Repurposing

Five years ago I built a strawberry bed and added a trellis to hide the propane tank.  I also built a gazebo.  We were new to mesa living.  The reality of brutal wind storms hadn't came our way.  I thought it would be like living in a cozy neighborhood with fences and trees and houses to buffer the wind.  Nope.  2 years ago, such a fierce storm hit and picked up the gazebo and sent it tumbling across the yard, straight toward the house!  Mom and the cat were sitting at the dining room window and saw it flying toward them.  Thankfully it stopped within a foot of the house and didn't create more damage.  The trellis was also torn down.  

Last year I began to change the gazebo into a grape arbor.  This time it was set in concrete.  This year, I need to finish fixing it as the grapes are taking off.  I also figured out what to do with the trellis.  I'm in process of cleaning up a stone patio that the previous owners laid and will put my garden table and chairs on it.  The trellis would make a nice background.  I think I will put a raise bed around it and plant a climbing plant of some sort to fill in the lattice and eventually hide the hole that was made when it fell into the birdbath.

And there we go.  Turning a disasterous moment into beauty and something useful.

Henbit Nettle

Henbit Nettle

Just learned what this spring beauty is. Nettle is a member of the mint family. Whether stinging nettle, dead nettle, or henbit nettle, they are all edible. One property they have is they are a histamine. Another is they are high in vitamin c. This time of year, people like to eat them or make them into a tea to help with allergies. They are used for many other treatments. The time to collect nettles is when they are in bloom. We have very few here, I'll leave them for the pollinators as winter persisted and we have few spring blooms for the bees.

Starlings

Purple Mustard

Flixweed

Dacrymyces Fungi

Dacrymyces fungus aka Orange Jelly fungus and Orange Tree Brain. It is edible. It has little to no flavor. Can be eaten raw or cooked. Some people use it as a substitute for squid. 

Dacrymyces fungi grow on dead soft woods.  Whereas Tremella Mesenterica, aka Witch's Butter, grows on dead hardwoods. It is also edible. I've seen someone turn Witch's Butter into a candy. Makes me wonder how it tastes. 🤔

Hand Pollination

Larger and stronger produce is something we hope to accomplish.  One method that helps squash along the way is hand pollination.

First, identify the male and female flowers.  The female flower has fruit at the base and the male does not.

Remove the male flower and peel back the petals to reveal the stamen. 

If the female flower is closed gently open it.  If it is open then access to the stigma is easier.  Touch the stamen to the stigma and make sure the pollin is applied.

There you go.  Simple as that.  Soon there will be a good sized squash to enjoy.