Coffee does taste better on chilly morning, for sure!
My outdoor chores are mostly weeding, watering, and transplanting the things I want to keep, in preparation for the garden pathway and seating area that should start in a couple of weeks. I was hoping it would be next week, but apparently not.
Other than that, I am keeping a watchful eye on the Monarch caterpillars. Right now I have 10 in one habitat, 3 have turned into their chrysalis forms. The most recent one was yesterday and I got good closeup photos of that.
There are 15 more that aren’t in a man-made butterfly habitat. I ordered a larger one several days ago, and it should get here in a few hours. Several of those 15 are caterpillars that I “rescued”, meaning I moved them from the dead end stalks they were on, to healthier plants so they could keep munching. There were lots of aphids on those stalks, so I figured if I could coax them to healthier plants, they would have a better shot at surviving.
The temperatures the next few nights will be in the mid 40’s, so I know I’ll need to bring my most vulnerable potted plants indoors for a few days. Definitely will bring in my Grandma’s Gloriosa. It hasn’t bloomed, but it looks healthy.
I’m thinking to bring the monarchs up on to our deck where it’s pretty sunny. I *might* bring them into our sunroom for overnights only. I haven’t researched yet how they do in the cooler temps, but they’ve been lethargic in the mornings, and seem to “wake up” once it warms up a bit.
I also had a chance to catch one Monarch emerging from its chrysalis earlier in the week. It took several hours for her wings to dry out and fly off. That was cool!
Cool about the Monarchs for you! I used to find them tucked here and there under tables in the Nursery Yard at work. We watched a number of them emerge over the years. :)
I got the greenhouse cleaned out somewhat - to the point where I know what’s in there now, though I need to do some condensing and organizing and de-cluttering, still. There are plenty of nice enough days ahead for that. I checked my calendar/garden journal and I have until September 13th to get salad greens planted in there, so I still have time.
Got more of the Landry Room/Pantry sorted. I need to get two small walls painted and I have some additional storage ideas for things I need, but don’t need often. Big baskets on upper shelves should do the trick. It used to be all ‘decor’ up there and quite the waste of space. I want things functional, pretty and HIDDEN. No one needs to see my laundry soap and OxyClean, LOL!
Mowing can still wait a few days. The grass is not leaping out of the ground as it has all summer, now that the rains have stopped.
I started some weeding on the first row, but got bored with it. :)
I’m happy with my progress for the day. :)