How does your garden grow

Barbara, at Outdoor Hour Challenge, asked how my garden grows, so I decided it is time to report on my garden.

Outdoor Hour Challenges & Nature Study

Most of my garden is planted. This year I wanted more space, less crowding.

My tomatoes are doing well.

As is the one pepper plant we planted this year.

Some of the beans are doing okay.

But a lot of the green beans were eaten by some critter that got into the garden. That critter even ate a lot of my onions. I haven't seen any evidence of the yellow squash I planted yet, or the sunflowers. We just planted the green squash and the cucumbers less then a week ago, as well as some lettuce, thanks to my dear daughter B for blessing me with her labor!

So, here are the onions that still survive:

Mostly I feel like it is a never-ending battle against the "weedlings" (weed seedlings). There are hundreds of maple seedlings in the yard; I'm pulling them constantly. But even more difficult are the wire-grass sprouts that are coming up everywhere. 

Trying not to water today, as it's supposed to storm tonight. It's like a game, though, like washing your car. If I water, it will rain; if I don't water, it won't rain. I guess I had better go water.

Nature Study - February Flowers 2015

This post is a tongue-in-cheek response to the Handbook of Nature Study's post yesterday entitled "February Wildflowers 2015".

So, I looked out my windows and decided to photograph my snowdrops:

and my hyacynths, daffodils and tulips:

I hope you have enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek look at my mid-Atlantic states February 2015 flowers. Maybe I can post something cheerier in a month or two or three...

As Clean as a New Fallen Snow

So... I don't live on a farm or anything... I don't have any type of beautiful white field of snow to photograph, so I'll show what I've got -- a photo of my back deck.

 Doesn't that thick layer of snow look clean and pretty?

So for our nature study this week we tested the snow for purity. We started by collecting snow in a canning jar with a funnel.

When the snow stopped we brought the jar/funnel stack inside so the snow could melt. So at this point my son got excited about the experiment. He did the whole thing, showed me the results, and then dumped everything. And then I said, "Oh! I forgot to take pictures!" So I had to recreate everything. The results were easier to see the first time, but I think you'll still see well enough.

So full jar, funnel full of snow too, on the counter to melt.

Amazing how little water we got from all that snow! (See photo below.)

Next we poured the melt-water into a coffee filter to see how clean or dirty it was.

My son used to eat snow, in spite of my warnings. Now he says he won't ever eat snot again. Another thing we had noticed was not only how much dirt was caught in the photo, but also how dirty the filtered water still looked But I did forget to take a photo of that. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about our snow experiment! 



 

Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival - Reptile and Amphibian Edition

The Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival highlighted Reptiles and Amphibians in April, but where I live April was cold this year that the cold blooded animals weren't moving yet. 

So once we started seeing them in May, I had this study in mind.

The first surprise was an amphibian one. It was the day my son came home with nine, count 'em, nine frogs! He only kept them a short time, and let them go before I could photograph them.

Our second amphibian encounter was that my son found a tadpole and brought him home. We've been watching him grow his legs. I'd take a photograph, but the water has turned green, and you can't really see him.

Our third amphibian enounter (multiple), was when we journeyed to Arizona mid-May. We saw lots and lots of lizards.

 Might look like a salamander, but trust me, it ran like a lizard!

 

Our first reptile experience was the day JD brought home a baby from this year's newly hatched clutch (do turtles have clutches?) of snapping turtles.

The second reptile experience was the day JD brought home the huge red slider! I just wished I could have gotten a photo of him outside of his shell...

So, all in all, May was for us a good reptile and amphibian month. Wish we could have had this fun in April, but we're glad May is here (and almost gone) and that we've gotten to have some warm weather in which the cold blooded animals can move around.

JD saw a water snake too, but no photo.

So what have you seen in nature lately?

Arizona Nature Study 3 - Sonoran Desert flora and fauna

 Here is the Arizona diagram again. Today I'm going to focus on the Flora we saw in the Sonoran desert.

We drove north

Today I will focus on the flora of the Sonoran Desert.

On the above diagram, the Sonoran Desert is the lowest section. We began our day in the grassland desert area and drove north toward Tucson. As we drove, the grassland was dotted by cholla and prickly pear, jojoba and scrubby mesquite trees (photo below shows also that cow I showed in my last entry). 

Oh, also forgot to mention, it was quite an experience for us to be, once again, in an area that has roads that are not paved. In my suburban life, even all the driveways are paved!  Anyway... got on the highway and drove a half an hour and gradually we began to see barrel cacti.

Drove a little further, and suddenly we were in the Sonoran Desert, and the saguaro were everywhere. 

The palo verde trees were blooming yellow (above), but the occotillo, which had been blooming in Sierra Vista (grassy mesquite desert) were not blooming any more in the hotter (lower elevation) desert.

There were lots of other wildflowers blooming (I don't know all their names...)

Like that cactus wren on that last flower? In addition to cactus wren, we also saw in this area prairie dogs and a coyote (that we couldn't catch a photo of).

This concludes my photo diary of our time in the Sonoran Desert. The next nature study will cover additional zones of habitat that occur in Arizona. I hope you are enjoying these nature studies!

Arizona Grassland Flora - Arizona Nature Study 2

This is my Outdoor Hour Challenge post #2 on the Arizona Grassland area. This post will focus primarily on fauna. 

At first blush, the grassland region seems barren, lifeless and bare.

In actuality, there's a whole lot a livin' goin' on!

During our stay there, the biggest evidence we saw of wildlife was in the area of birds and lizards, although I imagine if we studied the subject we would find the land also supports possibly javalinas, coyotes, deer and prairie dogs.

Arizona sports a wide variety of hummingbirds. While we saw hummingbirds, they are difficult to photograph and harder still to identify. Their markings often don't show up on my photos (that I am lucky enough even to get.)

Here are the varieties that live in Arizona, although I don't have the information about which ones live in which climates or biospheres.

In our area we only have the ruby-throated hummingbird, and I seldom get to see one.

In addition, the area also has quail, 

white-wing doves (which are very similar to our mourning doves),

 cardinals (different from our Northern Cardinal, and yet similar)

the shy orioles and finches and various other not yet identified birds.

 Oh yeah, various woodpeckers, flickers, and possibly sap suckers...

 Finch:

 Cactus wren:

 As yet unidentified black bird:

In addition, we saw lots of lizards, but I don't know lizards from lizards.

At the nearby Nature Conservancy we also saw

 a lizard,

and one non-native species of animal:

My series on Arizona nature study will continue with my next nature study blog entry.