Bumbles Are Still Bumbling

The monarchs have passed us on their way down to Mexico. They roosted here for about 3-5 days and then went on their way. We still have a bunch of bumbles, other bees, wasps, and hornets hanging around until a harder frost comes in. I caught this one in my zinnias yesterday and it was so dang cute.

Unfortunately not the best photo but I was facing into the direct sun so I couldn't see straight to save my life so it's a little out of focus BUT IT IS SO CUTE.

Over the weekend I was at a bike race (yes, again, lol) and a family was telling me that they have a child who also loves bees. I highly suggested they plant squashes next year - especially pumpkins and other fall squash. Why? Because the squash flowers are so large that you'll find bees spleeping in the flowers usually starting in August. Occasionally you'll find TWO bees in one flower and I find that to be such a treat to see. 

Squash plants are also easy to grow - in my experience I have just had to water well the first week and basically guide the vines to where I want the vines to grow. For me, fall squash has been a "it's ok to forget it's there" plant with the added bonus of being a pollinator plant.

One issue with squash is that there is the squash vine borer - but sometimes what you can do, if you see it early enough is dig the vine borer out of the vine and wrap with tape so the vine heals itself. Another solution is to just push the vine underground and let it re-root itself to start again. I feel like not many realize that while the vines do have the tendrils, the squash vines can grow roots from the main vines. If you really want to use a chemical, you can use Neem Oil but beware that it does kill pollinators as well, so do not use it near the flowers on the plant, just the vine.

This past year I didn't plant any squash - I did get one volunteer decorative squash - but next year my plan is to have the following varieties:

Jack O'Lantern

Jack Be Little

Jarrahdale (this is blue)

Kandy Korn

Mrs. Wrinkles

 

Homegrown Potatoes - tips, tricks, my experience this year

I planted 4 grow bags with 3 different types of potatoes. Last month, one bag had droopy and pretty dead plants so I harvested that - those were French fingerlings - and they were actually still growing under the dirt. I had never grown those before so it was definitely my mistake. Now that I know... I would try growing them again next year with a note "DO NOT HARVEST UNTIL LATE SEPTEMBER." 

This week I harvested my bag of Yukon Golds. These potatoes are more golf ball size - I think I could've waited another week but I really wanted some Shepherd's Pie so I harvested a little early. The potatoes were on the smaller side, but I was just going to mash them up anyway. 

This year I left my grow bags in the front yard where it gets full sun - well over 8 hours per day - but also in a spot that was easier to water. I had been planting potatoes in grow bags in the driveway on the other side of the fence because we have Phil the dog who pees on everything and I don't want to eat dog pee potatoes. To water the grow bags in the driveway, I also need to haul the hose to other side of the fence, with a dog trying to get loose and terrorize the whole alleyway looking for chipmunks. I think in the end, placing the grow bags in the front yard worked well, but the growing season is definitely LONGER than what I want/need for growing potatoes. By September 1, I'm ready for all the roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, french fries, crispy potatoes for breakfast hash. And truly, potatoes aren't ready for harvest until closer to October, and depending on the variety - mid-to-late October. I'm ok with that, I would just prefer my Autumn season to start on September 1. But the  Autumnal Equinox is September 21 so I'm going to have to wrap my mind around that every year instead and aim for potatoes in October. The weather has also aligned more with the Eqinox in the past few years with the hot summer weather sticking around until late September.

Next year my plan is to do potatoes in grow bags again, in the front yard, with the following varieties:

Yukon Gold

French fingerlings - Princess Laratte variety

Carla Rosa (more of a pink variety)

Harvest Moon (these are purple)

Here's my Shepherd's Pie. It's really easy to google a recipe but here's my vague outline of how I make Shepherd's Pie. Make your mashed potatoes (potatoes, butter, heavy cream, roasted garlic, cheese, salt, pepper). Make your meat & veggie filling (beef/lamb/pork/chicken; pan-made gravy with butter, flour, stock; onion, carrots, peas, seasonings with herbs, salt & pepper). Smooth the mashed potatoes over the filling in a shallow dish; bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Happy potato harvesting!!

 

Salads are my fav

I absolutely love salads. They're my favorite lunch and dinners ever. All I really want is a homemade version of Olive Garden's salad OR a spicy crispy chicken caesar salad.

Above is my Olive Garden salad. Lettuce, garden tomatoes, kalamata olives, banana peppers, Italian seasoned croutons, parmesan cheese, and then the store bought Olive Garden Italian dressing.

 

I Finished A Book!

These days books seem to be hard to finish for me. This one I finished in a week, which seemed to be an absolute feat to do with school starting, soccer, mountain biking, and a shit load of garden to-dos.

This reminded me of another book that I read last year - a family goes to an Italian island getaway and instant chaos happens. So basically it's a mystery beach read so it's supposed to be fast. There are twists and turns, the whole plot and whodunit is not given away in the first 50 pages so you actually can read and wonder what will happen unlike a ton of mystery novels out there right now.

I enjoyed the family's personalities described and each person was different, with names that weren't too close to each other so keeping track of all the people was fairly easy too, once all the relationships had been explained. I was pleasantly surprised with the variety of rich-people character traits that also show up on show like Real Housewives and guests on Below Deck. Narcissism usually provides good entertainment as long as you're not involved. 

