Great Snail Experiment--new project

This came our way thanks to our friend Sharon. The deadline for data is August 31, 2010. We'll be looking forward to this. The question that started the experiment is, how far away must we bring the snails without them coming back?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/so-you-want-to-be-a-scientist/experiments/homing-snails/snail-swap/

Summer 2010

Nice view of the back yard from the roof, a new spot for dad and son to gain perspective.

One of our new projects is linking to Japanese-American artist Hiroshi Sunairi's Leur Existence Tree Project, which shares seeds of the hibaku trees with gardeners. Hibaku means "A-bombed" and the seeds come from some of the few trees to survive the bombing of Hiroshima. We'll get our Ginkgo tree seeds and take pictures of our hope-infused seedlings. Then we post the pics here and to Hiroshi's blog alongside hundreds of other gardeners. The picture above is of Sean from New York's Ginkgo sapling.

http://treeproject.blogspot.com/

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Our garden is a hive of activity, you might say. Well, first, here's the tent camping site. Such a cozy corner, so private behind blackberry brambles and tall grass. We leveled the ground here and have air mattresses. A compost toilet is in the works. Large, rugged families welcome!

Strawberries are our best surprise so far this summer.

We race to get them lest the pests win. What made this perfect spiral of destruction?

Probably sow bugs, though snails are garden enemy #1.

Busted! The snail below ate another pumpkin sprout last night.
When you're the only one at the scene of the crime you get the blame.

Check out the caterpillar critters eating around the leaf edges of this river willow.

And Rainer's technical extraction of them.

Evidence of last night's gopher making a mess. More human excavation of this hole to come. And maybe a geologist to map time by studying the layers of soil.

So pleased honeysuckle is taking off.

Blooming hens-and-chickens succulents, so amazing.

Anyone know which kind of bee this is pollinating all over our raspberry bush?

Sunflowers are slowly coming. The first round were eaten by slugs and snails. Still interested in the Great Sunflower Project, we counted bees on rosemary flowers instead. Other flowering plants that could work for this study include bee balm, cosmos, tickseed, and purple coneflower. In 15 minutes we counted what may have been twelve different bees, unless some were repeats. They landed at least those dozen times, if not more on the other side of the bush, for an almost 1 pollination per minute rate. That is much higher than the average rate reported in this study of a pollination every 2.6 minutes. We will keep observing and recording our results in the project's database. I'm sure the beekeepers in the neighborhood help keep our bee population high. Researchers are requesting photos, so we'll be getting some in hopes of identifying which kind of bees are in the yard.

Speaking of raspberries, here is a bowl of berries we hope to sell at the corner store 1 block from our house. I'm sure someone will choose this along with their cigarettes, chocolate bars and six packs. Everything in the bowl is edible. The flowers are delicious nutritious borage blossoms, self-heal/Prunella--what a great plant name (as good as lemon balm/Melissa), lavender, clover and a sprig of mint.

And one last thing, Frida points to a very slow-growing tadpole. We can't get her a dwarf hamster to live in this cage until these turn into frogs and jump out. We're waiting. . .

Garden Variety

Wild roses

With so many more plants in the ground, what we noticed taking pictures was the diversity. This is one eclectic home for all creatures. It is getting wilder, too! We saw a quail in the front yard one morning. Sparrows took over the eaves again. A pair of tiny yellow breasted birds flew in the kitchen window a few days ago. Gophers are always lurking underground. Frogs are coming back. The tadpoles we got from a neighbor are just growing back legs. Mostly it is birds, though. More types of birds since we started planting. And so there are hawks coming around, too.

Giant Sequoia,
taller than all the people around it now.

Eating sour grass and using Lego war probes, Alexandra joins us in the garden. She helps us in so many ways, including both rewilding the habitat and taming the beasts within it. Thanks go out to Alex's mom, Sheila, my garden mentor and supplier of many plants populating this garden today.
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Now for an exciting new game from Rainer: Solve the Mystery of the Unidentified Tree

Photos by Rainer

"Shhh," she whispers to us. No one can tell us who she is. No tree book will tell her name.

This lichen is spreading to the neighbor's roof.

For the first person to correctly identify this tree, a prize of ?(he's thinking, he's thinking!) will be awarded to you.
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This is the solar calender at Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland, CA.

So inspired, Rainer's got his own version started. The spiral in the middle is to have stepping stones and the rest is to be made into a pond, completed by summer solstice when he will begin to mark/set the calender.
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Clusters make this habitat. We used flattened cardboard boxes sometimes to prep new garden beds. Or a slide structure with a 3 ' x 3' platform that we moved every few months. The beds made themselves!

Above, Rainer and Frida stand next to two of these mini, usually square beds. Rainer's has river willow, curly willow and elephant garlic. Frida's has marjoram, iris, raspberry, borage, a plum tree and the fuzz-leafed bush with magenta flowers. We double dig and fertilize with horse manure and compost, and rotate for freshness. Hopefully we're choosing the right companions for these tight quarters.

Blueberries, borage, wild rose, strawberries, spinach, calendula, calla lily.

This hedge is so large and important for our backyard habitat.

Another cluster. This one with a willow, plum and redwood tree, calendula, buttercups and the magenta fuzz bush.

Kitchen bed: mallow, yarrow, lilac, river willow, calendula, foxglove, French lavender, succulents, thyme, green pepper, poppy, sour grass and five unidentified flowers. Whew, they sure are busy growing!

Next time we're looking forward to showing how our big plans are turning out. No, no chickens this year. But things like growing more vegetables, a sunflower house, a leveled tent camping spot. And the raspberries should be ready for selling.

Here's to summer! Cheers!