Bottle Gourd / Opo Squash

At the plant swap in our local gardening community, a friend had a Opo Squash/ Bottle Gourd seedling to spare and I decided to try growing it for the first time in my yard. This was in mid April.

The Opo Squash/ Bottle Gourd seeds look like this.

The seedling I got was planted in a vegetable bed with a trellis behind it. I also tied some twine to help it grow further towards the maple tree nearby and use that for support. It was soon growing, sending out tendrils to hold on to anything it could find, and sprouting new leaves.

In another 10 days, I saw the first white flower that shriveled up by the end of the day. This is a male flower, with a slender petiole.

In another couple of weeks, there were female flowers too. They have a swollen base at the end of the petiole. These flowers were borne in abundance and a few were even fertilized, but none were growing. Perhaps all the rain we had in the month of May did not help.

Early June, the weather started getting dry and the first fruit began to grow. It is so exciting to see it in your yard after days of disappointments.

The vine had taken over the maple tree by now. There were fruit hanging way up there in the tree, and we had to use the telescopic arm to get them down.

The size was large, just under two feet long and this first one weighed about 3.5 lbs.

Another fruit harvested by the end of June.

A cross section of the squash looks like this. The central seeds need to be scooped out and the pulp is used to make a variety of side dishes, soups, and also dessert.

I made this dessert with the first squash from my yard. The pulp was grated, cooked with clarified butter for a little while, some milk was added and allowed to reduce, and finally some sugar, ground cardamom, with pistachios for garnishing.

Birds in the yard

About ten days ago, I noticed a nest on the oak tree in the front yard. I haven't been spending much time there because the temperatures have been brutal these past few days.

This afternoon, as I waited for my son to get home, I noticed a Mockingbird drying itself, fluffing up its feathers and tilting its head from side to side. It had probably taken a dip in the new birdbath I had put out recently. 

There are a couple of mockingbirds that call our yard home, and it is amusing to listen to the different sounds they can make. Last year, one of their little ones was in our backyard, so perhaps a nest was close by.

As I walked outside with the afternoon sun burning down on my skin, camera in hand, I noticed some movement in the tree. I thought it was the mockingbird, so I crept up slowly to see if I could get a picture. It was a mockingbird alright, but it took off to the tree in the neighbor's yard. It was making noises and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then there was more movement and I noticed something red. It must be a Northern Cardinal, I deduced. I was right, but it was not an adult. It was a juvenile and was trying to hop from branch to branch to get away from me. I got one picture and decided not to scare it any more, and walked back into the house. So the nest in the tree was that of Cardinals! How interesting!

In about 5 minutes, I tried to sneak outside for one more picture. I could not believe what happened next! Friendly neighborhood Mr. Mockingbird, who had been quiet until then, made noises to warn the Cardinal fledgling, and it started scampering again to get away from me. I gave up and retreated into the house.

It's amazing to see how some birds help each other against a common enemy- in this case, me! And I used to think these were my friends. I have put up a couple of nails near perches on barks of trees in the backyard to put fruit on them so these guys can have easy access.

       

Oh well! I do my bit, and they act as nature has taught them to. We all call this space our home!

Radish

This spring, radish seeds were among the many new seeds I planted. They were sown in the raised bed in the first week of March, and after about a week, almost all of them began to grow.

By the end of March, they were growing nicely. That's when I realized I had crowded the seeds in the space I had provided. Being a novice at growing radishes, I was not confident about thinning them out. I just let them grow. I knew I was probably compromising on the growth and quality of radish I would finally harvest.

I did thin out a few after a few days.

In due course, I could see a hint of red peeping out of the soil, so I pulled out a few. The regular shaped ones were pretty good. However, crowding had caused some of them to turn long (like the two on the side) and the flavor had suffered too.
I did harvest a few more near perfect radish but about half of them turned out bad.



The ones I had thinned out after a while yielded some good results. I left a couple of them to grow further. In a few days, they bolted and began to flower.

A radish flower is quite pretty!

A lot of flowers were growing and were developing pods.

These radish pods are edible. They are nice and crunchy with a spicy flavor. They should be harvested before they get too mature if you wish to use them in salads.

Radish pods- a closeup.

This year that I misjudged the quality of seeds. They were a year old and I had expected only half of them to germinate. I hope I do a better job next year.

Sunflowers revisited- from flower to seed

When the sunflower seeds I had planted began to grow, and the first flower heads blossomed, I was really excited. I had written about it here and promised an update. Here it is! I had not realized that the real mammoth flower heads were yet to bloom, and they put on a marvelous show in June. I had about 10 plants growing, and after the first flower heads which were about 5-6 inches in diameter were fading out, newer ones bloomed. These were 6-8 inches in diameter. The central disc flowers kept getting bigger, and I loved how these flower heads uplifted my mood every time I looked at them.

