Picture Thread

We had these ducks last year coming up from the lake. They were attracted to bird seed that fell out of the bird feeder. I started throwing out bird seed for them and then they did not leave our yard. I stopped feeding them for a few reasons, I didn't want pet ducks. I think these are non-migratory mallards.

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I grew up in California and I don't know all the snakes here in Texas. I looked at some online pics and I think it's a water snake. We live by a lake.
Yea, it does look like a common water snake. Harmless, but usually fast and very elusive, not an easy catch.
 
Picked these last night before today's storm. Covered with a row cover to keep pests away and let them ripen to nearly perfection. Sweet, very aromatic, and delicious. Mostly Mara de Bois. Can't find something like this in a store. I feel so fortunate.

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I was going to say MdB. I have been growing them for years due to their aromatics. It is hard to grow them here outside.
 
I was given a strawberry that’s apparently everbearing. I have no idea what it’s called but apparently a variety grown by pick your own farms. Have any of you tried an everbearing variety? The notion of getting them all season is nice but I’m wondering if perhaps quality is not as good?
 
I was given a strawberry that’s apparently everbearing. I have no idea what it’s called but apparently a variety grown by pick your own farms. Have any of you tried an everbearing variety? The notion of getting them all season is nice but I’m wondering if perhaps quality is not as good?
Everbearing is only a lingering nuisance never getting anything substantial unless you have 100 of them. Junebearing is the only way. No more ever bearing dribs n drabs here
 
Yeah, if you grow everbearing, you do need more space to grow enough of the plants because yield per plant can be lower than Junebearing even counting over the whole season. In reality, it wasn't too bad. I had 60+ plants (I stopped counting after 60). They spread on their own and you have to control how they spread. And I had more than enough that I needed to freeze them using gallon size freezer bags during peak season. The production is not constant throughout the season.

It is similar to raspberries/blackberries. You don't get much in the first year or even second year. And then boom, you get so much that you give it away to neighbors and friends because your fridge & freezer can't hold it all.

With Junebearing, I have to freeze or juice them.
 
Here’s some new things today. My Hydrangea tree is blooming and the Robin that made a nest in it now has 2 babies in it. Also 1 of my giant leaf basil has been up potted and the other two cups have 3 each in them need to be separated. Also my cuttings are getting bigger and soon will be up potted too.

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Here's a picture of the baby robins in the hydrangea tree. There's 3 babies. Expand the photo to see them all.

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You got any missing gold fish?
I had some fairly large goldfish but a blue herring ate all of them, and two big bullfrogs, the one was HUGE. They’ve been around for years RIP Riberto and Lil Taco

One medium size goldfish and several small ones are still around. The population is self sustaining itself for the last 25 plus years the pond has been around

Snakes, and frogs keep the fish population down, otherwise it would get out of hand. I was going to have to re-home some fish but the blue herring took care of that

The previous owners told me they started off with 5 goldfish, just the cheap feeder ones when they had the pond put in
 
How do you like them? I’ve been considering planting them.
I got my first honeyberries this year. When they are ready to fall off the bush they are quite tasty. I might actually like them better than blueberries, but they are in the same neighborhood in terms of flavor. I grew them because I heard how early they were but they were only maybe a day or two before I got my first ever bearing strawberries. They will likely need netting as they hang blue for 10+ days before they are ripe and the birds around here love them. They also don't like hot weather. Mine get fill sun spring and fall but mostly shade at the peak of summer which seems to keep them from going dormant and looking really sad.
 
I had some fairly large goldfish but a blue herring ate all of them, and two big bullfrogs, the one was HUGE. They’ve been around for years RIP Riberto and Lil Taco

One medium size goldfish and several small ones are still around. The population is self sustaining itself for the last 25 plus years the pond has been around

Snakes, and frogs keep the fish population down, otherwise it would get out of hand. I was going to have to re-home some fish but the blue herring took care of that

The previous owners told me they started off with 5 goldfish, just the cheap feeder ones when they had the pond put in
I guess if they control the population that is good. I had a neighbor that had a koi pond and great blue herons were eating his fish. He was upset, some of those fish can be worth a lot of money. I had a gold fish pond and I got some little comets for about 25 cents each at the pet store. Those things got to be atleast 6" long.
 
Everbearing is only a lingering nuisance never getting anything substantial unless you have 100 of them. Junebearing is the only way. No more ever bearing dribs n drabs here

I want to better understand this. You're saying the net harvest is better then with Junebearing? Or the quality?

Is this then just something the pick your own farms grow to keep people coming all seaosn?
 
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