Butternut

Not deliberately planted:

Tried some last year, but not quite in this area. They failed then after one squash, but look more promising this year now that I'm not trying.

The vine looks healthy apart from a few mildew patches. Hope it doesn't mess with my asparaguses.

Giant caterpillars - African Emperor Moth - Bunaea alcinoe.

This is the first one I spotted, on the side of the sweet potato enclosure. The plant is what I know as potato weed, and seemed uneaten. The caterpillar is about 8-10cm long and a handsome matte black.

Returning from town about an hour later I spotted this guy, marching determinedly up our driveway from the wall facing the street. One of our cats was interested, but kept her distance.

20 minutes later, another, just as determinedly marching up the driveway, heading towards the compost heap and week old pile of leaves - I tracked these two for about 20 metres going to pretty much the same place. I don't know where the first one went, but there was no direct route for it to the compost heap.

Presumably decomposing vegetation produces carbon dioxide, which, being heavier than air, would drift down hill and thereby attract attentive caterpillars to its source?

There may have been more caterpillars, but I had other things to do. Couldn't work out what they had been eating in the vicinity of my Pecan nut trees (unharmed) and Cape honeysuckle hedge. Although there's lots of leaf litter in the hedge.

According to Google, these are apparently caterpillars of Bunaea alcinoe. I've seen these moths before in the garden, but can't remember what time of the year. They're big, and striking.

Update 2016/10/15:

Sorting out mulch around the edges of the garden, and digging it in to one of the asparagus beds revealed a few of these guys:

Presumably pupae of the above. They look almost as if they're injection moulded plastic, and aren't that heavy/dense. The spike on the end is quite sharp. Is it used by the pupa to burrow?

 That's 7 months from caterpillar to this stage. Let's see if I can spot the moths when they come out.

Giant caterpillars - African Emperor Moth - Bunaea alcinoe.

This is the first one I spotted, on the side of the sweet potato enclosure. The plant is what I know as potato weed, and seemed uneaten. The caterpillar is about 8-10cm long and a handsome matte black.

Returning from town about an hour later I spotted this guy, marching determinedly up our driveway from the wall facing the street. One of our cats was interested, but kept her distance.

20 minutes later, another, just as determinedly marching up the driveway, heading towards the compost heap and week old pile of leaves - I tracked these two for about 20 metres going to pretty much the same place. I don't know where the first one went, but there was no direct route for it to the compost heap.

Presumably decomposing vegetation produces carbon dioxide, which, being heavier than air, would drift down hill and thereby attract attentive caterpillars to its source?

There may have been more caterpillars, but I had other things to do. Couldn't work out what they had been eating in the vicinity of my Pecan nut trees (unharmed) and Cape honeysuckle hedge. Although there's lots of leaf litter in the hedge.

According to Google, these are apparently caterpillars of Bunaea alcinoe. I've seen these moths before in the garden, but can't remember what time of the year. They're big, and striking.

Update 2016/10/15:

Sorting out mulch around the edges of the garden, and digging it in to one of the asparagus beds revealed a few of these guys:

One quite deep in the sandy mulch covered soil of the asparagus bed, the other lying on the surface at the margin of our upper hedge.

Presumably larvae of the above caterpillars? They look almost as if they're injection moulded plastic - not that heavy/dense. The spike on the end is quite sharp. Is it used by the larva to burrow?

That's 7 months. Let's see if I can spot the moths when they come out.

Weekly status of tyre garden - update 25

Rain this week, quite heavy,and light hail. It's definitely moving towards autumn - quite cold last night, and heavy dew this morning.

Took the opportunity to do some clearing - 4 out of 6 tomatoes, patty pans, some kale, some weird plant from the neighbour shading the asparagus, bouganvillea, oreganum. Onto the compost...

Autumn raspberries - unexpectedly!

Piquant peppers.

Sweet potatoes.

Hanepoot grapevine. Need to work out how to control the grass.

Two beds of Mary Washington asparagus seedlings - vary from flourishing to hanging in there. In the background along the fence is a butternut.

Two lots of jerusalem artichokes, doing fine.

The two surviving Zucchini plants, escaped from their tyre, and still producing well.

Nu Mex Big Jim - still green. Not as hot as I expected.

