Rookery Update

The Rookery once again lives up to its name with a new brood of herons this year.

It's gotten more exciting because there is a family of Great Horned Owls  living in the rookery. We've spotted them and photographed them  4 of the last 5 visits.  We are averaging 2 trips a week to the site.

Penny even has managed to go off the boardwalk despite her anxiety because that's what is required to see the owls sometimes.

Here are some recent pics.

Garden Update

This year I put the garden in at the end of March when we returned from Guatemala.  I neatened up the garden to make it easier to tend.  The irrigation system now has 3 feeds and is more sturdy than last year.  I also cut back the blackberries and grapes and increased the trellised area for the grapes. I also tied the blackberries so that harvesting should be easier.

After putting in the plants I built a framework and installed bird netting in such a manner that tending the plants will not be interfered with any more than necessary.

 

This past week  (May 18-25)  saw the first harvest - peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and blackberries.   The blackberries were picked today (25th) and we had enough for our 10 AM snack.

A couple of tomatoes are getting red but it will be another week or two before harvest begins.  The good  news is there are lots of tomatoes coming this year.

The big picture - here is the garden 24 May 2015.  New this year- a better irrigation setup, large bird screen and grape trellis.

the cucumbers grow vertically on this mesh wall.

cantaloupe, green peppers and eggplant

lots of blackberries this year!

first meal made from garden - eggplant parmigiana

 

first blackberries

My failure this year as every other year is yellow squash.  I can't seem to grow them successfully.  You can see the dead plant in the top pic in the lower right corner.