More veggies on the way

This past week lots more blooms were appearing in the garden.  Pumpkins and acorn squash started blooming.  Since these are like the zucchini in that they have separate male and female flowers, it remains to be seen how difficult it will be to get them to set fruit.  The vines and bushes are all growing vigorously at this point, with the pumpkin vines starting to take over the garden paths.  The potato patch also has been blooming.  Hopefully that is a sign that it is growing lots of nice tubers below ground.  I would poke around in the soil to find out, but the access is a bit difficult with peas growing on one side and green beans on the other. 

And finally, a couple days ago, both of those started flowering as well.  When I went out to check on things today, I found a couple pea pods forming and likewise some miniature green beans.

Bees buzzing

While taking photos of the various flowers in the veggie garden, I stopped at the bok choi to snap a couple pictures of its flowers even though those are a sign of a harvest missed rather than future harvest.  Instead of pulling out the plants and sowing seeds for a new crop of something else, I let them grow hoping that the flowers might attract bees. 

Happily that seems to have worked.  After I took the first photo, I saw there was a bee working among the bok choi flowers.  As it turns out, the bok choi flowers are very similar in appearance to those on the weeds down the hill where I saw the bees previously.  I watched this one as it visited a few flowers and took a few more pictures.  Before I left, a second bee appeared.  Hopefully, they will let their sisters know about the garden and I won’t have to hand pollinate the squash and pumpkins.

Little Lizard

I went out on the bedroom deck to take some photos of the garden looking down from the second floor.  However, before I was out the door I found a more interesting subject.  On the deck wall was a tiny lizard.  He wasn’t completely cooperative about getting his picture taken and ducked over the side.  It wasn’t the best angle for getting his portrait, but at least he stood still while I took a few more photos.

There are a few lizards — much larger ones — hanging out around the garden area.  I am hoping that they will be effective at keeping insect pests under control. 

Years ago when we lived in Saratoga there was a large lizard who lived in the garden.  At one point he almost ended up at the dump since he was hiding in a pile of debris when cleanup time came.  Fortunately my spouse saw him and made sure he was returned home to our backyard garden. I know that particular lizard was doing his part for my veggies.  The only tomato hornworm I ever saw there was hanging out of his mouth.

To Be or not Two Bees

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was pollinating the zucchini because of lack of pollinizers and pollinators.  The zucchini seems to be opening only one flower a day, so there is a lack of pollen for the the female flowers.  And even if there were loads of open flowers, the pollen would not get from one flower to the other unless there were bees visiting the flowers. 

The lack of bees is a bigger  problem than the lack of zucchini flowers since that effects other plants as well as the zucchini.  Thus, I tend to notice any bees that are around now. 

One place I have seen bees is at the bottom of the hill, in some small yellow (weed) flowers.  I walked in that area with the camera and decided to take a picture of the only bee I found working a strip which was perhaps fifteen feet wide and eighty feet long.  Besides, I should identify the weed and the photo would be useful for that exercise. 

First Zucchini for Dinner

At least we had our first zucchini make it to the dinner table.  It looks like helping mother nature a bit with the pollination has made a difference.  Most of the female flowers were just rotting away after the flower faded.  A couple almost happened like the one pictured on the right side. Collecting pollen from the male flowers and saving in the fridge for a day or so to use when the female flower opened has gotten us a couple nice zucchinis with perhaps another one or two that will be ready soon.

The peas and green beans are still not cooperating.  We have harvested enough lettuce leaves for a few salads.  Our weather has been pretty cool with the morning fog sticking around a long time.  Perhaps the warmer temperatures promised for the coming week will make a difference.