[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…yeah I know what you mean about being able to raise and lower more easily…such a lovely thing to make Miss Maru her own little garden and teach her to care for her plants……things like herbs and vegetables are a great starter, aren’t they …for her to follow that path and connection from garden to table…happy gardening months together ……

Do you do a lot of yardwork/gardening, Ammi?

[FaLaLaLand]

I've bought a few packets of seed, only cheap, just to see if I can get some flowers and a bit of colour going in the garden. It's nice again tomorrow so will get onto it then.

One's a "wild meadow" mixture, one's strawberry plants and the other's cacti but I've just realised that's indoors only! D'oh!

On the lookout for some sunflowers to plant too.

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Color is going crazy here and my lawn also is filling in very nicely after the repair work I've done with it. St Augustine runners (a type of warm grass here in the States) is spreading after transplanting in areas that are bare.

Sharing some pictures from a local trail at dusk...

[Ammi]

…gorgeous……what are those white/wild flowers, Maru…?…

[Ammi]

…we reseeded parts of the lawn that were damaged but the pigeons have moved in and keep eating the seed…

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Originally Posted by Ammi

…gorgeous……what are those white/wild flowers, Maru…?…

These are wild carrot, I believe. They grow everywhere here near waterways and just wetter grassier areas. One of my neighbors must like it because someone mowed everything but the patches of wild carrot that appeared in their front lawn. Nice and tall privacy barrier, too.

Originally Posted by Ammi

…we reseeded parts of the lawn that were damaged but the pigeons have moved in and keep eating the seed…

Oof. Reseeding is expensive here. We throw hay or some other hay like material over to protect seeds. It helps them to not move around too much either.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

These are wild carrot, I believe. They grow everywhere here near waterways and just wetter grassier areas. One of my neighbors must like it because someone mowed everything but the patches of wild carrot that appeared in their front lawn. Nice and tall privacy barrier, too.



Oof. Reseeding is expensive here. We throw hay or some other hay like material over to protect seeds. It helps them to not move around too much either.

…yeah I think it’ll be expensive when they keep eating it as we seed it but we will send them the bill for it all…

[The Human Santapede]

Originally Posted by Maru

Color is going crazy here and my lawn also is filling in very nicely after the repair work I've done with it. St Augustine runners (a type of warm grass here in the States) is spreading after transplanting in areas that are bare.

Sharing some pictures from a local trail at dusk...

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

I went back to the trail and got some good photos...

Fun story: I lost my red dog leash which, I was semi-attached to, no pun intended. I used to walk my dog that passed infrequently with it and while it's not as good for her small brother, "It just worked"... I guess whoever picked it up really needed a leash that day. At least I'm 99% sure someone picked it up. I caught their perp walk in the background so I know someone was at least walking that spot and it T's off to another area there so could've been someone coming from behind the trails and I'm 100% sure where it was dropped because I let child hold it (she asked) and that was dumb on my part... I opened my car trunk and noticed the pink leash that I really walked my girl in more before her anxiety got intolerable, so maybe I don't need 2 leashes to remember her... I'm just in that weird grief stage right now where every little thing reminds me of her and memories flood right back. So losing even silly things like that adds to the feeling the loss.

But yes, this little trail we often walked with her and "Little Man" (my chihuahua, LM is a nickname for him) with that red leash in particular... he was so happy to be out and I usually take his leash off so he can go "be dog..." ... it's very nice back in this spot and he stays out of trouble, so (not walking into dangerous weeds and such)...

I stepped in an Fire Ant bed trying to get the bumble bee shots so I had to walk for the rest without shoes until they vacated... that was fun, but the ground was a bit sandy from being worn and very comfortable actually... the parts without prickly plants which is common in hot areas of the country... something about heat makes the plants angrier, I wonder why.

Anyway, photos...













Bumble Bees (Click/Tap to Zoom):

[The Human Santapede]

Aww, Maru. Giving you a big hug. So cheeky too somebody has picked it up and kept it.

The photos are beautiful. I love bees so much too, so will always love photos of them.

[FaLaLaLand]

Gorgeous photographs!!

The seeds I planted three weekends ago have gone nuts.

