts and several inches of snow is really making a comeback. Surviving the extremes that it did.. as a tropical plant.. oh yes it made it to the top of the seed saving list. Other attributes that are a definite positive quick maturity to set blooms and heavy bloom set as well as very impressive root system.The final hoop it must hop through is flavor.
Tomatillos are not self compatible.. so in order to save seeds you need to have several plants. Like with tomatoes and peppers, properly stored seed can hold up for 10+ years with very good germination rates.
Aunt Molly's ground cherries were on my list for this year but situations *cough likeobsessiveplantingofafewhundredtoomanytomatoesandpeppers cough* prohibited their addition this summer.
Tomatillos and Ground Cherry (aka cape gooseberry) will not cross pollinate. They are 2 different species. Now there is some variation in the tomatillos that you have to ferret out when you get a new strain. Some are good at the ripe stage, but most are better when they are NOT fully ripe. The tomatillo is used in a lot of green sauces in Mexican fare and what they bring is the tangy- sour-tart aspect.
Now while there seems to be a variety of tomatillos, most that are offered are either pineapple, purple or green (verde). The truth of the matter is that there are only a few actual stabilized strains. It is still a work in progress as the wild cultivars are just as appreciated in it's native region as the cultivated crop is. Because it is self- incompatible and wild for is appreciated plus in many warm regions it can be "weedy".. as well it sometimes can have iffy germination... it is worthwhile in my own opinion to save it's seeds.
When you save seeds and replant.. keeping in mind as well you are selecting for specific qualities.. what happens over the generations is that you also are creating a strain that adapts better to your climate. The key is you have to be selective. If you are maintaining a strain that has specific qualities... example a dwarf variety.. and you haphazardly save seeds over time you could lose that trait.
Anyways.. tomatillos are one of those plants you can chuck into odd places and get away with it.. like tucked into artichoke patch or in a row of corn.
Either you like them or you don't. Regardless the sticky coating needs to be washed off before use which can be annoying. Like Cape gooseberry, tomatillos can be kept on your counter still in the husk for a couple weeks. Good thing too because they can be really productive... and when it rains... it pours.

Field Bindweed aka Convolvulus arvensis

Kinda looks cute, right? I mean to a newbie who just moved in... to find your yard suddenly awash with morning glory like blooms in various shades of baby pink to snow white.

I remember thinking... wow... this is pretty! How darling and sweet these flowers are. And I let them grow.. the bees visited them often.. they climbed anything they were near, and I thought... how lucky I am!

They were through out my entire lawn. When a breeze came by it was awash with nodding petal heads. They survived mowing with ease and laughed at the drought.

My daughter picked some and we discovered she was allergic to them 2 seconds after she broke out in a massive angry rash. Ut oh. So I went along and sadly started pulling plants out around the playground... and they grew right back almost instantly.

When the end of summer came... I also discovered bindweed has a severe weakness to powdery mildew. It is the first plant to get it, and as it wraps around other plants it infects them too. My yard was now a war zone.
I have been ruthlessly ripping these plants out since 2002 and I am proud to say... I have gotten absolutely nowhere. So far the only advice I have gotten is simply "move". I won't use herbicides in my yard. Poisons are not an option when you have kids and critters romping around... and that includes wildlife.
It is an invasive non native plant. Some other names it goes by are: creeping charlie, cornbind, creeping jenny, wild morning glory, greenvine and lovevine.
It is a perennial that spreads by root rhizomes and by seed. It can send a taproot down as far as 20 feet deep. It can spread underground also by lateral root system from which it sprouts runners. In a study they found 1 bindweed plant had spread through a huge area and by the end of the season it had established over 140 other bindweed runners. The root system is a network that contains energy reserves allowing it to handle repeated aggressive pulling easily. Even the nasty chemicals take a couple years to kill it. I have seen 1 inch root cuttings send up new shoots. Icing on the cake is that the seed can remain dormant for DECADES.
For now all I can do is keep ripping it out and waiting. The hope lies in a 1mm big mite that goes by the name of Aceria malherbae. The mite attacks plants in the morning glory family. Produces galls, stunts plant growth which in turn inhibits flowering. It feeds on the roots in winter in essence depleting bindweed's energy reserves which curbs it's spread. Even still it takes years to kill of the plant.
Here's to hoping you never find it in your yard.

Today's Harvest

So while many areas are full blown past the spring time crops... mine are still going. Even with the days popping into the 90's on occasion, the peas are still going strong. The radish are really good this year and I have been devouring them. I like 'em raw, and tried sauteing them which my family- the former radish haters- love. Chef Deb's blog The Tasty Bits completely has changed that veggie for us.
I have several varieties of radish and will need to save a TON of seeds to have enough for next year's plantings. The greens are also eaten. I toss them into stir fry, soups, cooked with other assorted greens.

