Crop Inspectors

One of the joys and one of the demands of gardening/farming is the endless job of inspecting the crops..........

It is such an important part of the whole planting and growing cycle.......

I am from an agrarian part of the country so crop inspection was a big part of what I am familiar with...it was a coveted summer job around our county...I remember my brother getting this grand job one summer ..he was mainly inspecting the peanut crop....watching out for snakes was a part of the job too....

But anyway, I go out every morning and look around my yard.....almost all of the cultivated areas of our 2 acre plot.....I can spot any activity by critters that are not welcome and if I take care of it right away, the damage will be minimal....but if I let this part of gardening slide, well, the results can be less than desirable...I am an organic gardener so that means no chemicals.  I rely on  crop inspection and hand removal to keep everything right on track.....I usually spot the very first June Bug or Japanese beetle...even kudzu bugs earlier this year....and I can kill them right then...instead of leaving them to chance....and to multiply..

So, this morning was no different....there was a lot to see....and lots of critters....another part of the job is knowing which ones are ok and which ones are damaging...

The camera captured some pretties this morning....

safe landing spot

butterfly on zinnia

maybe it's harmless

glad to see the bees

a very harmless critter...my Bo

I was taking a picture from squatting position and he came and plopped down between me and the flower..LOL

dahlia

July garden

??  from my Daddy's yard

and THEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June Bug

I spotted this June bug happily sleeping among the tomato leaves.....he is NOT welcome......

Writing all of this is kinda thinking out loud about how we need to know the condition of our crops...or herds..or families.....we need to inspect the crops we are growing...are there some critters that have crept in and are not welcome?  or causing damage that needs to be taken care of?   If we just let situations continue without being checked, it has the potential to destroy the whole thing.....I believe everything starts out in seed form...and then it grows and grows until it can be seen by the naked eye.....

One of the most awful bugs in my whole garden are flea beetles...they live in the dirt and I cannot see them and they don't bother me UNTIL  I put an eggplant plant in the garden...and they magically appear and will destroy that eggplant almost overnight if I don't intervene......that is the way life is, until a situation arises..an opportunity......
a mean spirit can lie dormant for a very long time....but given favorable circumstances, it WILL make an appearance ....

July 4 celebrations are important for family gatherings...so maybe it is a chance to check yourself and your family and see if there are any flea beetles just waiting for the opportune time to destroy a healthy plant in your garden.....

Thank you for sticking with me til the end.....I appreciate each and every one of you...

Happy Fourth.......

Mona

When the Forsythias Blooms..... or Phenology...

forsythia blooms

When the forsythia blooms..........well, it is blooming in my yard....and this is a sign...but, a sign of WHAT??   I know that it is a sign but couldn't for the life of me remember what it is a sign of..so my researching brain kicked in and I googled the phrase... :-)   and lo and behold it is actually a named science with studies and even it's own Wikipedia page..  so you know it is real if Wikipedia says so..  wink, wink

Here is a little bit of what I found..

"Phenology is derived from the Greek word phaino , meaning to show or appear. Phenology refers to recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, maturation of agricultural plants, emergence of insects, and migration of birds.  It is also the study of these recurring plant and animal life cycle stages, especially their timing and relationships with weather and climate."



" Phe-nol-o-gy is the study of changes in plants and animals as they respond to weather, climate, and the seasons. Each spring we anxiously await the first returning robin in the hope of warmer weather. That is a phenological event. It happens every year but the return date depends a lot on the weather. Migration and flowering are two more examples of phenological events."

 Then I started pondering...if we have signs in our life but we don't know what they mean....well, that could be a problem.....it is not because we are not warned or encouraged..it is because we are DULL of understanding....it isn't the sign with the problem, it is US!   

I am an avid gardener...I pay attention to my yard, or so I like to think. this yard is my baby...and I care deeply for it....so when we were riding down the road the other day and Bryan said, did you see those yellow flowers blooming?.....in our yard.... 

me  ...  HUH????  what flowers???

B... those little yellow ones by the driveway (that I had just walked by to get in the truck)

WOW!   I had definitely missed it..when the forsythia blooms... cause I didn't even see them blooming..and we have about 5 HUGE bushes bordering our driveway so it's not easy to miss.

This little slice of our life got me wondering about all the signs we have every day in our life.......

we know to STOP when we see that red sign.....my favorite one is 'KEEP MOVING' and you wouldn't believe how many people STOP at it...

Yes, we have signs all around us...we need to pay attention to them and if we don't know what they mean...search it out!!!  don't ignore them...and heed what they are telling us.....

I love my home..I am passionate about the way I furnish it...down to the smallest detail...and I am also an avid thrift store shopper...so when I found a magnetized spice rack with brand new spice containers, I saw that as a sign that I was on the right track in homemaking....I had just the weekend before been in Atlanta with Betsy looking through The Container Store for magnetized spice containers.....we couldn't find any but there they were in just a few days. at the thrift store I regularly go to...and all for $3......it was a sign of encouragement for me....something I had wanted and it was placed right in front of me ..I could have ignored it but I have tried to train myself to pay attention to the signs in my life.....

there are also signs that warn us of danger ahead, or to turn around, or that we are headed in a wrong direction.....

It is important to know the signs and to read them...and to do what they say...it is a fun thing to do a little research about......

what are the signs in your life?  are they telling you that you are going in the right direction?  or are they telling you to turn around..get on another path? 

I like signs....

oh, and the forsythia thing?   it means that the soil is beginning to warm up when the forsythia blooms..

from Organic Gardening....

In the case of those show-off forsythias, once they bloom, it's the perfect time to do the following tasks:

• Remove mulch from irises and other perennials that you may have mulched heavily to prevent frost heaving.
• Install floating row covers over cabbages if you have issues with cabbage worm.
• Prune your roses. By the time the forsythias bloom, evidence of winter kill on your roses will be easy to spot. Healthy canes will be a greenish-brown color, and dead canes will be black. You can prune to remove this dead wood, as well as to generally shape and open up the plant.
• Direct sow seeds for cool-season crops such as lettuce, greens, chard, peas, radishes, and carrots.
• Plant potatoes.

None of these are set in stone, obviously. For example, many of us try to have our peas planted by St. Patrick's Day. But this provides a good general guideline for figuring out when the time is right to take care of certain tasks.


I hope you enjoyed this little bit of gardening wisdom.....

What are the signs in your life and what do they mean to you?  I would love to hear about them....

thanks for stopping by today...come again soon..

                                                      Mona

only a visionary will appreciate this..  :-)  my garden spot