Yearly Archives: 2006

New Camera and a Butterfly…

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I discovered that my Canon PowerShot A610 camera ( photo ) was recently replaced with a newer camera with higher megapixels and a larger LCD screen… so I made an impulse buy on Friday and bought a Canon PowerShot A640 ( photo ). I received the package today and started using it.

I gave my older camera to my nephew JR for his birthday today. He’s using it now at a concert he and his friends are going to.

Here is one of the first photos taken with my new camera.

West Coast Lady Butterfly on Marigold

I had a tough time trying to photograph this butterfly. It would not sit still and everytime I approached it, it fly away… but eventually came back.

I’m not exactly sure what type of butterfly it is, but I just noticed it today for the first time this year.

Weekend Gardening

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I thought I would be doing a lot of gardening this weekend, but there was actually not much to do. Surprisingly, the weather was warm… even after the rains we got mid-week.

I transfered about 18 Spinach seedlings from 2 six-packs into 3 inch pots.

The Bok Choy and Lettuce that I planted to replace the ones that were eaten are sprouting… and the Swiss Chard that were spared are getting bigger now.

Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of greens for the Fall, Winter and Spring.

The Sweet Peas and Snap Peas are also sprouting, but I won’t plat them in the bed until they get a little bigger, since they seems to be favorites of the birds and slugs.

I potted up a succulent (I think it’s some type of Kalanchoe) that has been growing from a leaf. I’ll have to post photos later, to see if anyone can identify it.

On Sunday, I took my mom to do some grocery shopping at the Filipino store, then we stopped by the 99¢ store and I found 2 more Cactus (actually one is a Euphorbia, so technically, 1 cactus)… I’ll post photos later.

Oh, I also forgot that on Friday afternoon, I took a late lunch and walked up Filbert Steps again to shot a few photos.

No Need to Water…

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No need to water… because we just got our first rains for the season… which I like… It’s going to let up today and the weekend looks nice and sunny, but not too hot…

I wish it lightly rains once a week, so I don’t have to worry about watering… hehe

Passiflora Spotted

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As I was walking back to work from lunch today, I happen to see this pink flower, so I snapped a photo.

Pink Passiflora Flower   Pink Passiflora Cutting and Fruit

Once I got to work and looked at the photo, I realized that this is a Passiflora, so I went back and took a cutting and a fruit. I’m going to try to propagate this by both cutting and seed (if there are any viable seeds).

Murderous!

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When I got home from work, it was almost dark, but I wanted to just put the Elephant Garlic into the ground to start growing. Before I started, with flashlight in hand, I checked the Swiss Chard, Lettuce and Boy Choy I repotted yesterday…

AHHHHRRRGGGG! Something ate them!!!

All the Lettuce were completely gone. All the Bok Choy were gone with the exception of a few decapitated ones. Luckily, most of Swiss Chard were fine, but it looked like a few were pecked at or nibbled on. (I guess birds–or whatever ate the seedling–don’t like Swiss Chard that much)

Decapitated Bok Choy

Pecked At/Nibbled On Chard

I’m suspecting that the birds ate them, because I’ve noticed them in various parts of the garden, when I have been gardening. I also found these marks on one of my Snow Pea leaves:

Beak Marks?

I resowed Lettuce and Bok Choy seeds and hope they grow quickly to replace the ones I lost. I placed the plastic cover from my large Jiffy Greenhouse Trays… Luckily it’s the perfect size for these trays.

Weekend Gardening…

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I did quite a lot of gardening this weekend.

The weather is getting cooler and it was overcast pretty much the whole weekend. Leaves are changing colors and the summer vegetables are slowing down. There was a lot of leaves from the Pears and Apples to sweep up and I cut off more of the dying leaves on the Tomatoes and Cucumbers.

The Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Bok Choy that I planted about 2 weeks ago are getting crowded in the six packs, so I divided them up and planted 3-4 seedlings into 3 inch pots. (I have to remember that one Swiss Chard seed actually comprise of many seeds) I’ll let these grow a bit until I have space to plant them in the vegetable beds.
( before photo – after photo )

My brother went to a yard sale and bought a whole box of terra cotta pots (with 3 bags of cactus mix included) for only $3.00… what a deal! ( photo )

I potted the three $1.00 Cactus and Succulents into pots. ( photo )

As I was planting the Cactus, a spider paid a visit and I think it took residence on the Cactus. ( photo )

It seemed to be a spider weekend. I must have seen 4 different spiders, but I guess that’s not too unusual when you are cleaning up around the garden. Here are two of my favorite photos:

Unknown Spider

Mama Daddy Long Legs with Eggs (1)

Lastly, I harvested the first big batch of Tomatoes… along with Pears and Lemon Cucumber.

This Weekend's Harvest

Yeay! Good night :)

Sticky Monkey Flower

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As I was walking to the carpool from work on Monday, I noticed a low growing plant with yellow flowers in a landscaped area near a park. At first glance, I thought it was an Orchid, but that would be silly… so I took a closer look and had to take a photo.

Last night, I posted the photo on Flickr and someone identified it as a Sticky Monkey Flower.

Sticky Monkey Flower   Sticky Monkey Flower Cutting

I got curious about the plant, especially the name… So I took zip-lock in hand with a moist paper towel and set out to take a cutting on my way to the carpool from work.

Now, I know why this plant has “sticky” in it’s name… It’s leaves are sticky!!!… but I took a small cutting and brought it home… and potted it up.

I hope it survives.

Happy Birthday Nanay!!!… Let’s Garden…

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Today is my Mother’s birthday, so I took the day off to do anything she wants to.

We started the day by going to DMV to getting her ID card renewed. When they gave us forms to fill out, I noticed that out of all the clipboard they had, they gave us one that had yellow flowers drawn on it.

DMV Clipboard

Afterwards, we went to the dollar store (I found out it’s actually a 99¢ store) to see if they had new garden stuff. I bought some bulbs ( photo ) , and terra cotta pot and an Elephant Garlic bulb (from the grocery area). I’m actually going to plant the Elephant Garlic and see if they grow. Not bad for 99¢.

When we got home, we just worked on the garden. The Sunflowers ( photo ) in the front yard are dying, so I chopped them down. I had four piles: stalks, seeds for the bird to eat, seeds for next year and stems and leaves for the compost pile.

Four Piles

My brother then came home with two new plants for my Mom. A variegated Raspberry Ice Bougainvillea and a dual colored Thai Delight Bougainvillea.

Raspberry Ice Bougainvillea   Thai Delight Bougainvillea

I sowed some seed:
– Sweet Peas ‘Streamer Mix’
– Mighty Red Oak Lettuce
– Bloomsdale Savoy Spinach

I planted the Snap Peas seedling from the six pack to veggie bed #1, using the Sunflower stalks that I chopped down earlier as support for these.

I also pulled out the dead Sikkim Cucumbers plants and cut the bottom dead leaves off of the Lemon Cucumber and Tomatoes.