Today's pickings

Yellow squash, several kinds of tomatoes, peppers, green beans, peaches, and grapes. The Roma tomatoes are volunteers that are growing in the zinnia jungle.

Small but tasty

This is probably as big as these Thompson seedless grapes are going to get...about the size of my pinky fingernail...but they taste good. We have about a dozen clusters this year on this vine and none on the older vines under the lemon tree. I'm not sure if their problem is inadequate water or sun. I gave this one regular bucketfuls of pond water in addition to its drip irrigation. Interestingly, this one was also the one most attacked by grape leaf skeletonizers.

Grapes

There are about a dozen grape clusters on this Thompson seedless grape, which is in full sun on an arbor that hides our pool equipment. The grapes are smaller than they appear in this photo; and I'm wondering how much bigger they will grow. In the past, they haven't been much larger than peas, although they taste good. Last year we didn't get any, I'm assuming because of the same drip malfunction that killed the vine on the other side of this arbor. This year I am taking extra care to make sure they get enough water by adding a bucket of pond water to each plant on an almost daily basis.

We have two older grapevines at the opposite end of the yard, but never have gotten any grapes from them. The lemon tree has grown so big that it's probably too shady for fruit production, but they produce long vines that grow up into the lemon tree if we aren't attentive.

Good bugs, bad bugs

I like ladybugs in my garden. I do not like the bugs I found on this grapevine today.

Grape leaf skeletonizers are voracious little caterpillars that do exactly what you might infer from their name. They are the larvae of an inconspicuous little blue-black moth that lays its eggs in clusters on the undersides of grape leaves, and start munching away as soon as they hatch. If you notice your grape leaves beginning to look like the ones in the picture on the right, look on the undersides of the affected leaves for tiny black-and-yellow striped caterpillars.

The best control we've found is Thuricide, a biological control agent containing live bacteria which will kill caterpillars, and only caterpillars. Some gardeners report successfully controlling them by hand-picking, but we found that very time-consuming as well as ineffective.

Grapes, continued

Here's the grape arbor that has produced our only edible grapes so far. It is in full sun in front of a fence that hides our pool equipment. The grapevine on the left is a Thompson seedless grape that's about seven or eight years old. The one on the right is a Flame seedless that we just put in today to replace one that died.

Originally, the two grapevines were in large wooden planter boxes with the bottoms cut out, placed on either side of a purchased bench/harbor. We had plastic planter boxes on top of the half-wall planted with asparagus fern and annuals. After a couple of years of the bench getting almost no use because the location was too hot and sunny to be an enjoyable sitting area, and the annuals routinely dying of heatstroke, we decided to replace the bench and planter boxes with this raised bed. We built the raised bed up to the same height of the wooden boxes holding the grapes, removed the boxes, and filled in the area between the grapes with soil. Both grapes did fine up until last year, when the driplines malfunctioned and we didn't notice until it was too late.

Today, in addition to planting the new grapevine, this time on the inside of the arbor rather than the outside, we dug out the Bermuda grass, Mexican primrose, spent nasturtiums, and a dead miniature rosebush that also succumbed because of insufficient water. We left a volunteer asparagus fern in the middle, sprinkled the area with marigold seeds, and mulched everything heavily. Oh, and we also revamped the drip lines to provide more water.

Grapes

There are lots of embryonic grape clusters like this one on this particular vine in full sun. We've gotten a few grapes in the past, but most of these clusters shrivel before producing fruit, and the grapes are pretty small...like large peas.

This year I'm going to try giving the vine a daily bucketful of pond water in addition to the water it gets from the drip system. I am guessing that our limited grape production is due to either not enough water or not enough fertilizer, and pond water ought to fill in both gaps nicely. There were two vines in this location, on either side of an arbor, but one didn't make it through our last summer, I assume because of a watering issue.

We have two older grapevines, planted on the fence behind the lemon tree, but they never have produced grapes. I think it is too shady for them. We have four younger grapevines on the side fence where we replaced bougainvilla, but they're too young to expect fruit production.

No sign of grape leaf skeletonizers...yet.

That which survives

We lost one of the grapevines on this arbor hiding the pool equipment, as well as the miniature rosebush that was in the center. But the Mexican primrose, which I did not plant here, is going strong. I decided to leave it until its blossoming period ends and/or it gets attacked by weevils. It's an attractive plant, if only it weren't so invasive and susceptible.

Grape leaf skeletonizers

Our grapevines are attacked by grapeleaf skeletonizers every year about this time. If you don't address the problem quickly, these caterpillars can defoliate the vines overnight. We generally avoid the use of pesticides in our garden, but this is an exception....handpicking and squashing hundreds of these critters just doesn't work. It's extremely time consuming and we never get them all. As soon as they make their annual appearance, we spray the grapes with Thuricide, which is actually considered organic pest control because it's a bacteria, not a chemical.

June Harvest

Today I'm eating nectarines from a dwarf tree we planted a couple of years ago. This is the first edible fruit we've gotten from the tree, and it's pretty good. We picked two bunches of red seedless grapes from the arbor in front of the pool equipment, and they were actually grape-sized rather than the match head sized ones we've gotten from the older vines under the lemon tree. There are lots of tomatoes, but they probably won't last long in the summer heat. We also have several smallish bell peppers. No snapbeans, butterbeans, or corn yet...I probably planted those too late. The snapbeans are about halfway up the trellis now; I'm waiting to post a picture when they reach the top and/or start producing. I cleaned out the withered nasturtiums around the pool today, and found a volunteer leaf lettuce plant that decided to grow there. I'll leave it alone and see what happens, as I am doing with the volunteer snap peas.

