Last Saturday, I was happy to receive the following email from Mr. Mouse. What a relief that he is looking out for my garden while I am gone.
[e-e-e-ent! e-e-e-ent!]
This is the Garden Report for Saturday, July 23, 2010, by Mr. Mouse!
Big news of the day: the Califorina Fuschias are blooming (see photos)! And just in time too: this morning while walking in the garden a few desperate bees spent several minutes examining Mr. Mouse's purple tee shirt to determine whether or not it was a flower. Besides a few small summer poppies, the agapanthus (which the natives don't like), and the fortnight lillies (which
disappear after a few days) there is not much available for a native bee seeking nutrition.
On the fruit front, the last of the Suncrest peaches have been harvested. There were 8, most were soft-ripe a few were still slightly green along one side but they will likely ripen up over the next few days. The bounty means that Mr. Mouse needs to figure out what to do with them, he has been investigating peach crumble and peach cobbler recipes on the Internet for possible execution tomorrow morning.
The last of the peaches means the netting is now unnecessary and the peach trees are showing signs of cramped branches and losing leaves. Mr. Mouse is trying to figure out what he should do about it. Should he try to take it off and invariably have it end up in a total tangle that makes it unusable next year or should he wait until Town Mouse comes home in August to help, risking stunting of the tree's late summer growth? (Another Fuchsia photo)
Mechanical failures on the water feature equipment continue. Today when Mr. Mouse ventured out front he discovered that the front solar pump had stopped working even though the panel was in full sun. At the risk of screwing something up as usually happens when he undertakes a mechanical venture, Mr. Mouse is going to take the fountain apart tomorrow and see whether the pump is clogged with algae. He discovered that the pump in the large fountain actually does work, the problem seems to be that it does not pump powerfully enough to get water up to the top of the fountain, so he is continuing to try to order a new pump.
And that's all for today...
[e-e-e-ent! e-e-e-ent!]
This is the Garden Report for Saturday, July 23, 2010, by Mr. Mouse!
Big news of the day: the Califorina Fuschias are blooming (see photos)! And just in time too: this morning while walking in the garden a few desperate bees spent several minutes examining Mr. Mouse's purple tee shirt to determine whether or not it was a flower. Besides a few small summer poppies, the agapanthus (which the natives don't like), and the fortnight lillies (which
disappear after a few days) there is not much available for a native bee seeking nutrition.
On the fruit front, the last of the Suncrest peaches have been harvested. There were 8, most were soft-ripe a few were still slightly green along one side but they will likely ripen up over the next few days. The bounty means that Mr. Mouse needs to figure out what to do with them, he has been investigating peach crumble and peach cobbler recipes on the Internet for possible execution tomorrow morning.
The last of the peaches means the netting is now unnecessary and the peach trees are showing signs of cramped branches and losing leaves. Mr. Mouse is trying to figure out what he should do about it. Should he try to take it off and invariably have it end up in a total tangle that makes it unusable next year or should he wait until Town Mouse comes home in August to help, risking stunting of the tree's late summer growth? (Another Fuchsia photo)
Mechanical failures on the water feature equipment continue. Today when Mr. Mouse ventured out front he discovered that the front solar pump had stopped working even though the panel was in full sun. At the risk of screwing something up as usually happens when he undertakes a mechanical venture, Mr. Mouse is going to take the fountain apart tomorrow and see whether the pump is clogged with algae. He discovered that the pump in the large fountain actually does work, the problem seems to be that it does not pump powerfully enough to get water up to the top of the fountain, so he is continuing to try to order a new pump.
And that's all for today...
Comments
If only the bees had little bee cars they could come visit us. We have lots of nutritious bee food such as wild monkey flower, chamise, and the last of the toyon blooms.
Our peach harvest was back in June and I have a whole pantry full of peach jam :-)