Category: 2026 from the start - Page 5

Butterfly man

11 Jun 202610 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

[From 30-May-2026] Sure, I know it’s there to suck up the minerals from my sweat. That doesn’t stop my moment of irrational wonder, feeling in harmony with all of Nature. Butterflies land on me!

These guys are always around the wet soil after watering in. They descend in a flutter of half a dozen or more, and land on the wet ground. Today, my hand was damp from the hose, so I slowly extended it toward them. And that’s when I received this sure sign that I’m one with the universe. To prove its intention, it gave me all the time in the world to get my camera from a bucket of gear nearby and capture the moment using my wrong hand!

As far as names for things, I’ll go with it’s a Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus), from my generally accurate or at least ballpark iNaturalist app. I looked into it at some point: they’re apparently after minerals and other nutrients they don’t get from nectar, and the behavior is called “puddling”. Hm.

Debatably late

12 Jun 202611 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

Much more me than the carrots in thinking they were taking so long, they weren’t going to arrive at all. The variety is Miami, a reliable hybrid, and the seed is from last year. To me, that’s fresh and ready to go. Given the recent soil-warming heat, uninterrupted moisture from watering and rain, and nice thick black landscape fabric cover to keep the heat and moisture in, I figured when I checked on day 7, then 8, they should be up and yelling for the sun. But there was nothing. I took off the cover, and didn’t let the bed dry out, but I was about to reseed. Then one more day went by, and there were a few tiny carrot seedlings starting to arch out of the soil. Still skeptical, I ignored it for another day, then checked this evening and…decent germination—actually, they’re really popping!

It’s not out of the ordinary, this production thinking that gets out of sync with reality. Patience is often rewarded. In this case, it’s not as dense germination as an Earthway seeder overseed, but it’ll do for a first round, and that’s over a week not wasted in re-starting the season’s first carrots! :)

Mud on the leaves

12 Jun 202612 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

Mud-splashed potato leaves after heavy rain

[From yesterday] Unless someone went wild with a hose, mud on the leaves is a sure sign of heavy, pelting rain. It came down this afternoon while I was on a supply run to town, hidden away in a giant box store, completely disconnected from big weather events (that is, until the power went out, which was its own little adventure in a dimly lit cavern). Back in the field, taking stock, the veggie plot was nicely watered in, the rain gauge read a decent half inch (1.25 cm), and no plant problems, just mud-splatter.

These potato plants do a good job of illustrating the ability of pounding rain to throw up a startling amount of dirt. Still, it’s really only of particular veg garden interest if you have to harvest in quantity. Grabbing some salad greens for dinner, a quick mud rinse and into the salad spinner, no problem. On the other hand, harvesting quantities of lettuce, baby salad greens, beets, radish, and carrots with tops, anything with leaves low to the ground right after a deluge becomes instant extra rinsing work. Which adds up! Of course, rain is manna from heaven for growing stuff. We can’t ever wish rain away, at least not around here (well, not most years). Harvest mud is just one of those things to take in stride…

Quick storms and rainbows

13 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

Seems to be a little weather pattern repeating over the last few weeks: ominous darkness rolls in with gusting wind, a short, sharp storm with lighting but usually no thunder, half an inch to an inch of rain drops in just a few minutes, then the sun suddenly pops up and…a rainbow. Quite the little show. There’ve been several storms like that recently, and although this is only the second rainbow I’ve seen, I wouldn’t rule out others I missed. This one was a full arc, treeline to treeline. Didn’t have a wide enough lens or enough backing up room to get it all on digital film. Overall, the rain is welcome, even if not the slow and soaking in kind, and the pretty massive rainbow was cool, good for letting your sci-fi imagination wander for a few minutes!

Plants just wanna have sun

15 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

These winter squash are looking a little pale and thin, with those deprived-looking almost lime green leaves. No wonder, to go along with all the rain, most of the last few days have been cloudy. The garden veg really aren’t demanding. All they want is decently fertile soil—composted cow manure and a handful of alfalfa pellets will handle that—ample water, warm but not searing temperatures, and sun. Also, not being devoured by animals, insects or disease, or smashed to tatters by golf ball-sized hail, of course. This season so far, all conditions met. Except for the sun. The forecast continues cloudy with chance of rain for the next week. If that holds up, no rich, deep green leaves and satisfyingly sudden growth spurts for a while.

Pot experiment update #2b

17 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

Here it is, the final phase of the tomato pot size experiment: side by side and in the ground. It’s a little hard to compare, so far apart and in this weird semi-overcast sunlight. The deep pot toms across the way went in late yesterday, and the plug sheet seedlings, up close, were transplanted 10 days ago. It’s a bit of an odd match-up for an experiment, but this was all an afterthought. The plugs have a big headstart in getting fully rooted, while the potted toms are starting in pretty much twice as big, with a lot more root mass. And they’re off…!

The puddle returns!

20 Jun 202618 Jun 2026 by Mike (tfb)

After a pretty impressive inch and a half (3.75 cm) of overnight rain, my water table indicator puddle is back. Not usual this far into June, but there has been a lot of falling water recently. You can see the water in the tamped down route of my path to the veg field, but it also extends into the grass on both sides. A mini-Everglades. If the veggies were planted right here, it would be a problem: plants breathe through their roots, so they’d be spluttering for air, in danger of drowning! Luckily, the veg patch starts not far off, but up a gentle slope, so, pretty much high and drier. With the clouds and rain of this May extending into June, with a few days heat wave-ish break, the weather pattern of the last 20 years holds true—there is no pattern!