Figs, Finally.

the fig tree has been covered with figlets for, it seems, an eternity. yesterday i finally saw one ready to eat. so i did. actually, i saw three that were ready to be eaten, but the other two were out of reach.

i thought the figs were ripening late this year, but looking back it seems they are on pretty much the same schedule as in 2002 and 2003.

And More Bucketloads.

this is getting repetitive, even to me, but in the interest of accuracy i feel compelled to note that i emptied another two inches of rain from the rain gauge this morning.

the snails continue their onslaught relentlessly. i shudder every time i think of all the mosquitoes that will follow the rain. they're already increasing in number. at least the toads are happy.

oh, and the rain is expected to continue through the weekend.

Overflowing Bucketloads.

at eleven last night i dumped another 1.25 inches of rain out of the rain gauge. and another three-fourths of an inch just now.

if i've kept track correctly, that makes 6.75 inches of rain since tuesday morning. i think this can be best described as "overflowing bucketloads."

Slinging Snails.

after months of denial, i finally admitted to myself that the reason none of my rainlilies were blooming was that they were being eaten by snails.

i've always thought snails were kind of cute and the knowledge that they were devouring the rainlily buds as they emerged was hard to accept. however, after a very rainy spring and no rainlily blooms whatsoever, i knew i had to do something.

i have no problem picking snails up, but i absolutely, positively cannot stand squashing bugs / snails / worms / whatever. i can't step on them and i certainly can't squash them with my fingers (gloves or no gloves). i'm also not keen on baits, traps or introducing decollate snails to eat the rainlily eating snails.

so i started slinging snails at the fence.

the idea is that the shells smash against the wood and the snails perish. it's probably a gruesome death and i will probably come back in a future life as a doomed snail. actually, i think most of the snails survive because i have a really lousy throwing arm and throwing snails (especially small ones) is sort of like trying to throw whiffle balls. i suspect most of the snails are just being forcefully relocated to other areas of the yard, so i try not to throw them towards plants i particularly like. i also try to be a good neighbor and not throw too many of them over the fence into the neighboring yards.

since i began my snail slinging program about four weeks ago the rainlilies in the island bed have been in almost continual bloom and the snail population is markedly lower (at least in that part of the yard).

i don't know what i'll do in the long run. i'm partial to the rainlilies, but i'm not going to patrol the snails indefinitely.

And More.

at three this afternoon i dumped another 1.25 inches of rain out of the rain gauge. that was the overnight / morning / mid-day accumulation.

and it is still raining.

More Bucketloads.

another 2.25 inches of rain since mid-afternoon. and it's raining again.

Bucketloads of Rain.

that is what the meteorologists are telling us to expect for the next few days.

since mid-morning we have had about 1.25 inches here. we're currently experiencing a lull of only light showers.

"bucketloads" describes this year's rainfall quite accurately. according to the harris county interactive rainfall map, our neighborhood has had just over 5.75 inches of rain in the last 30 days and more than 29.5 inches this year. in other words, bucketloads. a few buckets over the average, in fact.

More Garden Blogs.

• Bookish Gardener
• Garden Blog, Zone 8
• Hands in the Dirt
• Horticultural
• Tangled Branches