CANTINA GARDEN UPDATE

I tell you what, this last bed is about to eat my lunch. It's drivin' me to drugs (Advil, that is). More stone than soil, it takes at least 5 or 6 stabs of my pitchfork to find one spot where I can sink it in more than an inch or two. The only good thing is that I'm not hitting solid bedrock. It's all chunks that can be dug out and removed, albeit big honkin' chunks. Poor Lucy. She had an accident. The last windstorm knocked her right out of the tree. Thankfully, nothing harmed but her pride.

Speaking of things that are eating my lunch, take a look at those nasty looking orange spiky things that demolished my beautiful passion vine overnight. Hard to believe something that ugly can transform into the gorgeous Gulf Fritillary butterfly. I can appreciate their right to chow down on their host plant of choice, but it doesn't stop me from being pissed that it had to be my host plant, or that they had to take it ALL! What a bunch of green-eyed-greedy-guts.

On the bright side, the big red pots are finally filling in, and I absolutely adore the way those fuzzy pods on my castor bean plant echo the pinky-orange of my corrugated pot - especially since it was a total fluke, and not by design!

Last, but not least, see that plant that's climbing up the yellow squiggle post? Last year I bought it by mistake, thinking I was getting hyacinth bean vine, and planted it in a pot on the corner of my porch. This year a bunch of babies popped up on the ground down below the porch. I'm pretty sure it's something called Malabar Spinach - not a true spinach, but can be used in similar ways - so I transplanted them to the veggie patch. Anyone familiar with it? If so, what can you tell me about it, and what are some of the ways in which you use it?