Autumn is finally here, after a scorcher of a Summer. It's still very dry though, and hasn't rained in easily over 3 weeks. I used to never really notice the rain much before, inasmuch as it helped cool the air, but now with a garden I really notice the rain. A few weeks ago we got our lawn aerated and reseeded by a landscaping company, and right before they left, Rob, the manager, told me that I had to now water the lawn every 3 hours or else the grass would not grow. For the next few days before we installed a makeshift sprinkler system, I ended up wasting almost 45 mins every day just watering the lawn and feeling like a fool. Anyway now we have a very nice and lush green lawn, and probably a higher water bill to go along with it.
Today, with E of course, I went to Michael's, Maypop and Menards, all in the Brentwood/Webster Groves area. At Michaels I picked up some random Halloween decor and miscellaneous items, and at Maypop (my second visit within a week!) I finally picked up the Chocolate Aglaonema that I had been eyeing, but passed on because it was $5 over budget. Thanks to a generous surprise venmo of $5 from Shirin, I got the plant. I also ended up buying a young Philodendron Hope, an Aeonium Kiwi succulent and a random squashy cactus that E had actually grabbed and knocked over when we were there earlier this week.
L - Philodendron Hope; R - Chocolate Aglaonema
L - Aeonium Kiwi; R - Unknown squashy Cactus
I realise I haven't written up much on my vegetable growing in a while. Well, as a beginner gardener I mistakenly thought that all pesticides were the same, until my poor broccoli got eaten so thoroughly by cabbage worms that they were irredeemable (and I kept wondering why the insecticide wasn't working). Finally Jon pulled the broccoli out a few weeks ago because I couldn't bear to even look or touch them as they looked so horrible, and I replaced them with what looks like bok choy. The bok choy is still being nibbled on by cabbage worms, but I have now learned to use both Dipel Dust and to knock off the cabbage worms with a wood shim that I keep handy (because I still don't want to touch or get near any bugs). I laugh/cringe when I think of how naive I was when I saw the white butterflies around my plants and thought: Oh butterflies! How nice! But of course they were laying cabbage worms URGH.
Anyway after I stopped overwatering my beans plants, they are now doing a little better and have started to grow actual beans. Again I think of how ridiculous my reaction was when I saw the plants growing small white flowers and wondering what the point was (It's a vegetable, so why does it bother growing flowers?). It's almost as if I forgot all about my Biology lessons, and the whole part about flowers preceding seeds (ergo, beans) was wiped from my memory. I felt quite daft when I realised that.
So here are my beans, and you can see the bok choy trying to grow in the back a little. Also picture is the cover that I purchased, to cover the vegetables over night and to try and prevent the pests from getting to them. Next year I might try setting up a proper hoop thing as a cover.
At Menards I ended up purchasing some pumpkins for decor. Because our porch area is covered up by a bunch of Boxwoods (thankfully, as the front facing windows are very big), I decided to leave them under a tree closer to the road, so other people can see the nice pumpkins too. I hope this doesn't mean they will rot or get eaten by something though. I'm so new to all of this that I don't know if I have valid concerns or am being silly. Anyway lest disaster befall them soon, I took a picture for posterity.
Also pictured is the mulch I random threw under that tree when I was trying to get rid of some of it, when I was trying to tackle a garden bed closer to the front of the house. I have really been enjoying gardening, but I really have no idea what I am doing. I also managed to hurt my arms/wrists a few weeks ago, and keep telling myself to take it easy, but I also just planted some pansies and violas yesterday, and wrangled a 2 cu foot of Schultz Garden Soil today.
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