I've got 16ish sunflowers all about 2 inches tall that I now need to individually pot (donating some to friends and fam), a load of wild flowers blooming, strawberry plants coming up also as well as three cacti starting to sprout! Not bad considering they were just little 50p packets of seeds from the shop.

[The Human Santapede]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

Gorgeous photographs!!

The seeds I planted three weekends ago have gone nuts.

I've got 16ish sunflowers all about 2 inches tall that I now need to individually pot (donating some to friends and fam), a load of wild flowers blooming, strawberry plants coming up also as well as three cacti starting to sprout! Not bad considering they were just little 50p packets of seeds from the shop.

My sunflowers are doing well too. I learnt my lesson a few years ago when I planted 20 seeds thinking not all would take, they all took. Had to try find pots for them all haha.

This year I planted just six (3 yellow/3 red).

My various basils, potatoes, rocket, chilis and tomatoes are doing well so far too. The dill and tarragon, not so much. They’re growing, but very slowly.

Also my jasmine is going wild again too, it’s huge now from when I got it 2 years ago. Can’t wait for that to flower again. It’s my favourite summer smell (alongside cut grass/bbq).

[Ammi]

…^^^…sunflowers are such fun to grow and keep measuring through their growing cycle because they really do grow to adulthood quickly…they’re one of my favourite flowers…putting a jar of sunflowers in the house is a gorgeous thing……

[Ammi]

… @Maru….awww, with the leash ……maybe your little dog was somewhere in that story and somehow saying…let the leash go to another dog now and start a new memory of love because wherever it is and whoever is using it…will never take from the wonderful walks we have…those things are in the heart and not in the leash……

…honestly, your photos are absolutely stunning…little baby Maru must get so much joy in looking at pics that her mama has taken……

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Aww, Maru. Giving you a big hug. So cheeky too somebody has picked it up and kept it.

The photos are beautiful. I love bees so much too, so will always love photos of them.

Yeah... but maybe they needed it more than I did. I keep a few leashes. I couldn't find the red retractable I use for my smaller pup, so that's the only reason I had taken that one that day. It was a lot to hold onto with camera gear and other random things small child was handing me ()... and then my socks&shoes when they were invaded by ants...

@ bees
I'm looking at doing beekeeping at some point. I already have a good spot picked out. It's a matter of deciding when to do make the investment and pick up some Nucs. I'd need 2 at least so if I never needed to move resources around...

These are my favorite channels for beekeeping (and salvaging colonies from places they don't belong):

https://www.youtube.com/@davidhaught84
https://www.youtube.com/@628DirtRooster

Originally Posted by Ammi

… @Maru….awww, with the leash ……maybe your little dog was somewhere in that story and somehow saying…let the leash go to another dog now and start a new memory of love because wherever it is and whoever is using it…will never take from the wonderful walks we have…those things are in the heart and not in the leash……

…honestly, your photos are absolutely stunning…little baby Maru must get so much joy in looking at pics that her mama has taken……

Thanks <3 (everyone else too)

I think you're right... and when I thought about it, she had terrible anxiety so maybe leashes weren't her favorite thing anyway. She was a black lab mix, so it wasn't down to her breed. But that's why we loved that little trail, because I could take her off safely and her and little man could walk around quietly around sniffing and trotting without real concerns of bothering others and vice-versa. Lots of different things to smell back there also.

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

Gorgeous photographs!!

The seeds I planted three weekends ago have gone nuts.

I've got 16ish sunflowers all about 2 inches tall that I now need to individually pot (donating some to friends and fam), a load of wild flowers blooming, strawberry plants coming up also as well as three cacti starting to sprout! Not bad considering they were just little 50p packets of seeds from the shop.

I've thought of adding some sunflowers to my box when I start it. We have a wildflower that looks very similar here, but I've wanted to grow "legit" ones.

[Vicky.]

I pay to get mine done..and seen unable to keep flowers alive

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

I finally figured out what the grass type in my front on the one side that looks really pretty and texture-y actually is and also explains why it was so painful to identify in the first place... (but I had some suspicions). It's Bahia grass... It's been spitting out all these little seedheads that I thought were maybe random summer weeds coming up. Nope, it's the grass!