Yeah, a whopping 5 sugar snap peas made it into the picture. Someone has a sugar snap addiction. I picked a big bowl full and she kindly offered to take them inside for me as I went on to attacking the weeds. She wanted some for a snack... I told her no problem I just wanted to use some in our salad tonight. 5 ... she left 5. She was dipping them in ranch dressing and devoured them.
The 2 non-bulbing garlic.. when you plant the very small cloves usually found in the middle of the head of garlic they sometimes do not make the head of garlic you expect like at the grocery. Sometimes they are just 1 biggish round, like an onion vs creating the many cloves. I still plant the tiny bulbs and have a little area just for them. The bonus garlic.. when you really just want to pick something, but it is too early yet. It takes 2 seconds to slip the outer skin off them when they are fresh. The whole thing I just chop up and add it to what I am cooking.
Well, I need to head out and pick more peas.... right after a quick nap. I've been awake since 4am.

Zombie Seeds

So if you haven't heard... those that wish to dominate the seed industry are at it again with a little twist. As Europe quickly banned GM crops, and the morally corrupt companies who seek to not only do well in the seed/ chemical market but rather seek a choke hold and all out own it, are working on a new plan of attack. ZOMBIE SEEDS!

Let me give you a rundown on what they are currently working on... Seeds that are totally dormant and in order to activate them so the germinate, they must be treated with a chemical. Although you can try to save those seeds... you are then still needing to go back to the company to get the chemicals to activate your saved seeds.

Not long ago agriculture was essentially an open door. Variety and diversity used to be much more commonplace than current times. It was essential for many as often the kitchen garden was heavily relied upon to help feed the family. The diversity was so very important as each year the weather could be kind to some crops and cruel to others. No matter the weather, everyone needs to eat.

With the industrialization of agriculture faster, cheaper, quicker were the goals. One farmer now able to accomplish on their own what used to take many. Often shortcuts may make life easier in the now... but often the actual staggering cost will be paid later. A lesson we seem to need to always learn the hard way.

Anyways, agriculture WAS an open door.. seeds traded, saved, cultivated, given.. used to be commonplace. Many cultivars are from a sport that occurred in someone's garden. The door was closed when they made it possible to patent a lifeform. That started with a microbe and has managed to work it's way now up to livestock. These companies are now trying to add a lock to the door by means of modifications in order to create a dependency on their products.

Learn how to save your own seeds. It doesn't take much time to do for many, it is very cost effective. Here's a particular bonus... when you save the seeds and replant from your garden, in time and with the right selections, you often are creating a strain that in particular is adapting to your surroundings.

How cost effective? You can save the seeds from even just a few tomatoes and wind up with enough seeds to plant for many years to come. Like this year I will be saving seeds from Black Beauty zucchini. I will hand pollinate and bag the blooms to control seed purity. Just 1 zucchini that is well pollinated will offer enough seeds for me to not have to do it again for 10 years... and that is having more than enough plants for my family and many friends. To minimize genetic bottlenecking.. I will be saving from 5 fruit from different plants.

Well, that is the heads up on where commercial seeds are headed. Even if seed saving does not interest you, it is something to be aware of as it too may effect what you and your family eat.

Digging yet another bed

So I have planted and planted.. gave away tons of extra transplants... I still have a ton left and need another raised bed. It will have to wait for awhile though... my husband had an incident yesterday while prepping a roof. He lost his footing but didn't fall... he was tied off. The incident happened after he regained his balance... turned his head and pine needles stabbed him in the eye.

Now he looks like I have socked him. He finally just got to sleep a few minutes ago. We will be headed off to the optometrist when they open. Keep your fingers crossed.. he's not one to complain and right now it is so painful he is miserable (and exhausted). Those pine needles are wicked sharp, like little daggers.

... Ok got back... got him situated... fed, eye drops, hydrocodone, drink, in bed as comfy as currently possible. 4 mm puncture of the cornea (it is kinda comma shaped) at the 6 to 7 o'clock position. Thankfully it went in sideways as opposite to straight in.

I've been outside weeding and watering... trying to keep the house as quiet as possible so he can sleep.

I picked spinach, dill, chives, basil, summer savory, snow peas, sugar snap peas, radish, arugula, some onion greens, some garlic greens, kale, lettuce... all of which will be going into tonight's dinner. Sliced grilled chicken in mixed greens salad with creamy homemade herb dressing... and a simple garlic, sesame & ginger seasoned stir fry (also with chicken) and rice. I will probably end up making brownies once it cools off too.

Back to the garden I go.. I have 2 hours yet to get some things accomplished before I have to scrub up and administer his eye drops & pain medication again.

Why I was vegetarian

This is incredibly disturbing... and way more common than most realize. I kind of laugh because my friend (from previous post) used to tease me for being vegetarian and then later vegan has now finally (20 years later) bothered to see what goes on. Not that it will make her reconsider her purchasing options (ironically... she is minutes away from farms with CSA opportunities. Farms she can get to know the people who raise the animals... but alas... it is not as convenient as the grocery store).

She posted it on FB... and I pretty much made a comment. Had to... lol.. tad bit of revenge for the ruthless mockery for so many years... the PETA geek comments... hippy dork. It has nothing to do with fad/ trend w/e... it is about not living in a bubble and not supporting that industry because one is to lazy to acknowledge it.

Here is the video. Very graphic... very very disturbing and sadly not uncommon.