BEES!!

Being in the middle of spring, I've noticed lately that there have been more bees in my backyard.  I've welcomed them because they pollinate all the vegetables in my garden.  This morning I was pruning some of my plants and I noticed a white chunk of something sitting on a branch of a tree in my backyard.  Funny, I thought, looks a bit like beeswax.

Later in the afternoon, I noticed a few white chunks on the floor beneath the tree:  I looked closer to investigate and saw a couple of bees on them, and sure enough it was beeswax.

 

I wondered where these chunks of beeswax were coming from, and looked up into the tree and to my horror, I discovered this:

HOLY SHIT! I have no idea how long these bees have been here or building this hive.  It's about 2 ft long and at least a foot wide!!  Here are more gory pictures:

Clearly these are honey bees, and so far they've been pretty peaceful and have kept to themselves, but they still give me the heebie-jeebies in a massive way.    Even those these bees are scary looking, they are very beneficial to the environment, and we did not want all these bees to be killed-- that would be such a waste.  We have a bee specialist coming on Monday to remove the hive and he'll be relocating it to a bee farm.  It'll be really interesting to see how he gets up into this tree to remove the hive!! 

Until then, we'll just be extra careful not to disturb this hive or piss the bees off!

In Memory of My Grandmother

My grandma passed away a week ago (4/11/2010), and yesterday I decided to plant an avocado tree in her honor.

I had been eyeing these avocado trees that Costco was selling for $16.99. Anyone who has ever tried to grow an avocado plant from a seed can probably attest to how difficult it is to do this. I’ve certainly tried a couple of times with little success. So when you’re presented with an opportunity to buy a small tree that has been growing for at least a year, for under twenty bucks, you definitely have to think about it. Unfortunately, I didn’t know where in my yard I would plant one, so I had refrained from buying one of these trees.

I finally caved last Thursday, and asked the hubby to make a jaunt to Costco and buy one of these trees. I came home Thursday evening to see the potted tree sitting in the side yard.

Often times, it takes me about a couple of weeks before I get around to finding the motivation to plant a newly acquired plant. However, I had a compelling reason to plant this tree earlier. Yesterday, I was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles at 3pm to participate in the first of several ceremonies that my family was having to commemorate my grandmother. I made the abrupt decision at 11am to plant the avocado tree in her honor. It just seemed like the right thing to do. So I grabbed a pair of gardening shears and just started hacking away at the bushes, and cut them down far enough to make a clearing for the tree.

I think the avocado tree looks pretty happy in its new home.

My grandma wasn’t exactly a fan of avocados. In fact, I don’t think she had ever tried one when she was alive. I’m hoping that this tree will bear fruit, and that in some goofy way, she’ll finally get to try an avocado out, stuffed with crabmeat and mayonnaise. I’m pretty sure she’ll like it. :)

Plant Progress Report #1

My plan is to have weekly progress reports, to show how much my plants are growing, especially since the weather is really warming up and things are starting to grow like crazy!

NEW PLANT!
My parents gave me this little loquat tree that they grew from a seed! I love loquat fruits, and I really hope this one grows!!

TOMATOES

All the tomato plants in my garden were grown from seeds that would have otherwise been discarded after cooking. I have found that tomatoes are some of the easiest plants to grow. I have more tomato seedlings than I know what to do with, so an idea that I came up with was a braided tomato "tree." I took three tomato plants (I have no idea what varieties they are) and braided their stalks together. We'll see how these turn out. I'm hoping that I'll end up with a bush that will produce three types of tomatoes! We'll see!

The behemoth tomato plant below sprouted from some baby heirloom tomatoes that I bought from Trader Joe's. I've had this plan for almost a year now, and it just keeps on growing!! I'm also finally starting to get tomatoes too-- golden ones! These are some of the tastiest tomatoes I've ever had. Any ideas on what this variety is??

CONTAINER GARDEN

I'm starting a little container section on my patio. My mom gave me some tong ho, which is a Chinese lettuce (tastes sort of like watercress, but slightly spicier) and cilantro, which I transplanted to the large container. More tomato plants (again, no idea what kind they are) on the right, and strawberries in the small one. I'm hoping to grow more herbs in this section.

SIDE YARD EDIBLES

My chayote plant (L) is growing pretty well, and flowers are starting to appear on my bell peppers (R).

My dwarf sugar snap peas:

Cucumbers seedlings are starting to sprout!

LEMON TREE
Look! Flowers! And a good number of them! Hope that means I'll have fruits this year!!

SIDE YARD

The bulbs are really starting to grow, but no flowers yet. My poppies and snapdragons are becoming stronger looking. The Alyssum is also starting to bloom. It was looking a little sickly when I first transplanted them, but they're definitely starting to take!

Views from both sides of the garden:


Succulents: