Solar Eclipse

Here is one of the images I managed to capture of the solar eclipse yesterday, 22 July 2009, at 11:05. Unfortunately, this being the end of the rainy season, the sky was heavily cloudy, with intermittent small breaks when this was taken. I think the thin cloud actually facilitated the photograph, as when the cloud cleared more there was overexposure, but the images produced are engaging and curious in different, not representation of eclipse, way.

As I edit the original images I will add some more later.

Courgette Stem

Every year a number of my courgettes succumb to some form of stem rot. I had put this down to squash vine borer, and thought the only possible solution was covering with nets. Well this year, the stem of one courgette plant severed, so i dumped it. Only later I learned I should have sliced the stem vertically, removed any insects and then left it suspended in a bucket of water for a week to re-root before transplanting it.

On Sunday, another plant is beginning to rot at the stem. But close examination revealed no insect infestation. The top of the split was sealed, but careful splicing of the plant revealed no insects inside. The bottom of the splice looked open, but I dreaded digging into the roots, certain this would kill the plant. But now my suspicion is this might not be vine borer but some form of rot. We are at the end of the rainy season, and sometimes it has poured for days. Often the rot occurs in the rainy season in these plants. When I looked at the image of a stem infected with squash vine borer there are similarities with this picture, but they do not perfectly match. Opinions please, is this squash vine borer infestation or is it stem rot due to excessive wetness/humidity, or to some deficiency that can or can't be rectified. Thank you.

Squash Serpente di Sicilia

This is the first Squash Serpente di Sicilia harvested, indeed it is the very first I have ever harvested. Here, Hannah is playing it like a guitar, enjoying the fun. Seems this can be cooked as courgette, I look forward to trying it.
The rainy season is ended or ending, and the squash and courgettes are blossoming again, so we look forward to a renewed wealth of fruits.
One of the courgette plants succumbed to squash vine borer so it was buried in the compost heap. It seems that was not the best solution.
Solution, if the stem is sheared, cut back the stem to where the squash borer is removed, perhaps jetting it with water. Then suspend the plant in a bucket of water until it re-roots and replant it. Re-rooting should take a week, and the plant will establish itself again.
If the stem is frayed. Eliminate the worm by spraying with strong jets of water. Perhaps this will need splicing the stem vertically and prying it open. Perhaps the worms will need to be cut, or otherwise destroyed. Then bind the stem back together again and bury it in earth and compost, as it will then re-root and regrow.
These will be the approaches adopted next time, hopefully not necessary.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Dancing hands on the piano.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Pianist with action bassist.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

This is the hands themselves as the topic of the photo, low iso setting captures the movement as a blur.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

This is a photo of the audence reflected on the piano above the pianists briskly moving fingers.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

This is the last on for the noo, must do numerous other things this morning, now it is not dreech and dreery!

Street Artplex Festival 2009

In profile, backdrop lighting, saxophonists. I will add the names after confirming with the programme.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Contorted expression, of the ones this pianist adopted, this one is mild.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Here is another of the pianist, in movement.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Here is a photo of the pianist, the focus prefers the piano, rather than the individual.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Here is another photo of the bassist with the image of the pianist reflected on the inside of the piano.

Street Artplex Festival 2009

Yesterday was the day for the Kumamoto Street Artplex jazz, music festival. There were numerous musical events, all free, all performed in public spaces, such as arcades, department store foyer. Events were occurring simultaneously in different parts of the city centre. I took some photos, still learning how to manipulate the new DSLR Nikon D300. On the left is a photo of bassist and pianist as part of a quartet.

Three Sisters bed

Here is an image of the three sisters companion planting bed. This seems to have been a practice of native American, and is very effective indeed; the plants grow in harmony, and the weeds are having a real tough time growing; a win - win situation in my book. The French beans here are a purple variety, unfortunately they revert to green on cooking, but fortunately the taste simply delicious.

Runner Beans

This is a close-up of one of the runner beans, these form beautiful scarlet flowers, and are delicious to eat. They should be prolific.

Sunflowers mutiple heads

Here is a photo showing the multiple heads of the sunflowers; it is quite stunning to see these around the garden.

Swiss chard

On the left you can see the Swiss chard growing healthily, forby suffering a few bits. These are rugged plants that provide delicious greens, that are extremely versatile in the kitchen. They can be baked with potatoes into gratin with gruyere, of course. cooked to make a pasta sauce, cooked with beans to add depth of flavour and colour, and much more. They especially thrive in the winter, when there is nothing popping along to eat on them besides us. If you do not have at least one of these plants in your garden, one is sometimes enough, then it is time to sow those seeds and get it added. Any time is almost possible for these plants, depending on the growing zone your garden is located within.

Sunflowers

Here is a photograph of one of the varieties of sunflower I planted, Earthwalker which grows to Triffid dimension, over 2 metres tall with multiple large heads, ring of fire, which I think is this one here, and Little Dorritt, which is a yellow dwarf variety. The large ones grow in among the other plants, e.g., tomatoes, peppers, beans, apple trees, etc., to attract beneficial insects and to divert the unwanted bugs. They add a lot to the garden, towering above everything else, and with lower heads in the midst of the lush green backdrop.

Zinnia, Green Envy

On the left is my favourite, or one of my favourite Zinnias, called Green Envy, for obvious reasons. This, unfortunately, seems to look more delicious than the other varieties to whatever insect(s) is/are eating them. But it seems the trick is to get them established and they will thrive. This one is becoming established.

Courgette Flower

Here is a photo taken of the courgette flowers. We have three varieties of courgette growing; lungo bianco, genovese and rugosa friulana; they vary in appearance, and texture and flavour. Bianco is white, and with small seeds but large fruits, genovese is a standard courgette, light green and striped. The latter is a rather rugged shaped courgette, which retains more of its texture after cooking. The plants are growing vigorously around the garden and in pots. in one bed there are three courgette plants, four or so sweetcorn, and a bunch of french bean plants growing together, harmoniously, if densely. These and the other courgettes are fed weekly with a liquid manure made from chicken manure, but with the rainy season finishing this feeding will be doubled.

Zinnia

Well today it is raining down in waterfall proportions with occasional lightning bolts variably near and far. So, the blog will be updated with some photos. Here is a one of the zinnia's growing in the garden. I don't know, but the amount of seeds that I sowed and the number of flowers that have grown are out of proportion; 10 to 1 at least! I sowed and I watered regularly, I sowed into pots and many did not survive the transplanting. I have more in pots, and they are growing well, marigolds in particular.
I like this zinnia, and think it is called whirligig. Closer inspections will reveal that it has been eaten, and that is probably why many of the others did not survive. But, I am of the view this is my first year growing flowers, so I am taking this as a learning process and will keep trying, this year and next.

Snake(s)

To return to the subject of this post, we have snake(s) in / visiting our garden. The photograph on the left shows it in the planter, from where it escaped and I lost it. Investigation suggest it is a Japanese Rat Snake, so called because its preferred diet it rat. In Japanese it is called Ao-Daishou. At first I understood this is a venomous snake, but now I understand that it is non-venomous. The snake comes in different colours, here it is a dark, slate blue colour, and is an excellent climber. It climbs trees to eat birds and birds eggs with ease, indeed I have seen this perched on the window frame of a house, and my wife saw one like that too. I took this photo with a handy digital camera and it is not very good at all, but it does show the snake is somewhere about a metre in length, the creatures usually grow to 1.1 - 2 metres long.
The important thing is that it is non-venomous. Indeed, it seems that farmers, other than chicken farmers, welcome these snakes as rat controllers. But my neighbour, who is a farmer asked me if I had killed the snake and advised that I did if I saw it again. The one on the left I saw on 6 June, about two weeks later, late afternoon / early evening I was weeding around the same are when I heard a dull thump behind me, I looked but saw nothing. Later I was walking and heard the same dull thump and saw the snake winding its way down the side of a wall, so expect the snake had launched itself off of the wall and onto the dirt. The snake than made as if it was to climb up the wall again, but did not. My efforts to eradicate it failed, probably due to nervousness, and the snake slithered away through the bushes and onward to where I do not know. I am now, knowing more about this snake, less apprehensive about it or its friends visiting the garden, but would prefer not to meet it unexpectedly sitting in a corner...