Terrarium

I had a nice spot along the brick wall where we removed some pink jasmine that had planted itself, so I put the trellis there and planted black eyed susans in front of it. I've always wanted to grow those so I hope they sprout. I should have planted them earlier in the year but I didn't have the opportunity.

Then tonight I bought 2 more Anaheim pepper plants to replace the ones the snails ate. I'm going to plant them in a container this time instead. Both have fruit and blooms on them already.

I also made a terrarium yesterday. When I dug up some moss for it I accidentally cut an earthworm in half. Then as I was carrying the moss from the front yard to the back I planted it in the terrarium and went back inside the house. The cat was trying to pick up something off of the rug. It was an earthworm. It must have fallen out of the bottom of the moss roots. So I put that in the terrarium too. The one thing I don't have for the terrarium yet is houseplants. I picked up an arrowhead plant for the aquarium, and if the root system can be divided I'll go ahead and put some of that in the terrarium. Usually the dollar store has just the right size of houseplants, but this year they haven't got any decent plants in at all. Maybe prices have gone up so much they can't offer them for .99 anymore.

Weedy Tomatoes

We had company over today to work on some gourd projects. I guess the guy really appreciated what we taught him, because suddenly he jumps up and goes and weeds all my tomatoes. Luckily I had just watered them deeply the night before, otherwise he'd have thrown out his back before he got any weeds pulled. Now there is a stack of weeds as big as a bale of hay. I'll let them dry a day or two and put them in the dumpster. I was embarrassed to even have weeds, but I guess he meant well.

The photo is of a gourd I grew. I cut it in half to clean it out so I can make a rain stick.

Aloe Magic

I do believe we can manifest what we think about to a degree. So when my friend Lynn told me she needed an aloe plant last time I saw her, I shouldn't have been that surprised when today a new person I met at a workshop shop says out of the blue that if anyone wanted an aloe plant or two, he had a whole bunch on his front porch that were free for the taking. So I got one for my friend and one for me.

And in case you didn't know, aloe juice is good for burns. So it's a good thing to have around.

First Tomatoes

I'm happy to say I picked the first two tomatoes out of my garden. They haven't been as abundant this year. We are having some very hot weather right now so I have to water frequently. But we are also in a drought so I have to keep a sharp eye out so no water is wasted and there is no run off.

Tiger Jaw

My tiger jaw cactus just bloomed, and as I suspected the flower was yellow. Funny the things we remember from childhood. The bloom only lasts a few days so I'm glad I got a photo of it straight away.

Most of the cactus and succulent collection I got at the swap has survived. I'm nursing one that was almost destroyed by snails in 2 days flat and I lost one that just started dying the second I got it home. It's still alive but seems to die a bit each day.

So all and all to lose 2 plants out of 24 is pretty darn good.