Do I recommend buying this? Ehhh, if you're one that doesn't keep a to-read list, then yes, stop off at your local independent bookstore or Barnes & Noble; but I'd put it on your library reserve list first. It's such a quick read that hopefully, even if it's a long list, you should get it soon.

I think I probably did a 4/5 on Goodreads. I rarely give a 5/5. If I actually finish a book these days, it definitely deserves more than 3 stars. LOL.

 

The Feed Zone

We're living at mountain bike races these days. Q and I set up our chairs in the "Feed Zone." Watching the high schoolers grab dump bottles or drink bottles is extremely entertaining - and extremely stressful for the coaches. In the pic - on the left are the coaches waiting with the "dump" or "drink" bottles. The Dump bottles are just open bike water bottles meant to take one big sip of water and then the riders "DUMP" the bottle of water over their heads and backs. It's meant to use as a short drink hydration and a major cooling down if the riders are hot. Riders also toss empty drink bottles and grab new drink bottles for their bikes. It's amazing to watch the handoffs. These teams are coordinated!

 

September Blooming Flowers

Zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, and rudbeckia are still in bloom at my Zone 5a.

 

Monarch Migration

It's already mid-September and the Monarchs are migrating to Mexico. This is one of my favorite times of year for seeing butterflies. I've had an odd butterfly season though.

This year I've noticed only a few of my milkweeds actually being chomped on and having eggs, otherwise, all the butterflies and pollinators have been on my native plants. I only found one caterpillar earlier this year - and many eggs - hiding in the milkweed closest to my house. 

Here's a Painted Lady

I have a feeling that somehow, I've also attracted many birds, and birds eat the caterpillars. The cabbage moth population was down this year in my backyard but the singing bird population was quite high. I also have been feeding crows. The crows decided they liked the lady who was giving them straight up peanuts a block away though - but they come back a few times per week because I give them either lamb or fish based dog food. I KNOW. I KNOW. I feel like a hedgewitch. I have crows.

The monarchs absolutely LOVE native liatris and will roost for DAYS. Basically, for the last 3 days, my liatris has been collecting butterflies. I would like to get 3-5 more plants for next year. I'm going to have to keep an eye on the native plant nursery websites to make sure I can get a few more.

They are just so pretty. I'm hoping the weather holds out so these remarkably light things can get as far as they can while it's still rather warm. Our nights are starting to get really cool (great for sleeping and for tomato ripening!). 

AS you can see, there are some really pretty native flowers that are fairly attractive instead of what people might think are boring or just green or just too white and not fancy enough for gardens. I would absolutely try planting some liatris, rudbeckia, and butterfly weed. The colors, even on the native plants, are bright enough that the perennials are fun to watch grow and you get to support the pollinators. 

 

Recipe: Crispy Chickpeas

This is the EASIEST damn side dish or salad topping or bowl topping or whatever.

You mix 2 cans of chickpeas (rinsed and drained) with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, plus 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey (literally whichever you have) plus the following spices: 1 teaspoon of each: garlic powder, paprika, oregano, onion powder, dried parsley, salt and pepper to taste

Bake on a large sheet pan at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then swirl it all around and bake another 7-10 or until nice and crispy. It will smell AMAZE AMAZE.

Then put in a bowl and try not to eat the whole thing.

I happened to use it as a salad bowl topping. DELISH.

 

And They're Off!

Once again, the end of August brought us back to the start of a new school year. This is the last elementary year that we'll ever be in. I'm actually really excited about that because oh man, we've seen a lot of changes over the last 10 years in the elementary school and I'm ready to go to the middle school! Q... not so much! He's realized that each year is more academically challenging and is like "UM NO THANK YOU" but he still does well. He choose the lion for his picture this year.

And off to high school for S. I'm so excited for her! I know she'll do well and I hope she has a great time meeting new people and hanging out with her friends. Plus.. her first race on the mountain bike team brought her second place so she's off to a great start!

 

August Veggie Harvests

I usually grow varieties that the kids will eat for sure - sometimes the fun different varieties can be difficult to convince the kids to eat. These purple carrots were a hit. I cut them into carrot sticks for snacks. Will definitely be planting again next year. 

Carrot growing review: Easy to germinate; definitely give each carrot space to grow, otherwise they don't get as long; plant in looser soil or more sandy soil; I felt like these needed heavier watering but they were fairly easy to grow; would be good for a beginner gardener

Mini tomatoes for my neighbor: absolutely delicious; these are all good varieties to make a fresh pasta sauce too (basically add a little onion or shallot to a pan with fresh garlic, wait until all transluscent, add the tomatoes until they burst, then add in fresh basil - serve over or mixed with your favorite pasta)

Tri-color tomatoes for sandwiches

Mini sweet peppers - I actually do not recomment these. They were not as sweet as expected and took quite awhile to grow. The plants only produced one crop, they do not keep flowering like others. Unfortunately I received the starts from a friend and they were only labeled "sweet peppers" so I will have to do some digging. I'm thinking they might be a "Lunchbox" variety.