Invasion of the Bodysnatchers

My greenhouse was invaded.....by ants!! Not just sweet little picnic ants, but  nasty fire ants. I went to water the plants, and I noticed it looked like my rain plant had been leaking dirt! Further investigation showed a line of ants going from a gap in the greenhouse to the plant. I found their entrance point, and sealed it with a special caulk that seals both metal and cement (Liquid Nails brand). Then I used a borax solution to lure them away from my rain plant (Grandma's name for the plant, but locally it's called something else). The borax solution worked too....I returned the following day and no more ants. I call this invasion of the body snatchers because I watched these ants for a bit, and they were carrying egg sacks. I think they are egg sacks? Many ants were carrying these white sacks. Some of the sacks were so large it took two or three ants, working together, to carry them! They really wanted to invade! I hope the borax is enough to kill off the eggs, if and as they hatch, but if not, I have more borax for when the little boogers hatch. 

Along with my ant invasion, I noticed that leaving the top window vents open was not such a good idea. I was so worried about the heat building in the greenhouse, I opened the vents fully allowing heat to escape, but what happened was direct sun came into the greenhouse and burnt some of the leaves on my pineapple plant. The baby pineapple that is hidden beneath the main parent plant is fine, only burning the tip of one leaf, but the mother plant looks a bit sickly. I closed the vents to the first link, and I think this will fix the problem, but the poor pineapple looks pathetic. There are enough leaves untouched, that it will recover, but awww poor little pineapple plant. Heat has to be better for tropical plants than direct South Carolina sun. Even so, I did leave the vents open a bit, to still allow some heat to escape. I will just need to watch the water very closely, because with the heat they seem to be VERY thirsty. I should have a couple solar panels set up in the next week or two to run a fan. I didn't know this but most ceiling fans are variable speed, meaning as long as there is power to it, they will run. I think I will install one and see it helps combat the excess heat as summer rolls in.

The ficus tree is doing AMAZING! It's the one plant I was most concerned with being overwhelmed by the greenhouse, and it's the one plant that seems to be loving the greenhouse most. This makes me feel better about bringing the big ficus. The big ficus has been part of the family for 22 years; almost as long as my husband and I have been married. When we bought it, we paid like a dollar for the plant, since it was almost dead. I brought it back to life slowly, and it grew and grew and now it's taller than me. It's in the largest pot I own, and could use a larger one now, but that will have to wait  until I find or make a container larger than two feet in diameter. It has survived almost dying a few times as I learned about houseplants, a 700 mile journey from northern Indiana to South Carolina and a couple moves in between and since. It's a tough little plant! It's the oddest tropical plant I have grown yet. It actually drops leaves every fall. It doesn't lose all its leaves, but when the trees change and drop leaves outside, it has a few leaves turn yellow and drop too. It doesn't like to be moved, even from one location in the house to another, and with its size it will be very difficult to move to the greenhouse. I think along with being taller than I am, it also weighs almost as much as I do. This will be a fun trip! Thankfully it's only a 10 minute drive to the greenhouse for now and soon I will be living on site.

I planted lavender and stevia in pods yesterday. it's a bit late to be starting seeds, but I didn't have room under the lights in winter, and with the heat, the seeds should germinate quickly. I read that growing stevia from seed is quite difficult and growing from cuttings is the way to go, but I took that as a challenge over a warning. I am ornery that way sometimes. We'll see how they grow. I planted a row of sunflowers along the back side of the garage. My husband wasn't pleased with my placement and said if he starts getting bees in the garage the sunflower go! I said deal (since I have another pack of seeds I can plant somewhere else). If they do attract too many bees for him, I may try transplanting them. They are Mammoth sunflowers, so that may not be possible, but I will try almost anything once...garden-wise.

Ahh I love spring and summer, right down to every new freckle and sunburn I get. I was out in the sun for 30 minutes last yesterday and I am sunburnt! My forehead feels like it's on fire, and I even had my bangs down. I missed early planting here, but I am still planting every warm season plant I can find, as soon as I have water at the land, so I can stop carrying it in each day. 

Get out and enjoy some sunshine....and have fun playing in the dirt!!

Growing Food in Red Clay

Is red clay even soil? My mom always said dirt won't hurt. Well, she never met the red clay down here in South Carolina. This stuff stains everything! When we first moved down here, I was in awe of the gorgeous color of the ground. I am color blind, so it's difficult for me to see certain colors, like red, but when I first saw this soil I was amazed at how vibrant the color is. I felt like a kid again looking at all the new things life offered down here. I called our place "Our own little slice of Heaven on Earth". Of course Heaven on Earth comes complete with bugs the size of my face, animals that would rather eat me than look at me, and snakes.....all KINDS of snakes!! I was on a night search training hike (I am a registered search and rescue worker-inactive currently). We were doing a grid search when the man next to me said Stop! There is a copperhead in front of you. I looked down and sure enough a copperhead was slithering across the toe of my boot! That was enough to make me get out of the grid and back onto the path for the rest of that hike!

Back to the topic at hand...Red clay occurs from iron deposits. I don't know the exact reasoning, but iron is the culprit.  Many people say they cannot grow a garden in clay soil....to that I say hooey! I've done it. It wasn't the most desirable way to grow food, but I was successful. In fact I had a bumper harvest, growing in nothing more than red clay. All I supplemented with that year was with water from my fish tank. I grew tomatoes, peppers (both hot and sweet bells), cucumbers and marigolds, and let me tell you the marigolds went wild! Those puppies were almost as tall as me, and the flowers were ENORMOUS!! I wish I had video of the garden that year, but a photo will have to do for now. That was enough to teach me, that I don't need expensive soil additives or tools to grow a garden. All I need is faith that it will grow.

And grow it did!! I was harvesting so many tomatoes I couldn't process them all before they rotted, so I ended up giving many away. I made salsa, tomato sauce, and canned more tomatoes than I thought I would need in a winter. I learned that there is no such thing as canning too much salsa in this house. My family went wild for it! My husband said it was addictive, and the kids said it was better than the store bought kinds. When teenagers compliment your food, you've arrived!

So while I am learning how to make compost, and use other soil amendments I make myself, I will be growing food.....directly in red clay dirt.  I hope you won't let the condition of the dirt in your yard stop you from trying to grow something new too. Have fun playing in the dirt!!
Peace!