'Carl's Glass Gems' harvest!

Harvesting ears of 'Carl's Glass Gems' corn is an event I've been eagerly awaiting throughout the growing season.  Tiny seeds that the Earth has been nourishing to its present form of jeweled ears of corn.  Have a look at the first two ears!

These ears have a luminescence that is hard to capture.

They look like candy!

Black Icicle, San Marzano, and Costoluto Genovese tomatoes;
Bullnose bell pepper, tomatillos, 'Carl's Glass Gem' corn, and three different types of dried beans.

First dried beans of the season.  Brockton Horticultural beans.
Many, many more bean plants will be planted next year.

Male praying mantis. 

Female praying mantis. 

My Dad was recently at the house and asked to see the garden.  While having a look around, he asked for a few jalapeno peppers.  Carefully making my way into the garden bed so as not to disturb or step on a praying mantis, I told me Dad why I was moving so slowly.

"There are praying mantises in your garden?" he asked.

"Yes, three that we're aware of!" I replied.  "We respect them and try our best not to disturb them too much.  We want them around and we'd like it if they created eggs in our yard again this year."

"They lay eggs?  How big are they?"

"Well, they don't lay eggs but they do create them somehow.  They're about the size of a walnut."

"No kidding?!"

I went on to tell my Dad what the eggs look like and how I imagine the eggs are created.  Something similar to how bees create hives or hornets create their nests.  Maybe saliva forms the "egg" and then eggs are laid in the protective egg?  The conversation peaked my curiosity; I wanted to learn how female mantids create their eggs.  Two days later, I learned the answer.

This is what a praying mantis egg looks like.  Sort of like hardened foam, or a large nugget of puffed wheat.

See, I wasn't paying attention.  I should have realized that the conversation with my Father was more than just that.  It was also an omen since I would soon learn first-hand how those amazing insects create their eggs.

While picking serrano peppers to add to a gift basket for a dear friend's birthday, I was focused on peppers and completely overlooked a six-inch long praying mantis that was right in front of me creating life.  I reached up to pick a pepper and, mostly focused on the pepper, spotted the tiny egg.  *snip* The pepper came away from the branch it was attached to and, now in my hand, I moved it to my left to drop it into the basket next to me.  In the second it took to make that movement, it registered in my brain that the egg was that of a praying mantis and that a strand of a thick, foamy substance was trailing off the end of the pepper.  Wait!  No!  That egg is fresh!  Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!  I'm SO sorry!  Mama mantid was on the ground in front of me.  She actually traveled on the top of the hand that grasped the freshly cut pepper.

Concerned that I may have cut her or, worse, clipped a limb off, I lifted her with a twig and gave her a quick once over while placing her back on the serrano bush near the egg she was forming.  Gosh, I felt so incredibly bad for disturbing her.  I hoped that my actions and lack of observation didn't hurt her or would cause her not to continue creating new life.

Saturday afternoon, I headed out to the garden to inspect the serrano bush and happily discovered that a second egg is on another branch not too far from the first!

The eggs, or ootheca, are created from the back of the abdomen.  A substance similar to a foamy meringue is excreted from the rear of the abdomen, while the eggs are simultaneously deposited within it.  The ootheca hardens and protects the eggs until they hatch the following year in early summer.  The ootheca can contain anywhere from one dozen to 400 eggs.

A couple cool facts about praying mantis': they can turn their heads 180 degrees.  The only insect that's able to turn their head on an axis.  Mantids also have a single ear that has two eardrums which is located on their abdomen, just above their rear legs.  Their ear allows them to hear ultrasound so while in flight they can avoid being eaten by bats.

For more interesting praying mantis facts, visit these two web sites:

http://www.theprayingmantis.org/Home.php

http://deadlymantis.com/Deadlymantis.com/Praying_Mantis.html

Happy harvesting!

Monkey head flower bed

Okay, creating a flower bed that's shaped like a monkey head wasn't planned.  It just happened that way.  We had hundreds of granite cobblestones that needed to be put to use, so we decided to create a round flowerbed in the middle of the front yard.  Why not?  There's less grass to cut in the front yard now, too.

See?  A large, round head with ears- monkey head flower bed!  Even our neighbors have commented that the beds resemble a monkey head.

In the center of the main, round bed is a pagoda tree (I believe that's what it is), and around the perimeter of the tree are six different red iris'.  Of all the iris' planted in the yard, there are no red-colored iris.  The beauties planted here will right this wrong beautifully.  The collection of reds include Ruby Morn, Play with Fire, RIP City, Fortunate Son, War Chief, and Sultan's Palace.

Two layers of cobbles border the round bed while a single layer form the half-circles.  A thick layer of mulch tops the soil to help insulate it from moisture loss and weed growth.  The addition of this bed reduced the amount of grass in the front yard by half.  Yay!

Planted in the "ears" is 'dusty miller' and red snapdragons.  They're annuals but we're going to enjoy changing the look with new annuals each year.  We don't have many annuals growing in the yard and there are plenty of wonderful options, including herbs and other edibles, to choose from.

The same cobbles now border all of the flower beds in the yard, and they look fantastic.  These are the same cobbles used to make our fire pit as well.

Our first substantial harvest included cucumbers, tomatoes, and hot peppers.  We've also enjoyed a couple succulent, sweet cantaloupe.  Goodness is being harvested daily.  Mmm-mm!