carolyncat353's Blog

You can tell it's almost mid summer here.  My garden is still producing, although slow, which is ok! It's hot!  I have some very small canteloupe, that I hope make it.  It's not in a garden area-seeds I planted where I used to have a tree.  I have been slowly filling in low spots in my yard with my truck load of dirt.  The kittens are getting more adventurous now.  Motley has learned to climb the tree closest  to my backyard neighbors fence and jump the fence-ONLY he has a vinyl fence and no tree next to it so she can't get back over!  There are dogs all around me and I'm afraid she's going to get lost.  She's an independent little thing always pushing the limit. Late yesterday evening she climbed to the top THE TOP of my oak tree (that's about 18 ft. high!)   I'm so afraid something will happen to her.  Pretty Boy mostly just watches.  He's fat and lazy, and so squishy soft!  After losing Oreo, I don't know if I can handle losing another pet!!  I wish I could get them together for a picture-but they seem to know what the camera is and go in different directions when I have it!

Here is a pic of my Angel Trumpet taken last week.  I'm getting a few blooms, but it will really bloom closer to September!            LATER GATORS!

Hi Gang!  Not much has changed garden wise here.  Flowers are still growing, although s l o w l y, and still making peppers & eggplants and the new cukes are finally starting to vine, and the squash are starting to bloom.  We'll see!  My mountain of dirt is getting smaller bit by bit.  I do a few wheelbarrow loads a day.  I have lots of holes. My animals love to play in the dirt with MOM!

Anyway-I was going through last year's garden magazines looking for some info on my bird of paradise when i stumbled on the article titles FOLKLORE CURES!!  Just some tidbits I thought some of you may be interested in. If you want to know more-pm me!  Oh, and all of these had been "tested".

Baking soda does a good job of controlling black spot and other foliar diseases, HOWEVER, sustained use will send the soil PH through the roof!

Grits will not control fire ants.  Grits (or something similiar) is impregnated into grits and used as poison (think Amdro).  Lime will not keep snakes out of your yard, neither will moth balls or a rope!

To keep deer out of your garden!  ATTENTION EVERYONE!! Garlic sticks. Purchased from Gardens Alive (?)  He put the sticks about 4-6 inches apart all around his garden, and said no deer crossed them and he even saw deer tracks outside the garden!!   (Works at keeping vampires away, too!)

Ordinary dish soap-1 TBSP to a gallon of water works on soft bodied insects.  Must reapply often.  Mineral oil applied to the tops of ears of corn as they are beginning to silk will control silk worms!   There is a few others, but this is the most of it!  Interesting stuff, I thought!

I finally remembered to go the the Farmer's Market in Lake Charles before noon on Saturday.  Wow-lots of veggies and jams & jellies & cakes (taste tested zucchini-chocolate chip cake) & plants & pickled anything & aprons & throws...Whew!  And Ruston, La. peaches!  Sooo good!  I found the price for the vegetables a little high, so I refrained. But they had gorgeous looking produce!   The local grocery store also buys from locals sometimes, and their squash was cheaper than the Farmer's Market.  And the Blueberries!  $5.00 for a pint.  I thought that a little high, also.  Found some at the grocery for 2.99 a pint.  Bought those.  But... I found a Mardi Gras Hibiscus (Bayou, are you reading this?) $4.00-approx 2 1/2 ft. tall, and blueberry plants-same approximate size for $5.00  Bought some of both.  There were lots of bromeliads, and one vendor had the white datura.  I refrained again, I'd have to make a place for that.

Then!  I went to Wal-Mart (I don't shop there a lot-too much "Made in China") to get a small pool for the dog (yeah, they're spoiled!) AND!!!  They were getting rid of the garden stuff.   Plants weren't worth a hoot-but Mulch!  Cypress Mulch-$1.00 per 2 cu. ft. bag!! And Cow Manure and Humus - 75 Cents per 40 lb. bag!!  Yep-went to Pete's to get his truck and he came back with me.  He has 2 long rows of daylilies that need attention-We loaded the back of his pickup!!             I'll be busy for a while!  Hope you all had a safe and happy weekend!

Later Gators

Coral Berry -

I am raising this one in a pot, but I have a volunteer in the ground near my house that survived the winter.  The plant makes the small whitish/yellow flowers that eventually become the berries.  The berries last about a year, before falling off.  Small birds like the berries.  Easy to grow-though I have killed a stem by root rot (just one stem, though!?!

