Check out this cool green bee I found in the yard

Found this little guy hanging onto his last bit of life in the yard the other day.

Any idea on what type of bee or insect this is?

Unknown insect in my Arizona garden bed

Anyone have an idea on what this bug is called? Is this a beneficial insect? It is a mostly green-ish insect and as the saying goes, "if it greens it's good", however I know there are exceptions to the rule so I thought I'd post a image or two and find out if anyone might know something about this insect.

Added more flowers to the raised garden beds

So today I added a few more flowers to our raised garden beds to help attract even more beneficial insects. Even while the flowers were sitting waiting to be planted, they were being visited by strange looking flying insects. Very cool!

I can't remember all the names off hand, but I know some were marigolds, english daisy, cyclamen and pansy. I also was able to find some common sage and a couple globe artichoke's. I started one globe artichoke in the raised garden bed and will put the other globe artichoke into a 5 gallon bucket that I can move around into different locations if I need to.

I'll try and post some photos of the new flowers as well as pics of the alfalfa hay mulch.

Do you know if this insect is good to have in the garden?

Have been finding a lot of these insects flying around the garden. Do you know if they are eating the "bad" bugs, or eating my plants?

Finished adding the soil to our raised garden beds!!!

We have finally finshed adding the soil to our raised garden beds! I was able to locate some looking anf feeling garden soil mix at a local yard. Can you believe we needed almost 10,000 pounds of soil!!!

I will upload a bunch of photos soon with all the information as to what I added to our garden soil mix. As for now,  I'm installing the soaker hose and will be adding seeds, plants and flowers in the next few days. The best thing about our timingwas that we were hit with a lot of rain last night which thoroughly soaked our raised gardens! Could'nt ask for anything better than that :)

Well stay posted for the pictures of our Arizona raised garden beds!

Going to buy some wild flower seeds

Thinking about making a trip over to desert botanical gardens in phoenix to pick up some wild  flower seeds. The time is right now to throw some seeds out in the yard and garden. Just a heads up on the wild flower seeds from desert botanical garden in phoenix, I spoke with someone there over the phone and was told they charge a flat rate of $12 to ship wild flower seeds! I couldn't believe what I was told when I heard that price. Seriously, that is a total rip off for shipping and handling for wild flower seeds. I guess that how they get you to come down to the desert botanical gardens lol.

Looks like a baby praying mantis

Thought this might be a baby praying mantis. Any idea as to what it might be? Not sure if it's eating my plants or eating the bad bugs...I left it alone :)

Found these while out and about

While out and about here in Arizona, I spotted these cool creatures taking a break from the extreme desert heat.

Dave Owens "The Garden Guy" to release a new book all about insects!

I just fount out today that Dave Owens, "The Garden Guy", has a new book coming out soon all about the insects you fins in your yard and garden. I don't know much more than that about this new book, but if it's anything like his previous two books, it will be one worth buying!

Take a look a t the amazon links to the right of my blog and you will see his other books ready to purchase. It is a great investment in your gardening adventures!

As soon as I find out more I will post it here for all to read :)

Cool grasshopper in our yard

Spotted this grasshopper taking a break on our old tree branch cattle fencing decoration. He sure has some good colors for our area. Not sure where he went, but I understand that you do not want these in your yard or garden. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

Update on wasp nest

A fast update on the wasp nest that was built right above one of our windows.

It looks as if a few little ones already left!

Is a wasp good for the garden

Take a look at who's building a home :)

It's cool to see  the wet mud that has just been added.

I had always wondered if having a wasp set up home in your yard or garden was a good idea. Well I did a fast search and found this piece of information on the wasp:

"The predatory characteristic of many wasps are what makes them a beneficial insect to have in the garden. They are part of the natural gardener's arsenal against garden pests and instead of being hated should be loved, or at the very least tolerated. Right now I have tons of wasps buzzing around my garden eating aphids and the flies that are in abundance. "

Credit for the info goes to:
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-garden/2009/08/what-good-are-wasps-in-the-garden.html

A few more insect images to share

Take a look at a few insect photos I took over the past few days!

This insect was really interesting to look at. I have  no idea what it is, however the second picture shows how close it resembles hay. I know it came out blurry, but that is a small piece of hay next the insect. They look almost identical.

Here is a spider that is actually very, very small. I just zoomedin on him to show more detail.

And last we have a cool looking grasshopper mixedin with some mesquite tree trimmings.

Seeing the benefits of going organic

I am seeing so much more life around the house since changing over to organic. It really makes a lot of sense to me now. I feel almost angry when thinking about all the synthetic chemicals I have used over the years. I am so thankful that I have discovered this old/new tome way of life!

I believe it is now my & our responsibility as organic practitioners to spread the word about how fun, easy and beneficial organic gardening and landscape care can be! Every time I find myself at one of these large home improvement stores in the garden section, I am asked if I need help with finding anything. If I ask a question about a insect, good insect or not, the first thing I am told about is a chemical "killer". I hope that one day this will change and I will be asked to verify the typ e of insect and given a few organic choices on how to deal with the problem, if it is a problem at all :)

Praying Mantis - Our new found friend

Have a look at what I found today while spraying the organic seaweed, fish emulsion and vinegar fertilizer solution.

This friendly mantis was small, about 1" or so. Crawling along the wall next to our Thompson seedless grape vine.