Bahia Grass Seed Heads
https://shuncy.com/article/bahia-grass-seed-heads

Also explains why the birds have been going munching in that part of my yard of late. So yeah, I was pulling them and then realized, I was like oh sh**.. pulled it back out of the bin and planted some in the backyard. I don't expect it to thrive where I put it. I suspect it doesn't like shade very much so probably is why it's staying more or less on that side of my yard and not spreading... just have to get St Augustine (similar thick-ish/texture-ish grass) to spread on the other end to match...

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Maru

I finally figured out what the grass type in my front on the one side that looks really pretty and texture-y actually is and also explains why it was so painful to identify in the first place... (but I had some suspicions). It's Bahia grass... It's been spitting out all these little seedheads that I thought were maybe random summer weeds coming up. Nope, it's the grass!

Bahia Grass Seed Heads
https://shuncy.com/article/bahia-grass-seed-heads

Also explains why the birds have been going munching in that part of my yard of late. So yeah, I was pulling them and then realized, I was like oh sh**.. pulled it back out of the bin and planted some in the backyard. I don't expect it to thrive where I put it. I suspect it doesn't like shade very much so probably is why it's staying more or less on that side of my yard and not spreading... just have to get St Augustine (similar thick-ish/texture-ish grass) to spread on the other end to match...

…Bahia grass looks very, very sturdy and strong and so excellent for little Miss Maru to fun and tumble on all day long…I’m not really up on grass types that we have here, we have lawn grass……I mean, there’s fine quality lawn grass for things like bowling greens and the like so there are grades of lawn grass but that’s all an un-knowledgable gardening person like me knows…we have planted a lot of new grass seed this year so it’s still quite delicate in many places atm and still a little patchy…

[FaLaLaLand]

I’m having to have a mad dash to the garden centre tomorrow as my little seedlings, thanks to the beautiful weather the past week, have almost tripled and are outgrowing their pots so I need to size up!

Lovely to see though. Such a simple, rewarding hobby.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by LaLaLand

I’m having to have a mad dash to the garden centre tomorrow as my little seedlings, thanks to the beautiful weather the past week, have almost tripled and are outgrowing their pots so I need to size up!

Lovely to see though. Such a simple, rewarding hobby.

…it really is such a rewarding thing to have that feeling of successfully nurturing something we’ve planted……like being a parent to our gardens……enjoy your sizing up, that’s a great reason to be re-potting…!!!!…

[The Human Santapede]

It’s all starting to bloom now. Jasmine in full swing and filling the warm air with its heavenly smell. Lily’s about to burst open. Tomatoes growing well. Olive trees flowering.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

It’s all starting to bloom now. Jasmine in full swing and filling the warm air with its heavenly smell. Lily’s about to burst open. Tomatoes growing well. Olive trees flowering.

@Benjamin …do you get any brown or yellow leaves on your olives at all…/…do you get any aphid activity…?..and also, do you feed them…?…/…lots of olive questions, if you please…and yeah, the jasmine season is magnificent atm, isn’t it…..

[The Human Santapede]

Originally Posted by Ammi

@Benjamin …do you get any brown or yellow leaves on your olives at all…/…do you get any aphid activity…?..and also, do you feed them…?…/…lots of olive questions, if you please…and yeah, the jasmine season is magnificent atm, isn’t it…..

My olives are doing well atm, (touch wood). I gave them olive tree feed at the start of spring and put down some more last week.

No aphids on them, but lots of small spiders (they can stay and eat all the bugs).

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

My olives are doing well atm, (touch wood). I gave them olive tree feed at the start of spring and put down some more last week.

No aphids on them, but lots of small spiders (they can stay and eat all the bugs).

…yeah, I leave the spider webs all there to catch the bugs…I had some little bubbles of white fluff-like stuff which I looked up and I think it’s Wooly Aphids, I think they’re called…and they love the olives…I also had some yellow leaves so I was a bit worried about them…anyway, I went to speak to the olive man this week and I think they’re all ok and healthy…I bought some Olive Focus feed which seems to be good as well…they’re my babies atm……