Just a shot of the asparagus growing...I've got one more year on this patch before I can begin harvesting. MMmmmmmm....

So, as is typical in this part of Texas, we've had quite the roller coaster of weather lately. From 70's to snow, and then back to 70's again.

Here is what Sunday looked like... (photos aren't great..they are from my phone!)

And then Monday...lol...

And the ornamental peaches are beautiful...this is double 'Peppermint'...

This particular amaryllis variety, 'Chico', is one of my favorites. It's a relatively new (last 2-3 years) variety out of South America. Just fabulous! It looks like it has a second shoot peeking out, so I should get a nice long bloom-time on this one.

Nothing like yummy deviled eggs fresh from your own backyard chickies! MMmmmmmmm

Frogs, Foam and Fuel: UC Researchers Convert Solar Energy to Sugars Engineers from the University of Cincinnati devise a foam that captures energy and removes excess carbon dioxide from the air — thanks to semi-tropical frogs. Date: 3/15/2010 12:00:00 AM By: Wendy Beckman Phone: (513) 556-1826 Photos By: Illustration by Megan Gundrum, fifth-year DAAP student For decades, farmers have been trying to find ways to get more energy out of the sun. In natural photosynthesis, plants take in solar energy and carbon dioxide and then convert it to oxygen and sugars. The oxygen is released to the air and the sugars are dispersed throughout the plant — like that sweet corn we look for in the summer. Unfortunately, the allocation of light energy into products we use is not as efficient as we would like. Now engineering researchers at the University of Cincinnati are doing something about that. The researchers are finding ways to take energy from the sun and carbon from the air to create new forms of biofuels, thanks to a semi-tropical frog species. Their results have just been published online in “Artificial Photosynthesis in Ranaspumin-2 Based Foam” (March 5, 2010) in the journal “Nano Letters.” (It will be a cover story for the print edition in the fall.)Research Assistant Professor David Wendell, student Jacob Todd and College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Carlo Montemagno co-authored the paper, based on research in Montemagno’s lab in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Their work focused on making a new artificial photosynthetic material which uses plant, bacterial, frog and fungal enzymes, trapped within a foam housing, to produce sugars from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Foam was chosen because it can effectively concentrate the reactants but allow very good light and air penetration. The design was based on the foam nests of a semi-tropical frog called the Tungara frog, which creates very long-lived foams for its developing tadpoles. “The advantage for our system compared to plants and algae is that all of the captured solar energy is converted to sugars, whereas these organisms must divert a great deal of energy to other functions to maintain life and reproduce,” says Wendell. “Our foam also uses no soil, so food production would not be interrupted, and it can be used in highly enriched carbon dioxide environments, like the exhaust from coal-burning power plants, unlike many natural photosynthetic systems.”He adds, “In natural plant systems, too much carbon dioxide shuts down photosynthesis, but ours does not have this limitation due to the bacterial-based photo-capture strategy.”There are many benefits to being able to create a plant-like foam. “You can convert the sugars into many different things, including ethanol and other biofuels,” Wendell explains. “And it removes carbon dioxide from the air, but maintains current arable land for food production.”“This new technology establishes an economical way of harnessing the physiology of living systems by creating a new generation of functional materials that intrinsically incorporates life processes into its structure,” says Dean Montemagno. “Specifically in this work it presents a new pathway of harvesting solar energy to produce either oil or food with efficiencies that exceed other biosolar production methodologies. More broadly it establishes a mechanism for incorporating the functionality found in living systems into systems that we engineer and build.”The next step for the team will be to try to make the technology feasible for large-scale applications like carbon capture at coal-burning power plants. Dean Carlo Montemagno“This involves developing a strategy to extract both the lipid shell of the algae (used for biodiesel) and the cytoplasmic contents (the guts), and reusing these proteins in the foam,” says Wendell. “We are also looking into other short carbon molecules we can make by altering the enzyme cocktail in the foam.”Montemagno adds, “It is a significant step in delivering the promise of nanotechnology.” Other Recent News About the College of Engineering and Applied ScienceUC Jumpstarts Charge of Educating Future Energy WorkforceUniversity of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science offers the first Energy and Materials Engineering undergraduate degree program in the United States.

via www.uc.edu

How cool is this??!!

I planted my Iceland poppies a bit later than I like to last year...I think I got them in the ground late November or early December. So I'd usually have poppies in bloom in February. But with the cold we've experienced perhaps they'd have started blooming late anyway. Here is the first bloom to pop open. It's it geoooorgeous?

Here's a photo of some Iceland poppies we have for sale at NHG...'Champagne Bubbles' mix...

These Seeds Look Like Little Sea Creatures

UPDATED 2024

One of the cool things about Calendula is that their seeds look like tiny little octopus tentacles! Or some other sort of sea creature. The other "cool" thing about Calendula is that it's a wonderful cool season annual herb - or short-lived perennial depending on your climate - that can be seeded in the fall for late winter and spring color. Here in Texas and similar warm climates, September and early October are good times to direct seed into the garden.

Calendula Seed
PC: Leslie F. Halleck

Calendula officinalis is also commonly referred to as pot marigold. But it's not in the same genus Tagetes as "real" marigolds. Pot marigold has many purported herbal medicinal uses which may, or may not, be efficacious. But many will make Calendula tea as an antioxidant.

Mostly, I plant it for it's beautiful bright orange flowers. There are a few color variations available. I like to throw seed in with my salad greens and borage for a bright beautiful combination. Plants will often reseed on their own.

If you don't already know about Mason Bees...you're going to want to! Mason bees are excellent pollinators, much more efficient than your average honey bees. While they don't make honey, like honey bees do, they can help you increase your yields of fruit, berries, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, tomatoes and the like in your garden. They also don't sting, so that's a nice benefit if you happen to be allergic. The males hatch first and wait around for the females to hatch. Then the females hatch and mate with the males. Then, the males die. :( Ah well...their job is done! lol. The females then go about pollinating your garden for you. They lay their eggs in the tube then pack the ends to close them. Not only do we have some neat Mason bee houses at NHG, we also have the bees! They come as eggs, six per tube, and we're keeping them in our insect cooler. You can buy one or two tubes and insert them into your bee house. Very cool.