My bug filled backyard patch of a farm!

Today I moved my 5 orange buckets of okra and eggplants over behind the tire gardens, so they would not get more sun and warmth. They like that. This summer, it was too hot for them, so I had moved them into a shadier spot. Now they are gonna be all happy again! It is hard to see all of the plants because they are sitting in front of the jasmine fence. They are still covered with buds just waiting to open. The one okra plant that came up mysteriously in my flower tire has been the most vigorous and has had a continuous production for me. I think it is because it has been in the sun and in the black tire that kept the dirt warmer. The roots were protected by a tall purple salvia plant...and all in all, it was just a better growing condition. Did I tell you my new ambition of being the best backyard okra grower in the world??? Hehehe. I am learning more every day...

The green buckets are all my 50 carrots, which will have to be thinned. They do not transplant well, so I may try to take out only as many as I feel I absolutley need to and let them fight it out. It will be a competition for the survival of the fittest!!!

Here is another okra bloom, and see the okra growing right underneath it? To the right of that you can see a fading flower which has another okra under it. You can see all the buds up top still yet to open. This is my vigorous plant...it opens about 2 flowers a day, which gives me about 2 okras a day. Nice plant....(it takes about 4-5 days to get them to around 6 inches long, once the flower falls off). I determined that that is the length that works out well, before they get too woody.

As I was out there watering and moving things...I saw all these bees (100 at least) all in the jasmine on the fence....but then on closer inspection, they were actually all in this other vine with little light purple bell shaped flowers (don't know what it is). The bees were popping in and out of the flowers so fast it was really hard to get any good shots...but I managed to get a couple. In this one, you see a bee trying to move into the flower, but there is one already in there, starting to back out! They seem to be quite friendly with each other...no major battles going on out there anyway! LOL.


Then, to my amazement, a really slender black dragonfly posed for me. When I saw the pic on the computer screen, I saw that he has sky blue eyes! How pretty. I will try and find out what kind he is on Bug Guide later.

It is sunny, breezy and warmer, but yet still cool in the shade here. A perfectly gorgeous day. Hope you are all having similar conditions where you are! I've been out visiting your blogs, but it has been hard to post with the new job and all. See you again as soon as I can.
xoxo- Julie