From my Garden - A Case of Mistaken Identity

I cleaned out my garden in anticipation of Spring. Under the leaves of a rogue kohlrabi, I found this snail. I have never seen anything like it. It was a little over two inches long. Was..... This is where a little knowledge can make you feel really dumb. 

I did a google search for snails in FL and the first thing to pop up was the dreaded GALS aka giant African land snail. You can read up on them if you'd like. Let's just say, the article made me glad I was wearing gloves. This was the size of a young one. The GALS have been known to get up to 8 inches long, reproduce quickly, can destroy entire gardens and eat concrete (really??). Can I hear an EWWWWWWW?!

You are also asked to immediately report and possible siting of one of these gruesome creatures. Being completely grossed out and kinda scared the civic minded person I am, I contacted the Florida Dept of Agriculture, sent them a picture and told them I had killed it just to be safe. 

Oh how she must have chuckled. 

This is not a giant African land snail.

This is a rosy wolf snail. 

It's carnivorous.

One of the things is eats is....wait for it..... yes, the giant African land snail!!

I just killed a full grown awesome snail that doesn't eat plants but eats the snails that can devastate a garden.

When I saw the pictures of them together, the difference was obvious.

Now I am sorry and sad. I will continue to wear gloves gardening, just in case, but I will try to be more careful about jumping to conclusions. It's hard sometimes, the creatures here can be kind of icky.

Did you see yesterday's post about our giveaway? If you like gorgeous things, you need to take a look!

For more interesting gardens, go to garden Tuesday at Side Walk Shoes!

Veggie Tales

Unfortunately my garden has been plagued by bugs. I'm not sure whether it's the weather here or what but it's gross. 

My eggplant keeps me from despair. 

It is absolutely lovely to look at, and has not stopped producing!

I walked out last week and saw I had broccoli! It's not prolific, but it is a bit picturesque.

This is my Garden Tuesday offering.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Harvest

A few of the things my garden gave me this weekend. 

Not shown because they were eaten.... a few more tomatoes, a banana pepper, and about six hot peppers.

 Annoying me again are the nasty vine borers. They managed to wipe out most of my pumpkin plants (the ones with the pumpkins growing of course) and three more zucchini plants. I didn't realize it was happening until it was too late. It was a busy week like that. I managed to dig out one from a zucchini plant, maybe that plant will survive. They are gross bugs. 

I may reseed since it is early in the season.

This guy enjoyed checking out the baby pumpkins.

 I thought I might as well bring them in and enjoy them for a bit....
For more pretty garden stories (not just gross bug stories like mine) hit the button below.

It Seems So Obvious..... Now.....

First of all, thank you Pam for hosting Garden Tuesdays. It is such fun to see what other people are doing and sometimes the information can save your garden!

Secondly, thank you Schneider Peeps for posting about the vine borer. Nasty things had gotten into half of my vine plants and I wouldn't have known what was happening if not for you.

Thirdly, pollination is interesting. I know bees are involved..... I know there are some plants that need both male and female for pollination to happen..... that's about it.

My zucchini flowers have not been producing any fruit.

Apparently they are all boys.

What?

How can you tell?

I don't know.

I need to re-sow some that I lost to the wicked vine borers. Maybe I'll get some girls this time.

I thought I was suffering the same fate with my pumpkins.

Then I saw this and it seemed so obvious.

This is a girl.

This is a boy.

Boy.

Girl.

Any questions?

Almost Missed It, Garden Tuesday.....

This will be a pumpkin.

This will be a zucchini. If something stops nipping the blossoms off.

This will be a lovely fragrant rose, if the deer stop stripping it.

This turns into,

this and apparently the deer don't like it.

This bad blurry picture is a cucumber. I should have put a ruler next to it, it's only a half inch long.

How does your garden grow?

Morning In the Garden

One of my favorite times of the day.

Our Back Yard

If you're standing in the center of our yard and turn in a circle,  this is what you'll see.

Back right corner of yard

Left Back corner of yard

Patio

Back of the house.

 In front of the chimney is a pump system for our well. It's not very attractive but it sure will help when I need water!

So yes, the yard is big but it's not as big as it looks.... There is so much I'd like to do. When I first saw the photos with the hammock it was pretty much a done deal. Have I told you I love hammocks?? My son has already replaced this with a new one. I also look forward to seeing if I still have a green thumb. Gardening is something I used to love. Then there's the terrace or patio (depending on where you've lived for the past few years.....) I'm picturing big dinners with friends and family. 

Give me a call when you're in town! 

Tidbits

Finally pictures of the beautiful clothing my mum made and sent to me. It took me longer to get the straps pinned and sewed on then it took her to make the entire dress... I am just so slow lately! I LOOVVVE this dress and the fabric- it reminds me of drapes (this is a good thing) which reminds me of the movie The Sound of Music when she sews clothing for the kids out of the drapes... and the mustard yellow color makes me so happy!
Uber was not doing a great job with the pictures so this is the best out of the bunch and I have no idea why I was pointing at the plant... I was trying to get the jasmine behind me in the photo to show my mum how huge it is. And I just realized that these are in the wrong order since I FINALLY got a hair cut... 7 months is too long to go without a hair cut! She had to chop a lot off to make it healthy... plus all the hair my stylist is cutting right now is being collected to make mats that will suck up the oil spill... not sure on all the details but hey why not give your hair for a good cause right?!
This skirt is great it feels like air on and is so comfortable to put on because it doesn't put a ton of pressure on my stomach. SOOOO nice ! The belly bands you can buy are great for extending your non maternity wardrobe but my stomach tends to hurt from all of the pressure by the end of the day!

My tiny garden is growing like crazy

And just for fun... hmmm fun maybe the wrong term... I came across this cleaner at Williams-Sonoma and had to try it out. This totally satisfies my OCD tendencies I have an awesome stainless steal cleaner that is environmentally friendly and does wonders for the inside of my pots but I couldn't get the bottoms of my pots clean (these stains long predate the cleaner and wouldn't budge). Bar Keepers Friend does an amazing job everything looks brand new again with very minimal scrubbing. I'm totally in love!

Feel free to laugh at my need to keep the bottom of my pots clean... I know I have issues!

Ready for Halloween

I'm all ready for Halloween after some quick projects with stuff I had laying around the house. Aslan got a witches hat. Which is totally cracking me up - it's HUGE! It took Uber a little while to figure out what I was doing... luckily he laughed when he realized!

After seeing Jennifer's bat garland I just had to do some for myself. It turned out really well though I wish the ribbon I found had been longer.

They're made out of felt with embroidered faces. I used a double stretchy stitch for the detailing on the wings so they crinkle and hold themselves up.

I wasn't to particular with my stitching just had fun with it.

This whole garland making thing is addictive I want to make more now!!

I really thought I had more to say.

My clematis are going crazy... definitely one of my favorite flowers... who know they could grow so well here!
I've been making bookmarks. I got an order from a girl at work for two for her mom, so I made 3 extra for the shop. I'm having a hard time not keeping them since they are so sparkly... MUCH better pictures are up in the shop... so go check them out. I will definitely be making more of these to keep!

Working on some cute packaging for things I hand deliver. This is my first try... I think the sticker needs to be smaller but other than that I'm digging it.

I was contacted yesterday by a local shop that is interested in having me rent space in their store... I'm not sure about the whole renting part. We are going to run by and check it out today so we will see. Either way it's nice to be contacted.