A Sprawling Garden Blog

For you.

Before we dig in (get it, dig in?) to this huge post about gardening, I want you to know that if you are looking to cut down on your wood borer/carpenter bee population, I know of just the thing.  

It seems like the insects are thriving this year, and I don't mean the mosquitoes that have hatched out from all this rain to carry us away.  Andrew and I have never seen so many wasps, yellow jackets, carpenter bees and bumblebees. Generally we try to use spray sparingly, roundup for the poison ivy that tries to spring up and for the stinging insects that get too bold and numerous for comfort. I had some kind of aggressive bee chasing me out of the chicken pen for a while but they have left or calmed down. However, it seems we have a dozen carpenter bees fighting, flying and drilling around the side garden shed Andrew made a few years ago. They are generally not aggressive...generally but they certainly can do a number on any beloved wooden structure you might have. 

They are kind of hard to spray at as they don't really have a nest other than the ones they make by chewing holes the size of their body into your wooden boards. They can be killed with a badminton racket if you are swift, decisive, and have the time. Or, you could buy a non-chemical, highly effective reusable trap from my buddy Frank. 

Just hang this sucker up and wait.

It might take a couple days but soon, you'll have one.

The bees are attracted to the pre-made holes drilled into the wood. When they go in to check it out, they see light (from the jar) and get confused. Rather than backing out of a hole like they normally do, they follow the light...forever.

But like a bag of chips, the trap can't stop with just one.

If you live in my neck of the woods, message me and I'll send you in Frank's direction. One trap is 15.00 but not having them fly into your face, or wood bore your structure to pieces is priceless.

Onto the garden!

These pictures are already out of date with what's going on in the garden but I think that's a standard experience for a garden in June. Seeds I planted on Sunday were two inches tall by Tuesday night. Here are some goings on, non-lavender related in terms of gardening.

First, I'm very grateful for my green thumb friend who always has plants for me, a mix of things she planned to give me, and some other things thrown in. This is the first car load she gave me and I am especially excited about the blue green large hosta to add to the other hostas behind the house. They share the space with a Japanese maple, a hydrangea that's looking very strange these days, and this weird shrub that smells like citrus that we planted years ago and can't remember the name of...

There are tomatoes, peppers, rosemary, basil, chamomile, sunflowers, two kinds of marigolds, and some very teeny tiny lavender plants that will get their own spotlight later. 

The strawberry plants and the sage were store purchases and I planted it all on the Sunday night and Monday morning of Memorial Day weekend. Andrew has been focusing on the orchard, the grapes, some building projects and cutting down a volunteer tree that while very symmetrical and pretty, was growing too close to the neighbor's fence.

Here are some of the plants going in.

The calendula plants are the light green/yellow ones and one has already bloomed and been harvested with the established chamomile....that hasn't gotten completely overrun by aphids yet.

I've done more transplanting this year than I think I ever have. We decided to have a new strawberry bed with the vegetable beds where they would get more water. There was one plant in the original bed left, plus a plant growing out of the gravel out of the driveway and those were easy to transplant. Then we had one actually growing through the railroad tie that borders our turnaround in the driveway. I pulled him and his roots up as best as I could and planted him on a whim too.

I had a hunch the tightly closed leaves in the middle would be the first sign if he was going to  make it and I was right!

There was also of all things, another strawberry plant growing in the lavender so I transplanted him too and between what we bought at the store we have a full bed and it looks like we might even get some strawberries too.

Also in the lavender this year but not transplanted is an asparagus.

There was also a little poison ivy growing right on top of the asparagus that I dug up with a shovel so he can stay where he's at for now.

And a nice evening view of the herb garden.

You might notice the hummingbird feeder hanging on the left third of the picture, I just put it up last week but saw a hummer this morning so better late than never I guess.

Gardening is happening behind the house too. I found some ancient moon flower seeds in the junk drawer and even though they had a use by date of 2013 I gave them a try, soaking them in a damp paper towel for several days as my Mom advised.

I planted them almost a week ago as I write this but they haven't come up yet, as opposed to the morning glory seeds that are close to three inches tall in less than a week.



Even the houseplants are getting into the act. My pepperomia is starting it's first new leaf since last summer.

And, here's a houseplant for you...

This banana tree was picked up three years ago at Lowe's and enjoys spending it's summers on my Mom and Dad's back porch. It gets moved to a heated barn over the winter and lives the good life outside from May to October.

Unfortunately, no actual bananas are produced.

And let's wrap up with a report from the pets.

I thought Maxwell looked comedic in this posture spiffing up his fluffy tummy.

He wasn't amused and made an even funnier picture.

And remember he never answers to "Max." It's Maxwell.



Until recently when the mosquitoes got so v=bad, I was letting the chickens out about 20 minutes before full dark so they could range a little bit but I had time to watch them and they didn't get too much time to wander too far. There is always one hen, the same one, who wants to stay up all night long.

It was pretty much dark, this is courtesy of the phone's flash.

And, remember my little Pokemon among the chickens? Well, Gible is all grown up into Garchomp...if only he could guard the chickens in real life...

Here is a nice sunset picture to wrap up for now.