More cucumbers
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Monthly Archives: March 2012
Dutch Iris
Stephanie said she didn’t like bearded iris and to never plant it, so I planted Dutch Iris instead.
Monday Morning Scramble
Wordless Thursday?
Found food
I was messing around in Stephanie’s parents backyard on Sunday with Zoe. Just playing around and looking for flowers. Zoe loves picking flowers. We were also looking for some cats. There are a few cats that live in the back backyard. I say back back because it’s separated by a fence. I spotted one across the way, next door.
Can you see you it? It’s the black spotted thing that was caught mid run. But that’s not what is really hidden in the picture. It’s hidden in the wooden box to the right of mr. cat that is over grown with weeds and crappy Bermuda grass. Onions!! The house has been empty since last summer, so no one is living here anymore. I’m assuming the onions were planted sometime during the summer or maybe even late spring. The extreme heat and lack of water kept them small for so long. They were topped with flower buds about to bloom and weren’t going to get any bigger. So, I hopped the fence and starting pulling.
They didn’t bulb up at all because of the weeds and they almost look like leeks. None the less, I cut the roots and greens off and they are now stored in the garage for eating. Which is a good thing since the onions I’m growing aren’t doing that good.
Something different | Reverse Macro
So my sister does this thing called reverse macro where she flips the lens on her camera around to take macro photos. I had not really messed with it before and figured I’d give it a try. Most of the results were not that great but a few came out pretty decent. Please let me know what you think.
I’m over at Sprout today, so go check it out.
Beetles and larvae. Oh, my!
This pretty much shows the varying growing stages of the ladybug. All beneficial in their own way. I also found a few cucumber beetles but I killed them before I could take a picture. Those guys are bad news. I found this colony located at the Common Ground Community Garden where I grow stuff that doesn’t fit in my backyard.
Since the community garden is organic, it is necessary to have as many beneficial bugs as possible. The ladybug larvae are great at getting rid of aphids attacking you vegetables and the adults are great pollinators.
Mom’s garden
This is who I got the gardening gene from. My mom. Its only been in recent years that she started to grow vegetables again. She has always played in the dirt for as long as I can remember. Always planting different kinds of iris or hollyhock or roses. Her she is showing off her potatoes that have finally sprouted.
Mom has started her own pot ghetto to grow tomatoes and peppers in.
Here are they garlic and new planted onions.
Hi Mom! Love ya. 
A morning hike
The last weekend in April, I’m planning on going on an extended weekend backpacking trip in Arkansas with a group of old friends from my scout troop. Since its been about a year since my dad or myself did any sort of hiking, we decided to head out to the Fort Worth Nature Center to put in a few miles and work the ol’ muscles out. Two other guys that we are going with came with us as well.
There are many different trails at the nature center and they offer a variety of different things. From flat and swampy, to more hilly and spacious. In recent years, the center has began to charge an entrance fee, but at 5 dollars it’s not a huge hit on the wallet and well worth it. You can also purchase a pass for the year.
We all showed up with our packs loaded up with some weight and we were off for a nice 6 mile round trip hike.
Spring offers lots of color, though I think we were a few weeks early as every thing was just starting to open up and very few things were flowering.
The sun coming up over Lake Worth.
Pretty sure this is primrose.
Vining periwinkle (Vinca minor).
This stuff was growing everywhere. Well, everywhere in this one spot on the trail.
Two and half miles.
Dad and me and the shameless self portrait.
The bluebonnets. They were spread out over a few hundred feet but only a few had started to bloom.
This picture was taken inside an outhouse that was built by the CCC in the mid 60′s. There are lots of remnants of old structures that the CCC built, including the one featured in my previous post.
The hike was a quick 3 hours and we were home by lunch. On our way out we ran into a group of about 25-30 people spread out over a good half mile or so. Not sure if they were a church group or from a get motivated center or what but everyone ranged from late teens to this one lady that was probably early 70s or so. A bit odd, but whatever gets you outside is fine with me.
It’s a beautiful morning
Hiking at the Fort Worth Nature Center