Yah, more rain!

Lengthy absence caused by vacations & spending too much time on computer at work!
My vegetable garden experienced a sudden growth spurt this past weekend, over the 4th of July. Returning from a three-day absence, it was surprising to see how so much growth had occurred over such a short time. Squash tendrils are beginning to snake through the garden, peas are nearly ready to pick, and more & more spinach is ready to harvest. Radishes will soon be ready, as will the greens I planted not long ago. The cabbage worms haven't found my cabbage yet this year which I'm marveling at - by this time they've always been chewing away for some time. Weeds aren't out of the ordinary so far even though we've had a bit of rain.
My raspberry plants in the north part of the backyard are steadily growing taller and will need to be trellised soon.
The milkweeds in the "shrub garden" are expanding their range and may need to be reined in a bit - maybe next year.
Tomatillos are my experiment this year, never having grown them before. The two plants that survived the seedling stage are doing better than my tomato plants.
Our nighttime temperatures this summer so far have seldom gotten out of the 40's, not great for peppers and tomatoes.
Another experiment I'm trying this year is to start batches of spinach & radishes & lettuce later in the growing season to see if I can get a harvest in late autumn, using a small hoop structure to protect them against the cold/frost. It'll be fun to see how that goes!

More Monarch caterpillars found

There are three caterpillars that I've found, and since they're kind of hard to find, more could be found. And they don't stay put - one night they'll be on one milkweed, so I mark that one with a stake so I can easily find the caterpillar later. Then I come back a day or two later and look for the critter, and it's moved to a completely different plant. Don't know why they do that.

The little guy to the right is the smallest; originally it was up on the leaves of a full-grown plant, then the next day when I returned, it was on a very small, juvenile milkweed plant. I don't know if it fell from the higher plant, or if the leaves of the larger, older milkweed were too tough for a new, young caterpillar, so it voluntarily moved.

The caterpillar to the left is one of the two bigger ones. Last night when I went out to look for all three of them, I was only able to find two. They can be difficult to spot since they generally stay on the underside of the leaves. I suspect, too, that a bird would be excited about finding one of these tasty morsels.

Monarch caterpillar is back!

Last year I didn't have any Monarch caterpillars come to my purposely-planted milkweed patch. T'was very disappointing. But tonight I went out to the milkweed to do the usual inspection of the undersides of the leaves, and what do I see?! A very juvenile caterpillar munching away! It seems pretty late in the summer, and if history runs true in the case o f past butterfly/caterpillar metamorphases(?) I've experienced and been fortunate enough to view here in my garden, this little creature will not make it to the chrysalis & then butterfly stage before cold temperatures set in. I'm going to try to faithfully track its progress & growth as August & September continue.
I wonder why the Monarch butterflies seem to wait until so late in the season to deposit their eggs. Actually, I haven't even seen any Monarch butterflies here in my yard anywhere this season, so I suppose I should be somewhat surprised to see the caterpillar. They are more than welcome, and I wish I could help them extend their seemingly-limited lifespan.
I feel like I offer an oasis in the pesticide-desert when I see these little critters here.

Missing caterpillar and more

I'm really sorry to say that my monarch larva is gone. I discovered this a few days ago when I went to check on its size and take a picture. Boo-hoo! I wonder if a bird found it? Seems unlikely since the caterpillars hang out on the underside of the milkweed leaves. Dang! Haven't seen any other 'pillars either, which is kind of unusual.

It feels like we're having a somewhat early autumn, at least where temperatures are concerned - had a very light and spotty frost last Wednesday or Thursday AM. Some of my bean plants and a few squash leaves were affected. Leaves are beginning to change colors on some trees, especially on the cottonless cottonwood tree in our front yard. My Russian sages, New England asters, and sedums are abuzz with flies and bees - they must like this time of year when such goodies are abloom. Photo to right is of a blooming Russian sage with a bee hanging on.

Harvest today was a bunch of green and yellow beans, tomatoes, and radishes. Green beans have been put in the freezer, and the tomatoes & radishes will be eaten!

Monarch larva are back!

This is the time of summer when I start inspecting the milkweed--it's time to begin seeing monarch butterfly caterpillars (larva). My efforts were rewarded - yesterday I found my first larva on the underside of a milkweed leaf! This smallish one is only about 1.5" long, and isn't really chubby yet like it will be in a week or two.

Earlier in the season before the milkweed had even bloomed, I found the coolest insect perched on the unopened flowers. What amazes me about this creature is the exact match between its colors and the colors of the milkweed. What a great camouflage!

Vegetable harvest today: bunch of green & gold beans, cherry & Early Girl tomatoes

MORE rain

This weather is not too common in the San Luis Valley - three consecutive days that are mostly overcast and have measurable precipitation. Feels more like the Midwest.

The rufous hummingbirds are madly flitting all around the front and back yards keeping one another from the feeders and seemingly spending little time actually sipping nectar.

We've resumed supplying niger thistle to the birds and are attracting house finches, gold finches, and lesser gold finches.

Three springs ago I transplanted some milkweed (not sure which species) from a nearby local fishing hole to a vacant area near the firewood pile in our backyard. As I sort of guessed would happen, it has moved beyond its original area and has to be periodically reined in. I planted it to attract monarch butterflies, which actually happened!!! For two consecutive late summer periods, I found several monarch caterpillars on my milkweed. It was so COOL to track their metamorphasis from larva (or caterpillar, see photo) to pupa to newly-emerged butterfly, all within the confines of my little gardens! Unfortunately, the first time I was lucky enough to observe this process, the monarch emerged during a bad weather period of cold & rain, and shortly afterwards it died. I don't know what happened to the monarchs last year, but I always hope for the best.