A walk on Robinson's Island

This week the hiking class visited Robinson's Island.  It's not really an island  - just a long isthmus.  It's part of PEI National Park.  Drive in the Brackely entrance, and turn left, past the Brackley Beach parking lot, along a stunning coast, to a series of lovely trails through the woods and along the beach.

We spent some quiet time on the beach.

Red rosehips

Bayberries smell spicy.

I stopped to sample these lucious raspberries.

An inviting place to sit.

This beach is covered with eelgrass.  I stuffed handfulls into plastic bags to take home and used it as mulch on my flower beds.  It has so many advantages over regular mulch.  It is FREE, it adds nutrients to the soil, and it works just as well to keep the soil cool and moist, and discourages weeds.  

beans are back

The bush beans stopped producing about a month ago.  I didn't have time to pull out the plants, and the leaves got dryer and more full of holes. Imagine my surprise when I looked closer to find beautiful fresh beans!

These guys have found their second wind.  I picked three pounds of beans, enough for many meals.

There's a tiny bug called ......... (will find out) I've never seen before.  It doesn't seem to be doing any damage to the beans.

a walk at Port La Joye - Fort Amherst

My job has been downsized to working four days a week.  After getting over the shock, I decided to get some fun out of my mandated time off.  So I joined the Seniors College (alas - I'm over 50) hiking club.
The first week, we carpooled to Port Lajoie, across the harbour from Charlottetown.  It is the spot where 300 years ago the Acadian people were deported back to France by the British.  Their lands and possessions were confiscated, and British settlers moved in.  Meanwhile, many of the Acadiens perished on rickety boats.  Some went to the southern US - "Cajun" is actually a twist on the original "Acadien".

 The spot is high on a hill, with earthworks for protecting soldiers during an attack that never came.  It is a lovely, lonely spot with 5 m of walking paths.  The day we were there, a giant cruise ship was docked in Charlottetown Harbour.

These two range lights helped sailors navigate the harbour and avoid the rocks.

Along the way were yellow spotted mushrooms that looked like something out of a fairy tale.
After a bit of research, it looks like it may be Amanita amerimuscaria, var. guessowii.
It is usually found under evergreen trees.
Supposedly, it's a mild haleucinagenic.  No thanks.  I have enough trouble dealing with reality!

Wild fall asters

crossing a bridge

this is a spot I will come back to again.

terrific tomatoes

After two years of crop failures due to late blight, I purchased blight-resistant tomato seeds from Veseys seeds. Three varieies:  Mountain Merit, a large determinate, Defiant, a medium-size determinant, and Mountain Magic, a large cherry tomato, have a few dry leaves, but show no sign of disease.
And they smell wonderful and taste even better!

We don't eat much salsa, so I made a whole bunch of sauce.  I just put them through the food processor, skins and all, boiled the pulp for 20 minutes, added a few teaspoons of coarse salt, and bottled them.  Now I have enough sauce to last me though the winter whenever I want to make vegetable soup or chili!

the carrot harvest

I have a big garden in my back yard, so why do I need a plot at the local community garden?
My first reason was carrots.  After spending up to $30 for carrot seeds and getting maybe three or four actual carrots, the economics didn't look good.  So I decided to try another locale, a patch at the Legacy Garden, behind the Farm Centre on University Avenue in Charlottetown.  My carrots have been amazing for two years in a row.
But the unexpected reason why I keep coming back to the Legacy Garden is the sense of community.  There is always someone in the garden to talk to.  We compare notes, growing experiences, and bragging rights. It's fun to see what others are planting, and there is also a sense of competition:  whose carrots are taller? Whose lettuce is greener?

Heidi's garden patch:  carrots, tomatoes, redbore kale,
and sunflowers that came up from seed dropped last year.
I love it when that happens!

Husband Wayne helps with the carrot harvest.

A cornicopia of carrots

three colours of carrots have twisted around each other.

bugs in the blooms

Not sure what this guy is - maybe a cicada or a fat grasshopper?

Many people shudder when the insect world comes in contact with their world.  But most insects don't do any damage to the garden.  They are an indication that all is well in your environment - that pesticides which can kill them all are not doing unseen damage to other creatures.  Insect adults, larvae, and eggs also provide an important food source for birds, amphibians, and reptiles who depend on them to survive.

Hers is a look at what is crawling and flying around my garden:

Green iridescent bug (perhaps a hover fly) on a daylily.

Honeybee in the butterfly weed

This longhorn beetle came too close to my environment.
I found him on the livingroom rug.

I talk a good game about being friendly with the insects in my world, but now I'm eating my words.
A steady stream of bees is buzzing in and out of a spot under the step just a foot from my front door.
I want to be a good steward of the environment, but I also don't want to get stung.

Haven't decided if I'm going to bring out the big pesticide guns, or if I will just choose to use the side door for the rest of the summer.

This moth was hitchhiking on the side of my car.

darling day lilies

Lots of plants have common names that don't really indentify them correctly.  For example, Rose of Sharon is not a rose.  Lily of the Valley is not from the lily family.  And neither are day lilies.  They are called Hemerocalis. They are actually quite different.  Lilies have bulbs, and day lilies have roots.  Lilies have leaves along their stems, and day lilies have bare stems and separate long leaves.

Day lilies are also (I hope that by writing this, a new and destructive insect does not suddenly finds my garden) not bothered by insects or disease, while my poor Asiatic and Oriental lilies are chewed mercilously by Scarlet Lily Beetle adults and larvae.