The bees and wasps were happy too! I saw several kinds visiting during the day!

Sunflowers are composite flowers, they seem like one flower but are actually an inflorescence or a collection of flowers together. Ray flowers on the outside do the job of attracting agents for pollination of the disc flowers on the inside, which are small and in due course, form seeds. 

In the first week of June, this one unfurled its ray flowers and smiled! It was big! Three others that followed suit were equally large or larger. The disc flowers in the center were arranged in a beautiful pattern! 

With a diameter of about 10-11 inches, these flower heads were heavy and their 8-10 feet long stems were slightly bent carrying the load. They still held them up high against the blue summer skies, and it made a striking contrast.

The disc flowers on the periphery open first. Progressively, they continue to open in concentric rings towards the center as the flower head grows in size and the ones outside are pollinated. The yellow ray flowers attract agents for pollination. 

I had three large ones by mid June. You can see how the disc flowers that have bloomed form a wider ring around the center now.

Almost all the central flowers are open now, and closeup views of the center are simply beautiful! 

Please click on each picture for details.

The inside whorl of disc flowers are now ready for pollination as the outside whorls are forming seeds.

Does this not remind you of an intricately decorated cake! 

The black portion of the disc flowers (note the striped pattern on them) will eventually become the seed. 

The outside whorls of flowers now have a star like appearance and the beautiful saga continues!

Finally, the ray flowers have finished their job of attracting pollinators to the flower head and start drying up. The seeds in the center start developing.

One morning, as I stepped out into the yard to see how the sunflowers were doing, I noticed one head completely hollowed out! All the seeds were gone!

Looking down, I noticed the hulls of seeds scattered on the ground! It was the work of a squirrel, as I noticed afterwards when it returned to make sure it had gotten everything. The flower head was very close to a cross bar of the fence, and it was a perfect place to sit on while feasting!

I got the two other flower heads off the stems and put them out to dry. 

You can see the same pattern of the disc flowers that were now seeds. Some disc flowers can still be seen in the center.

After scraping off all the disc flowers, it looks like this!

Close up of the seeds.

I pulled out a few seeds at first to check if they were dry. Note the stripes on the seeds that were also seen in the closeup of the center.
These striped seeds are known as confection seeds. They make a delicious and nutritious snack and are used in salads, trail mixes, and other food. These are not oil producing seeds.

The lighter ones were ready too.

That's a nice number of seeds after they were all pulled out.

The empty centers reminded me of bee hives. They went into the composter.

The seeds! The hull is on the left, and once you pry it open (dehull), the edible seed (kernel or heart) is seen on the right.

I got a decent sized crop of seeds from this batch.

Next year, I will make sure I plant seeds in succession, three batches 15 days apart, so I keep getting flower heads throughout summer. 

An Independence Day Lifer- Wood Storks

July is supposed to be hot! It sure lived up to that expectation even in the very first week. With a heat advisory in effect, we decided to stay home and chill out over the long weekend.

While at home, a few tasks that had been left behind due to procrastination got taken of, and some projects planned with my son came to fruition. 

In the evening, we decided to go for a drive on a rural road not far from home. On one such road, I got to see Cattle Egret, and one was perched right on the fence and I could take a couple of good pictures. 

A hawk seemed to be in trouble with some small birds who were relentlessly letting it know that they were not pleased. He had to move from this spot and they were still following him. 

Driving on further, we saw some large birds circling around a thicket of trees. They didn't look familiar so we slowed down. I took a picture, and turned my attention to the field adjacent to the trees. 

At first I saw a large number of Great White Egrets. Then I realized I had found a fantastic spot! There were Wood Storks too! A lifer for me! 

In addition to Wood Storks, there were Great White Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Ibis, Snowy Egrets, and a few Great Blue Herons. 

I had been planning a trip to nearby state parks this summer to see this bird. However, a kind lady in a birding group on a popular social media site shared that she had seen them in this area, and I had found them too! 

The Wood Stork is a large white bird with black feathers on wing tips, a bald head and a long beak that looks woody. It was an endangered species but is now listed as threatened. 

I couldn't believe I was seeing so many of them. This one above is an adult, and there were a lot of juveniles in the flock. Their heads had soft fuzzy feathers, and the beaks were pale. I got to see this one in flight.

I just sat there and observed them for a while, as they fed and preened probably aware of my presence. 

Some of them took to the air and what a glorious sight that was!

A great way to end the long weekend!