The zinnias look really good, and there are a lot of interesting blooms in the "hummingbird and butterfly mix) that I haven't identified. It's always fun to plant a mix like that and see the different things that come up. I pulled up the hollyhocks which are done for the season, and Mike ran them through the new shredder. It's a budget version we found at Harbor Freight tools that was suggested in a Phoenix Permaculture Guild post. We were disappointed in how it did when we tried to shred the pea vines and bolted lettuce, but it did a nice job on the hollyhock canes, and popped all the seeds out of the cases. We're trying to compost yard waste more seriously this year- it seems a shame to send all we produce to a landfill and then go to Home Depot and buy several dozen bags of mulch.

Memorial Day Weekend Project

Here's a photo of our latest project, a raised bed surrounding a grape arbor. We had originally built a small wall of stuccoed cinder blocks to hide the pool equipment. Later we found a bench with a metal arbor that we though would look nice in front of the wall, which was kind of boring to look at. We'd had several plants die in that location because of the heavy clay soil, so we decided to try grapes planted in large wooden boxes with the bottoms cut out, long planter boxes on top of the wall, and a hanging basket at the apex of the arch. The planter boxes and hanging basket were unsuccessful, but the grapes really took off. Since we never used the bench for sitting anyway, we decided to take out the bench, remove the boxes around the grapes, and raise the whole area. We planted a rosebush in the center, with verbena and vinca surrounding it.

I think life is a bit like gardening. There are many things you can't control- like our heavy clay soil and the Arizona summer heat, and there are many things you try that don't work the way you hoped they would. But you work to change the things you can, you learn from your mistakes, and you keep trying new things.

More garden wanderings

Pole beans are coming up nicely. We're trying a different support system this year- an A-frame trellis that will hopefully be sturdier than the rebar-and-string supports we tried with the snap peas. Speaking of which, there are about a dozen volunteer snap pea plants coming up. It isn't the right time of the year for them, but I'm leaving them alone to see what they will do. There are also melon seedlings coming up under the lemon tree, and lots of green tomatoes. The nasturtium border looks pretty ratty, but I decided to leave it in place and see if it works to shade the landscaping bricks so that the tomatoes and other vegetables don't suffer as much from reflected heat. (This was a tip I learned in a gardening seminar we took through Phoenix Permaculture Association)

I pulled out the sweet peas that were under the peach tree yesterday, which have pretty well stopped blooming and are dying back anyway. These are volunteers that have self-seeded every spring for several years, and it isn't even the best place for them. There isn't much for them to climb on, other than the peach tree, and they block the entrance to the gazebo. I think I'll save some of the seeds and put them in the pots under the old gazebo off our back patio- see if they will grow up the metal supports.

The grape vines on the arch behind the pool have really taken off...one of the vines has reached the top of the arbor already. They seem to be doing much better than the older vines along the fence behind the lemon tree, perhaps because they get more sun.

Under my own vine and fig tree

It has been unusually cool today, and I have the day off, so I spent the morning pulling weeds in the gazebo area, mostly Mexican primrose that would otherwise take over the planet. I was feeling sluggish and "blah" until I did; it's amazing how a little time outdoors can lift the spirits, particularly when the temperature is pleasant and I'm actually making progress on something.

Some of the annuals (petunias, stock, nasturtiums) are beginning to look pretty scraggly, and the seedlings that will hopefully replace them are coming up. Honeysuckle and snail vine have replaced the lilac vine in blooming behind the gazebo, and it looks like the jasmine will bloom soon. I could really smell the honeysuckle while I was weeding. The Mexican primroses are beautiful now; I only wish they were more easily confined. As you can see in the picture above, they are growing into the lawn and up the hibiscus plants.

I saw one fig on the tiny tree we planted a few months ago and moved twice, and there appear to be what pass for blooms on the grapevine arbor. It made me think of Micah's vision that "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid."

Backyard wanderings and musings

Enjoyed my backyard walk today, although I'm feeling rather morose in general about many things. Lots of zinnias coming up in the raised beds; most other things unrecognizable. Spent some time deadheading marigolds and snapdragons and scattering their seeds, in hopes that they will grow.

Roses are in full glory now; mostly Queen Elizabeth and Iceberg. The Black Cherry looks really good; Mr. Lincoln and Peace aren't doing much yet. Won't be long before the heat gets them, though.

Speaking of full glory, the invasive Mexican primroses look wonderful now. This includes the ones in the lawn and growing up the hibiscus, thevitia, and other places they do not belong. Too bad they won't (a) stay where I put them and (b) bloom for more than a few weeks in the year.

Grapevines over the arbor trellis may actually make it into an arbor this year. We're trying to prune the older ones, on the fence behind the lemon tree in hopes of actually getting edible fruit this year.

Hollyhocks are blooming; mostly yellow, some tinged with pink. No Punnet square representation here. I guess if I want red ones again I need to purchase new seed.

Romaine lettuce is still edible; everything else has gone to seed. We've picked a few strawberries, mostly from the hanging basket thing...those in the ground have been eaten by various nonvertebrate species. Peaches are golf ball size and although we aggressively thinned this year, probably too many for the tree. Apricots and nectarines are much smaller; a little more than marble sized for the most part. There are some mystery plants growing in the vegetable garden area that I haven't identified as yet.

One of the plumeria looks like it may actually put forth leaves. The other one has a dead-looking top that I cut off, hoping to inspire growth on some of the lower nodes. There are blossoms (I think) on the avocado tree that we are trying this year. The Carolina Jessamine I cut back is vigorously regrowing; that was obviously the correct thing to do and I should attack the others when I get the time and energy to do so.