2019 Carosello Massafrese

This year I once again grew out the Carosello Massafrese. I planted out transplants on May 4th and had the first harvestable fruit by June 24th.

Transplanted May 4th, 2019.

May 11th

June 6th

Early on in their growth, I mulched the garden bed with some pine needles. Though there were still some weeds to take care of, the mulch did a good job of reducing the weed pressure.

June 6th

June 14th

Though I always utilize soaker hoses in my garden, this is the first time that I had used a very high quality soaker hose. If you have had problems with soaker hoses in the past, I would highly recommend trying out a Teknor Apex. I have yet to find a soaker hose that gets really good reviews, but of all the soaker hoses I’ve tried, this one is definitely well worth the price.

June 21st

While the taste of this specific carosello is very good, the moderate variance of coloring and patterns, the drought resistance and the productive nature of this carosello lent it to being one of the best carosello cucumbers that I grow.

June 24th

June 29th

The coloring of the Carosello Massafrese fruit exhibit a lot more of a light variance than it did last time I grew it. Though I enjoy the dark splotched bands, I don’t care much for the smaller dots. I believe that there are multiple reasons for this including the difference in climate between Tucson and Fairfield. Here in Fairfield, I have a lot of water, fertile soil and less intense light than I had in Tucson. Here the fruit grows faster and more productive than in Tucson, but there are some negative side effects. With faster growing fruit, the skin of the plant may grow too quickly. With less light, the dark skin coloring does not develop as well.

Peas and Beans in the Fertile Garden

The other garden friend's garden I grew in during 2019 was a plot that contains soil enriched with large amounts of compost. This is what I simply refer to as the Fertile Garden.



By following some of what the owner of the fertile garden does, I can work to make my own backyard garden better. One technique that the Fertile Garden owner utilizes to maintain fertility is grow plants that produce much of their own nitrogen. Legumes such as peas and beans require minimal, if any fertilization.


Here are a few pictures of spring peas being grown in the Fertile Garden:

My friend also really enjoys pole beans. This year he grew out a couple stands of Blue Lake Pole Beans. He said that his favorite things about them is that they are stringless. One thing I noticed about them is how long they lasted.

Though they lasted a whole long time, by the time they were done, the plants looked very tired out. This is quite a contrast with the kinds of poles I used to grow. I am used to having grown Chinese Long or Asparagus beans. Chinese Long beans have nectaries which attract ants and other insects. The ants will sip the nectar and protect the plant from many predators (if they can find them). Additionally, Chinese Long Beans plants do not deteriorate as quickly as regular pole bean plants. Unfortunately, Chinese Long Beans are not as versatile or palatable as regular pole beans.

These pole beans lasted until the later fall. I suppose they would last as long as the gardener picks the pods off of the plant - or until the first frost.

Saving the Anise Swallowtail Butterfly

My first encounter with the anise plant was when I was a child at a rental home. My father had a friend who encouraged him to become a partner in purchasing and renting out a home in Benicia, California. With a rental to take care of, I often became a member of the “weeding squad”. If you have never seen mature anise plants, they are very tall weeds that send up one main stalk with fern-like leaves coming from the sides and roots that seem to tunnel into the center of the earth. If you rub your hands on the leaves or stem, they will smell reminiscent of black licorice. Over the years I helped to maintain that yard, I came to respect the weedy nature of this vigorous plant.

Additionally, as a child I also really enjoyed “raising” small insects. This mainly consisted of finding small caterpillars in the wild and continuing to provide them their foodplant until the caterpillar advanced to pupae or chrysalis stage. Eventually, I started seeing butterflies fluttering around the anise plants and began finding their young.

An Anise swallowtail juvenile caterpillar

Anise grows prolifically in the hills around where I live. It is also found in local abandoned lots. While gardening at my friend's home with the chicken garden, I noticed that he had quite a few anise plants growing in his yard, so I looked around for a few caterpillars. My goal was initially to see if there were any caterpillars on the plants, but once I saw them, I decided it would be wonderful for my youngest to experience the joy of raising these butterflies, so I gathered a few of them from my friend’s yard (with his permission) and began raising them.

The Egg is very small, on the anise in front of my index finger

The black and yellow butterfly light cream-colored eggs on the ferny leaves. Over time, a black caterpillar hatches out, which turns to a black and white (bird dropping) color, then to a more striped pattern as they grow. Later I went to gather some more of the caterpillars, but they had all been killed by something, so I am glad that I saved the few I did.

One really nice thing about anise is that cuttings from the plant will last a long time in a flower vase.

Part way through raising the caterpillars (around the time they began turning into chrysalises) I went on a family trip and left them all with a friend. By the time we returned, all but one or two had hatched.

The few pictures of the adult butterflies were of the last one we released. My daughter releasing them quite a lot (or at least she posed really well).

As people continue to put more and more non-native plants into their yard, there will be less and less sources of food for birds and other wildlife. It is important to keep some of the native plants and insects we have so that we can support wildlife and preserve these wonders for future generations.