Surprise storm and it's aftermath

Tuesday night the weather forecast on the local TV station I watch called for a slight chance of scattered thunderstorms in the late afternoon or evening, mainly to the east of me, so when I looked out around 3:00 PM to see gathering darkness approaching, I was a little surprised.  When I checked the weather on my computer, radar showed a line of storms bearing in my direction and the National Weather Service had posted alerts for blowing dust, strong winds and the possibility of nickel sized hail along with heavy rain that could produce localized flooding.  About 3:30 the winds started blowing with gusts strong enough to almost blow me over, so I retreated to the back porch which was protected from the wind and used the time to gather Stock seeds from pods I'd been drying for about a month.  Around 4:00 it started raining, it wasn't constant but ranged from a drizzle to a downpour. I really wish I already had the digital weather station I'll be getting next month so I'd know how strong the wind was and how much rain we got.  This morning I went out to check on the damage, if any, the storm had caused.  The bowling ball gazing ball was knocked over, Larry lost his beer bottle and the corn was blown over, but otherwise everything else was fine.  Considering the winds were coming directly at the side yard, I was expecting more damage and was especially concerned about whether the bamboo tomato cage would hold up and it came through with flying colors.  I used leftover pieces of bamboo to prop up the corn that was damaged, but 2 stalks were broken and beyond repair; I'm hoping they might regrow since the roots are still intact.  

Garden update 5-8-12

On the floral front, the geraniums in the window box are settling in nicely, the roses continue to bloom, the 'Heatwave' dahlia is blooming better than I could have hoped for and the vincas have come back.  I'm still waiting for the 'Peaches and Cream' dahlia to bloom and the gladioli and iris are both almost ready to bloom; the iris looks like it will be deep purple.

The veggies in the raised beds are doing well and the red corn is already getting tassels.

The tomatoes and onions in the first bed that got planted are doing very well and the Sweet 100 is getting to big for its' cage already; picked the first 3 tomatoes and ate them on the spot and man were they good!

The cucumbers are coming up and some are getting their first true leaves, so hopefully we'll be eating lots of cukes this year.

Most of the peppers failed to germinate and I have more volunteers than ones that were planted on purpose.  I will probably place another order with NMSU's Chile Institute and direct sow the seeds in a raised bed when I get back from our cruise.  I'll have to leave watering instructions with my daughter-in-law for the plants that aren't on a timed system, as she's more likely to follow through, otherwise I'll come home to a lot of dead or dying plants.

Bathing gnomes!

I watered the trees and beds that aren't on a timer today and when I went out to move the hose from the nectarine tree, I had quite a shock, as the gnomes had moved from the front porch and were wading in the waist high water, either cooling off or taking a bath, I'm not sure which.  The one with the ukelele must not know how to swim, because he was only getting his feet wet.

I found this rusty milk can at a yard sale Saturday for $5 and filled it with mulch, then placed a Yucca recurvifolia 'margarita' in it and I think it looks right at home.  I'll probably place it next to the wheelbarrow succulent garden.

The grapes are getting to the point that they actually look like grapes and so far I've only seen one Western Grape Skeletonizer Moth (killed it) and one leaf with WGS caterpillars on it, but I've got to stay vigilant or they could get out of control really quickly.  Just hope they don't show up while I'm on vacation the last two weeks of this month.

The Heatwave dahlia is really blooming now; it takes forever for the blooms to fully open, anywhere from 4-7 days.  I'm still waiting on the Peaches & Cream dahlia to bloom.

The cucumbers and pole beans I planted in the raised beds are coming up, the red corn is starting to get tassels and about 1/2 the tomato seedlings survived transplanting, which I expected and that's why I planted 10 of each variety.  Peppers, eggplant and tomatillos will be transplanted into raised beds this weekend, as will basil and tarragon.

Cinco de Mayo Larry

Larry says, "Let the party begin!" and is already celebrating Cinco deMayo, even if it is a few days early, because as everybody knows, Larry loves a party.  Even though Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory by the Mexican army over the French in the Battle of Puebla, it has become more of a celebration of Mexican heritage here in the States and is hardly celebrated at all in most of Mexico.  Just like a lot of people are Irish for a day on St. Patrick's Day, lots of people are Mexican for a day on Cinco de Mayo and much eating and drinking is to be had.