SHRIMP PLANT -

This is the 'brown' shrimp plant.  There is also a yellow one.  Grows to about 3 feet, gets quite leggy, must be trimmed back hard in early spring.  Blooms all summer.  Sun to part shade.  Mine is on the North side of my very tall Angel Trumpet, planted in the ground.  I also have some planted in a pot.  Water often.  I mulch mine in winter, they come back in spring!

This morning I posted some more pics in my photo album for June Blooms.  I will add a litle day by day.  The morning glory tree is just beautiful in the morning.  The cannas are non stop-worms and all!  My Alamanda is just starting to bloom-it froze to the ground, but came back-now I'm battling white flies in it.  The plumbago never stops-I think it is just gorgeous., and my glads-blooming one at a time and they seem to be suffering, although I think they are watered enough-don't know, only my second year with gladiolas.  And all the little regulars are just blooming on! Begonias, zinnias, vincas, petunias (they need help too, time for a serious trim!), and of course the Marigolds.  The swamp lilies are blooming, but they won't last long.  I still have straggling daylilies, and my MoonVINE is beautiful in late evening.  I'll have to try to get a good pic of that.

Have a great day, all!

Later gators!

Father's Day BBQ & ride down the river was pretty much uneventful.  I tried for some pics of the turtles and the water birds (just one Long Neck White Bird), and the hyacinths are starting to bloom, but the grandsons were driving and we were moving along too fast to get a decent picture.

We got some rain, finally!! I can almost see the grass growing.  I knew it would happen as soon as I ordered dirt!  And we have a 50% chance tomorrow!  That's good! Yay? Cools us down some.

I do have these pictures of blooms in my yard...

Yesterday I got a truckload of topsoil to fill in holes and low places in my yard, and extra for the flower bed and veg. garden when necessary. I'M SO EXCITED!!   The cats and dog were having a ball.  I wish I had a video---ah, you had to have been there!   Anyway!! I've started spreading it out, a little at a time, and thinking about what I am going to ENLARGE!

Tomatoes are about done for.  Eggplant still producing as are my bell peppers.  The new squash and cucumbers look good , and the cukes are starting to vine.  Yesterday I had a squash bloom!!  Hope the fungus doesn't get them again!  I have 2 red glads fixing to bloom. I planted my glads randomly, so I don't know what color is blooming next! AN TI Ci Pa Tion!!

Going to the River for Father's Day BBQ, and a boat ride. Sun & Fun Day. Hope I can get some pics of "fascinating' items for ya'll !!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY ALL- 

Later Gators!!

I guess a lot of us can relate to that!  My garden is starting to struggle, even though it is watered every other day, and those in containers every day-sometimes twice a day!  89-93 degrees every day with heat indexes close to 100.  NO rain-sprinkles every now and then. One tomato plant is about done for.  The other won't be far behind it.  I will cut them back some, and in late summer they may produce again. I have planted a tomato called "heat wave" that should survive and produce during the hot summer.  It is blooming right now, so we shall see!  The grass is growing vigorously, and now I have gotten like my son-I HATE TO WEEDEAT!!  Peanut hates the weedeater, too. He barks continuously while I'm weedeating and wants to attack it.  I'm afraid I'm gonna whack his little nose off!

Kittens had a check up yesterday and Motley has gained 2 lbs. and little fat Pretty Boy now weighs 6 lbs.!! He's only 4 months old-with the biggest feet.  He has to grow to be able to pick up his big feet!  They are in perfect health, and keep me busy sweeping feathers and  lizards out the door, and an occasional bug or two. 

Things are just growing, sort of in  a steady pace.  This morning I had a new sunflower in full bloom.  They are so majestic when they are brand new!  Believe I will plant some more with my okra!

Later! 

I have been playing with posting pics in my blog, with Bill's help, but I'm still missing something. I'll keep working on it periodically-but for now, instead-the pics of this river trip are in my photo section under Misc. & the River.  It looks very refreshing! (I will try again this evening, Bill, it was late when I finished my yard work yesterday!)

We start out leaving Pete's house (my honey, not my brother), get into the boat, with my nieces Halee and Eden (yeah, just like the garden) back out and head south on the Calcasieu River (pronounced Kal-Ka-Shew, which is Indian for Crying Eagle).  Just a few houses down from Pete's there is a long row of elephant ears growing in the river.  They grow along the river everywhere!  We round one of the bends where there is little boat traffic and I took photos of the cypress trees heavy with moss.  That, also, is common on the river.  That particular day was windy and the water birds were not flying, and the gators were not out. That will be another time, and another story.  Hope you enjoy!

