Planted and Enchanted

Red Malabar Spinach from Kitazawa Seed Co.

I was initially pretty excited about this Red Malabar Spinach, which is one of the few “greens” that can take the summer heat in Central Texas. I changed my mind, however, after hearing numerous reports of the spinach being “mucous-like” in texture and not very tasty either. I’ve heard that this plant is best used in fish-based soups, as found in Asian cuisine. At any rate, instead of cutting the spinach down – I replanted it in the corner of our yard for ornamental purposes…it is a vining plant that can reach 14 feet tall. Today is the first day I’ve noticed the spinach clinging to the bamboo stake.

The seeds for this plant came from Kitazawa, who certainly have the best packaging of any seed company in my humble opinion.

Caterpillars chowing down at the top of a 3 1/2 foot tall fennel plant.

I blogged about these guys yesterday and continue to be fascinated with them. Today, all eleven of the caterpillars remain on the fennel plant – and all have increased in size by at least a third. There is also very little left of the foliage on the fennel. I’m cool with that – we planted them for these crawling creatures to utilize.

Planted 3/16, picked 6/10

I love growing hot peppers. These Banana Supremes are great for pickling and such. Yum-dum-a-doodle!

What is this? Please identify...

Who doesn’t like butterflies? I can’t think of any rational person who doesn’t think they are pretty dang awesome.

In an attempt to attract more butterflies to our backyard, we planted a few butterfly attracting plants. There are both “host” plants, which are where eggs are laid and caterpillars feed and “nectar” plants – which adult butterflies feed from.  This picture is of a caterpillar going wacky on our Fennel (“host”) in the herb garden. I counted no less than eleven of those suckers on the plant this morning, so…unless the birds feast on them we are going to have some butterfly magic soon.

We could use some help identifying exactly what kind of butterfly these guys are going to morph into…any help is appreciated.

Nantes Coreless Carrots planted January 31 and harvested May 29. We probably could have pulled these a few weeks ago, but we weren’t sure. How do you tell when carrots are ready?

Nantes Coreless Carrots