No Complaints

 Well, it's looking to be a really crappy year in the vegetable patch, but there are compensations: 

LILIES GALORE

No, you can't eat them - poisonous to you, me, cats, dogs, most everyone - but a feast for the eyes!

The Box

It's 9" by 12", wood, probably pine, and became a favorite snoozing spot starting in September, 2021:

It's still is a favorite spot, even though the fit is a bit tight:

Spotless

It sure looked like a ladybug, except it was the wrong color, no spots, and was sitting on this extremely weird bug-esque thing. The sort of thing that you would swat away and then step on, even with our smack-in-your-face insect apocalypse. 

And then it clicked: it's a newly hatching ladybug. Pristine, shiny and still developing.

So I watched it for a bit, got bored and went back to planting stuff. Then I remembered to go and take another look. 

A newly minted Seven-Spotted Ladybug (coccinella septempunctata)!

 

The Sweet Season

Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) Hi-Scent

Green, Greener, Greenest

Not exactly the super bloom along the Bolinas Ridge Trail on Mt. Tam, but a wonderful hike, regardless.

I have no doubt that in a few short weeks, the lupines will be fully in bloom. Then you will need to stand back and keep your sunglasses on. 

Springtime!

 Maybe? Fingers crossed...

Calendulas

Laundry Day

Who knew that a kitchen cloth that had been rinsed in bleach could be so much fun...

Una Abundanza (An Abundance)

So the tromboncino squash didn't do poo-poo this past summer, but the other guy sharing the turf did just fine: two 10+ pound Marina di Chioggia squashes (Cucurbita maxima). 

Green-gray on the outside, orange on the inside, it's considered one of the premier winter squashes. Sad fact is that I don't really like winter squash very much. Soup is fine, ravioli is tasty, but that's about my limit. 

Now you may wonder why I would grow something that I don't really like. Well, we were given a squash, which was turned into a delicious soup. So I saved some seeds, thinking that it would be my chance to see whether, with one of the best squash varieties in town, grown under ideal conditions (tee-hee), my narrow, judgmental mind could be persuaded. 

And the answer? A big fat "maybe". I looked at a ton of recipes for roasted squash - considered to be the best technique for enhancing the flavor - and (mostly) followed the instructions. Tasted it, and decided that it was simply, wonderfully, just okay. Excellent for your health, pretty on the plate, far superior to anything you could get in the market, easy to grow and very productive, but... just okay. 

Having said that, and having even done the required homework, I can now honestly recommend Marina di Chioggia squash. Especially if you like that kind of thing. 

Housing is for the Birds

Way back in 2017, I got involved in a silly experiment - gourd growing. The vines took over the entire driveway and produced four very large, and, if I may say so, beautiful offspring. These gourds were always in the state of going-to-be: a lidded pot; a decorative bowl; a something that needed time and attention. And an empty space on some table or shelf somewhere. 

Instead, they sat on a very high shelf in the garage, looked down on me with contempt and impatience, and collected dust. Until yesterday, when I noticed that the early wren bird was once again exploring the birdhouse in the backyard. It was an aha moment - those lazy, languishing gourds could be someone's new family home.

A trip to the Oakland Tool Lending Library, a little bit of fiddling (to get the cord through those small holes) and filing (to smooth out the drill holes) and, ta-da!, a new home for a wren, chickadee or titmouse family. 

Now because all of these little birdie types are aggressively territorial, these new gourd-homes had to be located in someone else's yard - one to the neighbors across the street, and the others far, far away in other neighborhoods. Fingers crossed that the new avian residents use them in good health and happiness.

Just Another Wednesday in the Garage

Before Grouting

So while Hilda was working away on her gorgeous planter, I was poking around with mosaicking a small birdbath/pollinator watering hole for the backyard. Completing this little piece also contributed to the on-going and everlasting Clean-Out-The-Garage project by clearing off a small shelf. Win-win for me, and maybe even for the local wildlife. 

So far though, Luna is the only one who I've observed drinking from it.