I haven't written in a while-been busy-watering!! Had to change that font size!  Couldn;t read what I was writing!  This morning we got a short-ReAl short shower.  Been dragging the hose and sprinkler around the yard.  Have to cut grass in the back yard at least so I can find my animals-all those little short legs!  This morning my largest bird feeder was on the ground, and Motley (girl cat) was on top of it.  Yesterday afternoon there were about 5 doves on the ground, and 3 INSIDE the feeder.  I guess all that weight knocked it down.  Motley was giving it a "sniff over".  She came in the house yesterday with her 3RD bird!  And she's only 4 months old!! Got that one out the door before the feathers started flying!  Then she came back with a lizard....she reminds me of my son; always bringing something I don't want home!

The local AG center had a greenhouse sale yesterday so I went.  Big Disappointment.  Most of the volunteers there knew almost nothing, most of the plants were not marked, and the vegetable plants had white fly. I didn't buy a thing.  Speaking of which-I always get white flies every year, and this year is no different-They're in my eggplant, my purple angel trumpet, and various small plants on my patio.  I hose em-I spray em with soapy water, I spray em with chemicals, I just can't seem to rid myself of them.  Any suggestions out there?

Hope to ride down the river this pm.  Will try to get pics of ELEPHANT EARS for Stereoman, and some Moss in the cypress trees and MAYBE we'll see an Alligator.  They're not as plentiful since the hurricanes, but they're still out there! Possibly some swamp birds, too. 

Have a Happy Day!

Lator Gators!

My son turned 24!  What a trip!  He was a rambuncious little boy, pockets full of rocks, feathers, turtles, snakes (yes, snakes!).  I never knew what he was going to bring home!  And, I still don't! (ha-ha!).  He and his buddies filled my days with fishing, going to the beach, climbing trees, making "camps", building things, tearing things apart-I miss my little boy.  But he has turned into an amazing, smart, talented, good-looking young man, still full of adventure, and NO FEAR!  He still makes me hold my breath!!   And Amazingly, he is a good gardener, too.  Although he said he never would be-Ha!  It's in our blood, I told him.  The first time I visited him at college when he had his own apartment, he had a back yard full of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers-and house plants-all in pots!  I laughed & he shrugged! Can't help it!!

My new cukes and squash look good, so far.  They've been in the ground 2 days and are surviving.  My okra looks kind of sad, I'll have to pay more attention to them this weekend.  My largest tomato plant is starting its die-back already-I may have a "stem" problem.  Will have to check that, too.  We need rain soooo bad!  20% chance today-not much!

My second gladiola is blooming-white, again!, My hibiscus FINALLY has buds on it, although it's still only about 2 feet high!.  Petunias are starting to die back, and get leggy-I'll prune them up.  The crepe myrtles are starting their full bloom, and day lilies are still going strong.  My ginger is growing vigorously, no buds yet!  And my Moonflower vine had 4 blooms yesterday evening.  Gorgeous-and smells so good!  And the scarlett runner bean is starting to vine and bloom, although still small.  Cannas are in full bloom, and will be until frost, now. 

It's really kind of calm at my house now.  The animals are too hot to cause much rucous during the day.  THAT'S A GOOD THING!! 

You all, Have a Great Weekend!

It's been Hot! Humid! Dry! Summer is here.  Got home yesterday and had a kitchen, living room, down the hall, in the bathroom and in my bed room FEATHERS!!! Durn little cats caught a bird (not the first) and brought it inside to torture yesterday while I was gone! Everything was knocked off my kitchen window sill (some whimsical stuff, a little vase of zinnias was saved!, one of my McCoy flower pots with a jade plant in it, and all of my little "toads" I got from my grandmother--ALL IN THE SINK!! Nothing broken except my little lady bug pot hanger. I have bird poop on my kitchen curtains ( I guess he was trying to fly through the window!), things were knocked off a REALLY high shelf in my bathroom ( I know the cats can't get up there, so Bird, again). Finally found the bird in my bed room.  Had to sweep (nope, can't 'sweep' feathers),  wet mop to try to get all the feathers out.  Then, last nite, they bust through the cat door with a June bug!  Chased it around for a while before I finally caught it and DESTROYED! They're eating my Mulberry leaves!

Sunday my back yard neighbor came over and showed me 2 of his hibiscus blooms-measuring NINE (9) inches across!! A deep mauve one and a white one!!!  I remember seeing those giant babies at our garden show, but I don't remember what they were called.  He's going to give me cuttings!  My hibiscus is only about 2 feet tall-Sure is slow coming back this year...

Replanting cucumbers and squash this pm.  All other vegetables are doing great!  Can't wait for canteloupe!!

Later Gators!