Bush beans

A new batch. The first lot have died off after being very productive.

The leftmost two tyres are "Contender", planted about a week ago using beans from some dried out pods saved from the first batch planted last year. On the right is a tyre of "Star 2000".

The Contender look pretty healthy - all of them came up except one. Maybe I should stagger plantings?

Update 2016/02/04:

The Star 2000 looks pretty pathetic. Might turn it over and replant with Contender in a week or two.

Update 2016/03/13:

Update 2016/03/20:

Update 2016/04/10:

Lots of little beans...

... and a few medium size ones.

Time to plant the next batch. Getting a bit late in the year, but let's see what happens.

Update 2016/03/19:

Broken the surface.

Weekly status of tyre garden - update 24

Mostly overcast with a couple of days rain this week. Replanted some bush beans - Contender from dried pods of original planting, and Star 2000.

Pecan nuts Barton, the big one.

Moore, the smaller nut, both on schedule to start opening on 1st April as usual.

Grape vines seem to have recovered from cows, but will need clever pruning.

Sweet potatoes about to make a run for it into the rest of the garden. Doing really nicely.

Small red cabbages starting to form heads.

Globe artichokes dying back, but it looks like new growth already from crowns.

Strawberry runners everywhere.

Asparagus growing nicely. Need to trim back surrounding vegetation.

Some of the rhubarb doing OK.

Prickly pears

Near the end of the season, which is about late December to March. They're on sale on the side of the road in the Albany District, stacked in piles and measured out in 5 litre paint tins. We usually buy them on the Port Alfred road, just this side of Blaauwkrantz, and a couple of km on the other side up to Half Way House. They're picked from infestations of the cactus in the local bush and both Sandy and myself have been buying them in this area since we were kids. They don't seem as prevalent in other parts of the country, but perhaps I've never noticed because they're seasonal and only on sale at the side of the road or in farm stalls. We've bought a few in Midrand many years ago at a farm stall when it was still Halfway House, and eaten a purple skinned variety with bright red flesh  that grew on our friend Raymond's farm out on the Garsfontein Road near Tierpoort to the east of Pretoria before they got wiped out by cochineal.

These particular specimens were bought on the Cradock Road turnoff into the Grahamstown industrial area, near the Bible Monument, about two minutes out of town.

It's a bring your own plastic bag sort of transaction, and we've often seen them on sale this time of the year, but had nothing to store them in so had to pass by due to my lack of enthusiasm for fine thorns getting spread all over the boot of the car.

This time there were a few bags handy in the car, so Sandy bought two paint tins worth at R20 each. One paint tin seems to half fill a normal plastic shopping bag.

Once they're purchased, further processing is essential, unless you're an ungulate with cast iron tongue and throat. Peeling them without getting too many hair like thorns into your fingers is a fine art, and everyone has their own technique. Basically you cut the end off, then cut a lengthwise slit through the skin, at which stage you can sort of unroll the fruit from inside the skin. Avoiding contact with bristle clusters in the final stage isn't always possible, which is where individual technique counts. Mine involves tongs and a fork stuck in the end to act as a handle while they're cut and unrolled. Some people just use a knife and put up with the miriad thorns.

The end result, after a few have been peeled, and a few eaten. They're delicious, and should ideally be chilled in a fridge before eating.

They might be somewhat of an acquired taste if you have problems with pips, because the fruit is nothing but a dense conglomeration of seeds embedded in a sweetish pulp.

Note that if you eat too many you'll end up constipated...

In Afrikaans they're known as turksvye, or turkish figs, which makes as much sense as prickly pear. They taste nothing like pears or figs.

Update 2016/02/29:

Ate the last ones from the second bag today - ration to two or three per helping. No digestive impact!

Weekly status of tyre garden - update 23

Taken in sunshine, later than usual, showing effect of leaves in Jacaranda on shade.

Overcast with rain this week. A cooler February than usual.

Sweet potato tendrils everywhere.

Jerusalem artichokes flourishing. I'm afraid the tyre might be too small for them.

The grape vines seem to have survived the cow apocalypses.

Last of the patty pan, but quite a few zucchini still growing. If you leave them for a few days they get enormous. 

Brinjals growing steadily, tomatoes in tyres running out of steam.