Forbidden Fantasy

All I can say is WOW! What a fantastic Spring Garden Day this year. We ended up having over 500 people come through the gardens on Saturday. Our friend Rusty (the master griller) called me the “jackrabbit” because I just kept running back and forth through the gardens answering questions and digging plants for people. Marty and I didn’t get to take a breather until about 2:30 when we split  sausage dog. The sausage came from Pruski’s in Adkins for those who have asked, as did the hamburgers.

I apologize to those who were looking for me, but didn’ t get to me. Don’t hesitate to send me e-mails with questions or comments. If there are ways for us to improve the Garden Day (other than cloning ourselves) we will take it all in.

This season has been a rather strange one, since most of our blooms are anywhere from 1 – 2 months later than normal. Peak bloom for daylilies is usually in late May – as you could tell, we haven’t hit peak bloom yet. Probably in another week. The blooms we did have were great – I think the most popular bloom on Saturday was Forbidden Fantasy, next in line was Pastel Inspiration, and then all the blooming mixes.

As a side note, the fish emulsion seems to have been keeping the deer and the rabbits out of the garden – and it is a great fertilizer. I have been using it weekly.

I also heard from the other Markets in the Country sites (Rhew Peach Orchards, Green Country Farm Blackberries, and Cooper’s Garden Place) that they also had fantastic turnouts. I would just like to say Thank You to all those who came to Wilson County and Floresville to all of our different sites. We loved having you, and we will let you know when we are planning the next Markets in the Country.

A friend of mine who runs a good sized farm with lots of vegetables told us that they use fish emulsion 4 – 5 times to deter both the deer and the rabbits. Evidently other animals don’t like the fish smell (make sure you don’t use de-odorized fish emulsion). So today we stopped and bought 2 different types of fish emulsion. Over the next couple of weeks, we will let you know if it works. In addition to the animal deterent aspect of fish emulsion – it is a great fertilizer for your plants, and a great activator for your compost pile.

Now on to more cheerful subjects. Last week we started planting our sunflowers. This year I am planting 4 different kinds. Sunrich Lemon which is 4 – 5 foot tall and a great cutting plant, Florenza which has red and yellow blooms and another great cutting flower. Additionally, I am planting some small Sundance Kids and Sunbright sunflowers which are more bedding and garden type sunflowers. We also started planting some zinnias, cosmos, and rudebekias (black eyed susans) as both plants and for cutting flowers for the Pearl Farmer’s Market. The Sunrich Lemon sunflowers have already started to germinate and I am looking forward to their sunny faces as summer approaches. My cosmos and my rudebekias have also started to germiante. My herbs (basil, thyme, chamomile, oregano, cilantro), scabiosas, lavenders, coreopsis, and dahlias have also started to germinate and are growing nicely.

On the daylily and bearded iris front I am getting more blooms, and I am seeing scapes really starting to pop up. It helped getting a 4/10ths of an inch of rain yesterday. Now if the rain will keep coming every couple of days, I’ll be very happy. Well time for me to go and prepare myself for some more weeding tomorrow – yes, I’ll be listening.

Please identify this snake!

Yesterday on our way out the door, our kids found this snake in one of our small crepe myrtle trees next to the house. We have trained them to come in tell us when they see a snake, so we can figure out what kind it is. Since there is a creek behind our house we not only get rattlesnakes, but also cottonmouths and coral snakes. Now we realize that this snake is none of the above, but we would still like to know what it is.

Its’ tail is thin and pointy. Its eyes are round and not catlike. It appeared to be about 18 inches long – and obviously climbs trees. If anyone has any ideas – please let us know.

what snake is this?

Well, I decided now was the time to try this one. I initially did a 100% solution, and then reduced it down to a 1:1 solution of bleach:water. I dabbed at my hand for at least 15 minutes. I know that I must have had 7 – 8 different ant bites on my hand. Well, after the half hour there was just a little bit of pain left, and after an hour there was no pain. Late last night, there was just one spot that was a little itchy only after I had put some hand lotion on. This morning I only have the one spot that is slightly raised, but it didn’t form a vesicle. It is the spot that I think had several ants going at it. So, all in all, I would say this home remedy is a keeper. In the past we have tried vinegar, meat tenderizer, calydryl/calamine, and campho-phenique all to no noticeable difference.

Yes, I did finish transplanting the rest of my plants and I was on a much sharper lookout for fire ants. We had spread Extinguish out in the yard last week. Since we have small children, we use Extinguish without the amdro. Not only is it much cheeper, but it is rated for playgrounds and school use. It is simply a growth regulator that attacks on the fire ants youth stages. Over time the ants die off, because there aren’t any more to replace them. It is recommended that you use this twice a year. This is just our second season of using it. We have seen a decline in the number of ant piles, but not the elimination of them yet. So we will keep you appraised of this ongoing battle.