Bugs and and Plants

Good afternoon everyone! Today I am just sharing some finds in the yard.

Picture 1 and 2 are two praying mantises on my single pitiful rose bush I need to learn to properly care for because I love these bugs. They look cool and they eat bugs that I don't like in my garden. I need more roses as soon as I figure how and when to properly prune them.

Picture 3 is of the stupid morning glory vines that are like a plague and every time I think I get them all they are back 2 days later. They have a grass hopper in them. Not sure yet if grass hoppers are bad for your garden or not but for an insect they are kind of cool looking. 

These two pictures are of my chicken foraging patch which has peas, clover and flax and it is supposed to have alfalfa but I don't really see any. The flax is flowering and it looks beautiful. 

Then I found these in the wildflower area. I planted a bunch of seeds wild flowers and anything else I thought looked pretty. I figured whatever came up would be cool with me. Unfortunately I have no clue what is a flower or a weed that flowers and what is a weed that will just take over the whole thing. This is one of those mistakes I will learn from and start some from seed indoors next year. 

Jalapenos and tomatoes are finally flowering and my beans are doing really well, even the babies I planted hoping for a fall crop. The strawberries and marigolds in my cinder block raised bed are doing pretty well but I think I will have to wait until next year for more than a few berries. 

This is the area that I dumped over 20 bags of 40 pounds of dirt and planted almost dead marigolds. and two other flowering plants in good condition. I planted  herb and clover seeds as well and am hoping for good ground cover. I needed to build the soil up so there were not big holes under the fence. Chickens and huskies are sneaky and can slip through those things. Again I am not going to be sure what is and what is not weeds for a few more weeks but at least I actually know what most of the herbs and clover look like.  

I know it is not a mini farm or a huge garden yet but one step at a time and we will get there.