EXCITEMENT: worm castings, Hickory nut shells, an unearthed bottle etc.

I will quickly admit that I wasn't feeling too excited as I drove to the Rose Society meeting today, knowing the topic of discussion would be worm castings. In fact, my main reason for going at all was to see the friends I have made in this great group of people. But, by the time the lady from the Black Star Earthworm Castings company was finished with her presentation, I was counting out my money and hoping to be among the first in line at her truck as soon as the meeting adjourned! She had me convinced it was just the thing I needed for my two raised beds. She said she brought about 20 bags and looking around it seemed like we had about 40 people present. Ummmm - I don't want to be the last one out of the door. I was able to get two bags and at $5 a bag it was a good deal.

 

I had already planned to take everything in my raised beds out and start over, adding new soil and some fertilizer. As you see from the above picture I will be cooking collards tomorrow. We are getting very close to our best growing season. I am excited to choose some new plants, mostly herbs, and watch them develop. I will let you know after a few weeks how things are progressing

  here. If I am lucky I will have gotten a few worms in the mix and a chance to have many more calling my two raised beds home - a good thing!

 

 

Now, on to the next excitement and pretty picture! NOT!  These are just a few of the hickory nuts (in their several forms) that I have been rocking and rolling over when I mow the grass in the back corner.

 

 

I decided to rake them all around the three trees they came from and use them like mulch. It is actually a fairly neat look back here at the back of my lot. The squirrels can continue to crack and eat.

 

 

 

Just two or three steps away from the last picture is this scene. The Excitement involved with this subject came several years ago when I first saw about a quarter size piece of glass showing here. After close inspection I could tell there was a bottle under the dirt and I thought, Oh, an antique bottle here! I wonder how long it has been buried? Should I dig it up? I decided to leave it and see what emerges. Just recently a lot more dirt has disappeared and I am thinking it is just a soda bottle or possibly a wine bottle. At least it is glass and not plastic. That is a root you see grown across it. I may just dig it on up this week and have the big reveal here soon!  I tell you, it doesn't take much to entertain me!

 

 

I wish I could wrap this post up with some very pretty flowers but, after a summer of high heat the blossoms are a bit scarce right now.  The above plant is my newest - a salvia.  It is a pretty dark pink and the humming birds like it.

 

 

The clerodendren is almost always blooming.

 

 

 

Also, some good color here on this angel wing begonia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can always depend on miss Clair Matin - almost year round.

 

 

Four beauty berry bushes adds some color in the late summer garden.

 

 

A good substitute for blossoms is the colorful coleus. This one and the following pictures show my seven different types.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know you all are just holding your breath to see how the worm casting works but in the meantime I will be back with other posts of my crazy life!

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By the way, for you local growers, Lukas Nursery, South Seminole Farm and Nursery, Blodgett Garden and Nursery and Palmers Garden all carry the Black Star Earthworm Castings.