Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower

Eastern Screech Owl Returns to Lay Second Clutch of Eggs

This red Eastern Screech Owl showed up in our owl house at the beginning of February - much earlier than ever before in years past.  A grey male also showed up, and by late March, we had a juvenile grey owlet, too.  I posted a photo of the owlet earlier this year.

Needless to say, we were surprised to see the red owl roosting again in the owl house earlier last week in April.  This is a photo of the owl in February, but I am almost certain that it is the same owl.  Given how she has taken up residence again, I am almost certain that she has laid a second clutch of eggs.  In fact, last night, I heard some owlets chirping inside the house.

I don't know if this is unusual or not, but I have never seen it happen in the four or five years that we have had this owl house.

This should really help our local population of screech owls thrive, I would think.

Spring Flowering Shrubs and Trees

  Bloodgood japanese maple with Autumn Belle Encore Azaleas

 

These photos are coming a little late.  It is late April, and it does not feel like Spring anymore in Dallas.  We have had several days in the 90's in the last two weeks.

To remind us of cooler Spring days, here are some photos of our Encore Azaleas, Japanese Maples, Redbuds, and Dogwoods.

 

Dogwoods, Redbud, and Autumn Belle Azaleas

 

Bonfire japanese maple with fountain

 

Another photo of the Bloodgood maple with Autumn Belle Azaleas

  New leafs on an Osakasuki japanese maple

 

Redbud

Strawberry Update

Our strawberry plants are going strong and producing a huge amount of strawberries.  This photo is of a gallon container holding a single day's harvest.  We are picking the strawberries every other day.  We eat a lot of them fresh, and we are freezing the rest for making preserves at the end of the season and for use throughout the remainder of the year.  It will be interesting to see how much we end up with in the freezer.  If I had to wager, I would say we'll get six gallons.

The Eversweets were the first to bloom and form berries.  Most of of the other everbearing varieties started shortly thereafter: Seascape, Ozark Beauty, Quinault, and Tristar.  Ogallala is always the last to ripen.  The june bearers that we planted last year are only producing very, very small button sized berries this year:  Lateglow, Jewel, and Allstar.   The Earliglow june bearers that I planted this spring appear to be settling in.

In 2010, our strawberries started to ripen on April 11th and continued through the end of May.  In 2011, the strawberries started producing on March 23rd.  Almost two and a half weeks earlier than last year.  We'll see how long they continue to produce.  Based upon last year, I am guessing that they will continue through mid-May, but we will see.

In late March, I spread 50 pounds of diatomaceous earth (DE) around all of the strawberry plants.  I think it really helped to ward off the slugs.  However, we have had several days of rain in April, and the rain appears to have rinsed away a fair amount of the DE.  It rained a couple of days just this week, and the pill bugs have come out in force.  I have another bag of DE that I may spread around to see if it does any good.

The one thing that I have concluded is that I have planted some of the strawberry plants too closely together in certain spots.  The plants and their fruit do much better when there is space between the plants.  Without the spacing, the pill bugs and slugs seem to dominate and ruin the berries.  Additionally, I think the extra shade prevents the berries from ripening as quickly and taking on a really nice color.  I will remove and relocate some of these plants in the late winter.

I also plan to do a much better job of cutting back all of the dead leaves in February.  The dead leaves really accumulate, make it harder to harvest, and provide hiding spots for the pill bugs.

Spring Vegetables

 

Our spring vegetables are going crazy this spring.  I am particularly pleased with our lettuce.  I have been harvesting fresh romain lettuce for the last three weeks, and it is not letting up.  We have had some wonderful - and colorful - salads in that period of time.   I have not previously had much luck with lettuce in the past -- particularly with germination.  I think having the frost cloths during the coldest times of the winter helped in that regard.  I sowed these using seed tape.  If you saw my review of seed tape, you know that I was not very satisfied with the operation.  And big chunks of the tape did not germinate at all.  Nevertheless, the seeds that did germinate have filled the bed in nicely.

 

 

Here is a photograph of one of our broccoli rabe plants.  The broccoli rabe germinated perfectly.  The regular broccoli, red cabbage, and celery that is planted amongst it is maturing much more slowly.

 

 

The kale that was planted with the romaine lettuce has been our best performer, and they are beautiful blue plants.  We have been eating the kale leaves in an olive oil saute, and have also baked the leaves into kale chips - similar to potato chips (but green).

 

 

 

Here is a photograph of one of our monster rutabagas.  I have not grown these before, but I planted a bed of rutabagas, parsnips, and turnips this year.  Of these three, the rutabagas have done the best.  In fact, the turnips are only now starting to come out of the ground.

Its hard to tell from this photo, but these guys are huge.  I mean monsters.  We still haven't figured out we are going to prepare them yet, but they will be getting harvested soon.

 

 

Here is a shot of our carrots and shallots.  The carrots are doing great, but they still have a way to go.  We have been harvesting the shallots daily for our salads.

Some of these plants still have another three or four weeks before they fully mature.  In the meantime, I am anxious to start getting some of my summer vegetables in the beds.  I am going to start filling in holes from harvested vegetables with summer plants.  I already planted five tomato plants and several cucumber seeds in this fashion.

Ladybug eggs

This year, our garden has been inundated with lady bugs.  That is a very good thing.  About three years ago, I sowed lady bugs in our yard to jump start the population.  Last year, with the harsh winter, the population started out very slowly in the spring.  It has been a different story this year.  I began noticing pairs of lady bugs very early in March, and they are now everywhere.

I am always finding insect eggs in the garden.  It has been a learning process to determine which eggs are beneficial and which are bad.  To help you out, here is a photo of some lady bug eggs.  They are a bright orangish-yellow, oval shaped, and laid in a group.

The lady bugs will usually lay their eggs where there is a food source.  In the photograph below, you can see one of our broccoli raab plants inundated with aphids.  I don't feel the need to spray an organic pesticide on the plant, because you can see that our beneficial lady bugs have kindly laid some eggs right within the aphids.  The lady bug larvae will devour the majority of these harmful aphids.

Last fall, to help the lady bugs overwinter, I purchased this lady bug shelter.  I don't know if there is a true cause and effect relationship here, but I will say that my ladybugs did better this spring with the shelter, compared to last spring.