Enjoying the garden

Lu was having a nice day in the garden while I cleaned up and planted some winter crops. I planted peas, carrots, broccoli and some herbs.


I'm always happy when I find a honey bee enjoying the stuff I planted. There is lots of pollen on this little guy.


One of the Rouge Vif d' Etampes.


The afternoon light was just right to take a still life photo of my harvest. Pomegranates, peepers and cucumbers. It made me feel like painting again.


The tomato still life wasn't as pretty, but I'm just happy to still have good tomatoes to eat.

Bees and Pumpkins

Ever wonder how bees transfer pollen from flower to flower? Take a close look at the bee in this photo. It is covered in pollen from head to stinger.


It looks like it is snowing pollen. This is a male Rouge Vif d' Etampes flower.


Here are the pumpkins they pollinated already. I might have helped out too. I did take a Q-tip to them one day.


The second Rouge Vif d' Etampes. I think there about 5 pumpkins growing now. I'm not sure if the season is going to be long enough for them to ripen. They are currently 3-4 inches in diameter.

Cosmo and new bee

A pretty picture of the cosmos growing in the garden.


I saw a couple of these bees fighting with flies today aroung the parsley flowers. They are a little smaller than honeybees, but at a quick glance you might think they are. I'm glad to see a variety of bees in my garden.

Ed is weird

This is Ed's Millennium looking extra weird. I'm not sure why some tomatoes have these mutations, but it sure makes picking them interesting. Never know what you are going to get.


There were several tiny bees hanging around the parsley flowers this morning. They were maybe 1/4 of an inch long. Again, I have no clue what species it is.

The bees have hatched

These bees were laid in the spring. There are a few cells that have the seals broken, because the bees have hatched. (not sure if hatched is the right word) Click on the image to make it large you can really see the cells.

There are only a couple of corn cobs that will be edible this year. I planted them in the new garden area that had a deck over it for years. The soil is not in great shape. I'm going to add some compost and a cover crop to that area this winter in hopes to improve the quality.


The pumpkin is getting pretty big now. I hope it will produce at least one pumpkin before it gets too cold.

Fancy Bee/Wasp

There are little, tiny, sunflowers that want to grow off the sides of the sunflower. They will be the extra smallest sunflowers ever.

I saw this bee/wasp on a parsley plant that is about to bloom. It kept wiggling it's butt while on the flower. Look at the larger pictures. There is a lot of detail that is lost in the small pictures.

I'll do some research and try to figure out what species of insect it is.


Another picture of the unknown bee/wasp.

The dirtiest dog... ever & some garden pictures

A lot of good it does to wash this little dog. She loves to roll around the backyard in the dirt. Then she comes into the house to shake off. Fun.


Developing raspberry. This variety is Caroline. I also planted another variety called Tulameen, but it got a slow start.


I planted a few Basil plants and Thyme that I started from seed.


Finally a honey bee sighting, but there was only one. I'll have to keep an eye on the oregano to see if more show up. More about bees soon...

Today's Sunflower

The bees do not seem interested in this sunflower. This one grew from a seed that the birds didn't get last year. I grew 2 different varieties, in this bed, last year. Mammoth and Lyng's, so it could be a the result of a cross-pollinated sunflower from last year.