garden

[orin stepanek]

Creamed cucumber

Ya; you slice the cuke and than you add some diced onion some salad dressing and sour cream; sprinkle in some black pepper! Better than vinegar and black pepper! If you prefer, you can leave out the onion and use mayo instead of salad dressing.

[Beyond]

Creamed cucumber

Ya; you slice the cuke and than you add some diced onion some salad dressing and sour cream; sprinkle in some black pepper! Better than vinegar and black pepper! If you prefer, you can leave out the onion and use mayo instead of salad dressing.

Er....thanks. But i'm not a sour cream afficionado. I usually just peel-slice-salt and gobble.

[orin stepanek]

Er....thanks. But i'm not a sour cream afficionado. I usually just peel-slice-salt and gobble.

I like them with just salt also; but I just peal sprinkle and chomp!

[bystander]

Cucumbers are very good in plain yogurt with garlic and dill (as in tzatziki).

[orin stepanek]

Cucumbers are very good in plain yogurt with garlic and dill (as in tzatziki).

Sounds good: I could try different flavors of yogurt to please my taste buds.

[orin stepanek]

My cherry Tomato plant is loaded; I an anxious for them to ripen!

[orin stepanek]

Yummy! My Cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen! Ready for salads or popping right into my mouth

cherry tomato.jpg

[orin stepanek]

I'm a bit concerned; the heat wave is taking a toll on gardening. The constant 90 t0 100 degree days seems to have stunted the growth. It is supposed to rain today and the lower temperature would be a blessing. I have been doing considerable watering; but water from the hose isn't as good as rain!
8 hours later. Ahh! It's been cool and raining off and on all day and things look pretty good right now!

[orin stepanek]

We got .70" of rain overnight! The garden loves that better than using the Rain-bird. Hopefully timely rains will keep coming. I'm still eating cucumbers and the cherry tomatoes are starting to produce more frequently. My cantaloupes are in bloom as are the melons. So are the pumpkins; but so far they only have male blossoms.

[orin stepanek]

Now that it has cooled down a bit my garden is starting to produce. Even though the tomatoes were stunted they are ripening nicely! I am starting to savor the results of my labors. These tomatoes are Beefsteak variety and normally are the size of large grapefruit; but are only the size of tennis balls. They are still very tasty though. The little tomatoes in front are Cherry Tomatoes!

my garden.JPG

[orin stepanek]

I hope no one is tiring of my repetitive posts here; but I love my garden. Yesterday i had a visitor in my garden! a beautiful black monarch butterfly! It was sitting on a pumpkin leaf

black monarch.jpg

I get some yellow monarchs also but so far no picture of it.

[owlice]

Orin, I think what you have there might be a Red-spotted Purple. Do you have any pictures of the undersides of the wings?

Monarchs are orange and black, as are their mimics the Viceroy. A common yellow butterfly is the Tiger Swallowtail.

[orin stepanek]

OMG owlice! My bad; I meant Black Swallowtail! Thanks; and your right; Monarchs are orange and black! I have Yellow Swallowtails that fly around the garden also. I'll try to capture a picture of one soon. The yellow ones seem to be bigger. According to Wiki; this is the female Black Swallowtail.

Click to view full size image

The male

Click to view full size image

[Beyond]

Orin, ya have to remember that owls have very good eyesight.

[owlice]

: puts her reading glasses on :
Sure, beyond, owls have great eyesight!

Orin, I don't see the swallow tail on the butterfly in your garden. Do you have another picture of it?

[orin stepanek]

Orin, ya have to remember that owls have very good eyesight.

Actually; I was glad owlice corrected me! The Monarch and the Swallowtail are two of my favorites and I had Monarch on my mind. I think they call it oldtimers disease; but my wife calls it brain farts! Hey that Swallowtail even sat on my fingertip for awhile. I tried to get a picture of that; but I couldn't point the camera right. It was really bright that day and I couldn't make out the picture in the view screen.

[orin stepanek]

: puts her reading glasses on :
Sure, beyond, owls have great eyesight!

Orin, I don't see the swallow tail on the butterfly in your garden. Do you have another picture of it?

I did but they were really blurry so I erased them.
You know what owlice? I took another kook at your Red Spotted Purple; and I think I have to corredt myself again. I didn't know that two different butterflies could look so much alike. I definitely wil go camera pointing until I get a better look at this butterfly!
wiki Red Spotted Purple

Click to view full size image

Wow; 71 and still learning!

[orin stepanek]

I won't have to water the garden today! Mother Nature brought more than 2 inches of rain overnight and it is still raining. My neighbor has a nice lake in his back yard.

I was going to mow my lawn today; but manana is good enough for me.

[orin stepanek]

owlice; I got the butterfly pictures!

[orin stepanek]

One more picture! it wouldn't take the fourth for some reason! You the color seems to be a little different than the red spotted purple! Otherwise it looks the same.

[owlice]

Orin, these are fabulous pictures! Thanks for posting them. Are you familiar with the website http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ ? It might welcome your best shots of this butterfly. (It's also a fun site to just read, even if not looking to send images/identify something.)

More pics of Red-spotted Purples are here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/38193

[orin stepanek]

Thanks owlice; I appreciate you reply! There was a big yellow and black buzzing the garden the other day; I hope to get a shot of him if I can.

[eleanormars]

wonderful shots. i love nature pictures, it makes my day in the office alot more bearable imagining what it would be like to actually have a day outdoors. cheers for that!

[orin stepanek]

wonderful shots. i love nature pictures, it makes my day in the office alot more bearable imagining what it would be like to actually have a day outdoors. cheers for that!

Thank you eleanormars! Nature pictures can be fun.
My blackberries are starting to ripen!

black berry.jpg

[orin stepanek]

That big yellow and black butterfly visited yesterday but by the time I got my camera out he had fluttered away. I hope he comes back so I can get a shot of him.