2026 CW31 - Garden Infrastructure
This week Sara and I vacationed out of town for a few days which cut down on our garden time. Then, once we were back in the garden, our daylight hours were primarily focused on wrapping up some infrastructure projects (both at home and abroad). So unfortunately, we do not have many vegetable and plant updates this week, but I promise we’ll be back to the usual amount of foliage and blooms next week! For now, enjoy this abbreviated blog as it fully unveils our underwater garden as well as tracks progress on fences and trellises!
Boards and Screws and Trellis, Oh my!
Infrastructure recovery week kicked off with an at home project to complete the fence previously destroyed by a fallen Water Oak (See Blog post Disaster, Destruction, and Doom! for details!). This week I finally completed installation of all fence pickets along the southern property line. This was quite the feat considering that I have used 100% threaded stainless fasteners for the entire fence. On this side alone, I have used ~2000 screws!
Returning back to Mom and Dad’s property, we finally finished a project first started on Mother’s Day! This project first appears in the blog The Tigridia Takeover under the “Mother’s Day Masters” section where we assembled the structure. We later added swings in the “Checking In: Mom’s Jasmine Swings” section of Garden Redemption. Now this week we have finally added the trellis to support the Jasmine as it climbs and shades the swing-set below!
Underwater Garden Unveiled!
After first teasing the fish tank in last week’s post, I wanted to share a big-picture view showing off the towering Amazon Sword plants, the Dwarf Sagittaria grass, and the scattered Cryptocoryne.
As a fun microscopic excursion within the underwater realm, I captured the development of a cluster of snail eggs through the week which had been deposited directly onto the front glass. It was fun keeping an eye on these and seeing their growth day-by-day! I expect these are more Leopard Ramshorn Snails!
To give you an idea of what these tiny things will turn into, here is a fully grown specimen performing its cleaning duties!
What’s Thriving?
As I mentioned earlier, this week does not have many plant updates. However, the common theme of a bountiful weekly harvest of Eggplant, Peppers, and Okra continues! Here you can see the ingredients gathered this week which would ultimately result in a delicious homemade Eggplant Parmesan, a delightful side of Sauteed Okra, and the start to some dried Pepper Spices.
Back out in the yard, we find the Elephant Ear towering over all those around despite some symptoms of the midsummer heat we are facing! You can see some of the leaves falling victim to sun scalding on their more exposed edges, but overall, the plants are thriving. Nearby to the elephant ear, the Lime Tree fruits are becoming quite generously sized!
Pests and Pets
As always, we close out with this week’s invited (and sometimes uninvited) animal guests! Here we have a very tiny Cricket resting on a retaining wall paver as well as a Hummingbird taking a break on the black-eyed Susan trellis!
This week’s garden supervisor is none other than the senior supervisor himself, Yoda! Whether nestled in the Cucumber beds or the St. Augustine Grass, he always finds a comfortable space to lay out as Sara and I work in the garden!