Blooms around the neighborhood

Not much happening around here today, as there were things diverting my attention from the gardens, so here are some photos I took in the neighborhood yesterday of cacti and aloes.  Most of them were taken of plantings in a strip of land between the sidewalk and the parking lot at Kleinman Park about a 1/2 mile from my house; I pass this park almost daily and decided I needed to get my camera after I noticed the profusion of Saguaro blooms a few days ago.  Amazingly, the shot is of blooms on a limb only about 5.5' off the ground, while the limbs on most Saguaros are at least 8' up the main stem or "trunk".

Unknown variety of pencil cactus blooming @ a house on the next block

Saguaro blooming in Kleinman Park near my house; notice the bee in the lowest bloom.

Hesperaloe blooming, also in Kleinman Park

Opuntia ready to bloom @ Kleinman Park

Another Opuntia in Kleinman

This last one's from my front yard, Dahlia 'Heatwave'; it was taken about 8 AM today before it had fully opened and as you can see, it will be the first of many.

Tomato cage and the Stapelia mystery solved

Tuesday evening when I got back from coaching T-ball I used the last of the available light to plant Sweet 100, Roma, Black Krim, Mortgage Lifter and Aunt Ruby's German Green tomato seedlings in the raised bed where I'd previously planted the Albion strawberries (which I'm still hoping will come up).  I'm not really happy with the tomato cages that I used in the first bed I built as they take up so much room they limit how many can be placed in each bed and usually aren't tall enough for most tomato varieties anyway.  I was looking for some other way to manage the new plantings when I struck upon the idea of using bamboo tied together like the scaffolding they use in Asia.  I went to Home Depot yesterday and bought 4 packages of six 6' bamboo stakes and using a ball of twine I already had, began to construct my cage.  The uprights were simply pushed into the soil until they hit solid ground and the exterior cross pieces were woven through the uprights to make a loose basket weave, then lashed together with the twine. Next I lashed cross pieces to each side to make five individual compartments, one for each type of tomato and used plastic garden fencing to separate each compartment and add additional rigidity to the cage.  So far, only one plastic "wall" is installed, as darkness stopped me from completing the rest yesterday.  The nice thing about using bamboo, besides it be an inexpensive sustainable product, is that it can be cut with a good pair of pruners, which can also be used to cut the twine and the garden fencing to the right length or width, so the entire cage was built using just one tool. Another bonus to this design is by that cutting the twine, the entire cage can be disassembled for easy storage at the end of the season.  The total project cost was was around $15 and the finished cage is 5.5' x 18" x 5' and each section is 18" x 11.5" x 5'.

3 sections of the cage, with standard tomato cages in the background

The Stapeila mystery has been solved, thanks to Detrick, who provided the cutting at the Plant Swap; the one in the foreground is Stapelia leendertziae and the one behind it is Orbeopsis malanantha, so it's not a Stapelia at all, although they are in the same family, just a different genus.  After Googling both of them and seeing the gorgeous deep red of their blooms, I can't wait to see them for myself.  After seeing the differences in the blooms, I can see why they are in different genera, as S. leendertziae displays the star shaped bloom typical of Stapelia, while the blossom of O. malanantha is shaped like the bowl of a red wine glass, which is highly appropriate since it is a deep red reminiscent of a hearty burgundy.

Goodies from the Swap, plus blooms and a bird

Here are the unknown Stapelias at the swap from Detrick, along with a Dragon Fruit cactus Hylocereus undatus, which I found out is not self-fertile, so I guess I'll have to buy another couple from HD if I want to get fruit.

Hylocereus undatus on the L, Stapelias on the right 

Last year's chives have come back and are now blooming.

The mixed Freesias are finally beginning to bloom.

Primrose 'Pacifica' Primula polyantha is blooming again and looking very happy on the front porch.

Some of last year's vincas are finally blooming and look like they won't need to be replaced after all.

The pomegranate I planted this year is also beginning to bloom, holding out the promise of fruit in the future.

Here's the latest raised bed; this one's planted with both bush and climbing varieties of pickling and cutting cucumbers and lemon cucumbers.  Even though I swore I wasn't going to try the lemon cukes again, I still had seeds left and couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.  I also planted 5 kohlrabis acquired at the swap; I thought I'd only gotten 2, but one pot had 3 in it and the other had 2.  The screen frame is held in place with guy wires on each end and it should hold up to almost anything.

Lastly, here's a female Quiscalus mexicanus, Great-tailed Grackle; I still haven't been able to get a good shot of a male, which has a longer tail and is jet black from head to tail.