Propagation

I am attempting to get some free shrubs going. I took the transparent plastic tub and filled it half full of a mixture of 50/50 vermiculite and perlite. I took cuttings in early July and a few have formed roots. Some died and some are still thinking about it.

The media was kept moist and the lid was left on.

A few of these rooted cuttings, I have potted up and I'm hopeful that they will become part of my landscape next spring.

Ornamental Millet

The ornamental millet 'Jade Princess' is a real attention getter. It is planted in two of our demonstration beds at the courthouse plaza. Stop-by and see it in person when downtown.

Fall snap beans

My fall crop of green beans are off to a good start. A little water during the heat got them going. We will hope for cooler temperatures from here through harvest. The drip tube will distribute water if it isn't provided by nature rain fall. I will have to keep an eye out for bean leaf beetles.

Ragweed Control

Here is a swallowtail caterpillar feeding on my fennel in the beneficial plant garden.
Below picture, these ragweeds are near the beneficial insect garden. Is it a coincidence that butterfly larvae are feeding on it? I believe that they will become the Bordered Patch butterfly. Although, there are quite a few feeding, I have plenty of ragweed not being fed upon.

Leaf Eaters

This walnut branch had both walnut caterpillar and fall webworm feeding on it. The missing leaves are from the caterpillar. The webbing is from the fall webworm. Storms, environment or finished eating have resulted in them no longer around. Even if they were, neither cause harm to the tree. Only missing leaves. I don't worry about them. You could knock them out of the tree if you wanted to save some leaves from being eaten.

Planting Bed

It was decided to extend the planting bed outside of the screened in porch. The porch is used to sit on and bringing the garden closer will be enjoyed. Tentative plans is to get a bird bath as a focal point along with using many fragrant plants.

The first step was to determine how big to make it. I used glyphosate to kill the grass. My son and I turned the soil over using a potato fork. We went to get a load of compost from the transfer station to mix into the soil. The compost won't be ready until after August 1. We settled for a load of free woodchips. It is too hot to work on this project anyway.

Squash Vine Borer

K-State Research and Extension asked for assistance in monitoring the squash vine borer. I had given up planting squash/pumpkin because the borer always killed my plants.

I was given a pheromone trap so planted a pumpkin. So far, the trap has caught 10 male adult borers. Last night I went to check and there was one inside the lure.

Their mating season is suppose to be coming to and end. We will see how long I keep catching them.

Watering

I have needed to supplement moisture using various irrigation equipment on different plantings. This is my drip system that I use in the raised beds. I purchased a water meter to see how much water I'm using. It ran for an hour and used 48 gallons in this 70 square feet bed. The soil was wet down 16 inches. You can't see but there are tomatoes planted in this bed. I will wait until the soil dries down and water again if it hasn't rained.