A Korean Idiom - "Dog Poop Melon"

I just discovered this jewel in the backyard.  It's a Korean melon that grew as wild as a volunteer underneath a new shade tree.

I asked my dad if he saw the melon and he called it gae ddong chameh which translates into dog poop melon.

The phrase threw me for a loop.  The dogs didn't have anything to do with this melon plant or melon.     

I guess in the old days in Korea the street dogs would find the melon leftovers, eat them, and then deposit them elsewhere.  The seeds that survived the dog's digestive tract would then sprout and grow in an odd spot.

In our case, when we threw the melon scraps into the compost heap, it didn't get hot enough to kill the seeds.  Then when we used the compost for the new tree and watered the new tree even during the heat wave, it was the perfect environment for a melon plant to grow.    

Garden & Yard

The heat wave has pretty much killed the garden, but the fruit trees are surviving and even producing. 

I harvested my first Asian pear today.  It was very juicy and sweet.  It was crisp only in the very center.


Asian Pear

The green grapes still need a little more time, but the red grapes have nearly turned into raisins on the vine.

Seedless Grapes

I'm still crossing my fingers that the lone thriving persimmon tree will hang onto its fruit.   There's still a whiles to go before the fruit is ripe.

Persimmon


The fuji tree is in it's second year of producing so no worries there.  It'll probably be another month or two before I pick these. 

Fuji Apple

The pomergranates have pretty much been neglected, but they seem to do well regardless.



Pomergranate

This is the first year that we've eaten any figs from our lone fig tree.  Half the time the fruit turns bad before they look like this pump fig in the picture.  The inside is pink in color.


Fig

Jujubees do exceptionally well in heat.  We used to have several trees when we lived in the Valley of the Sun, Phoenix.


Jujubee

My experimental plant for this year were okras.  Although the bushes never took off and are barely a foot tall, they have survived when the tomatos died. 


Okra

Most of the yard is brown but there are some spots of color.  Mostly in the potted plants. 


This is the flower to an edible root that Koreans eat.  I can't remember the name of the root though.


This lantana is a common groundcover in desert climates.  One of these days when I'm done landscaping the slopes, this will be planted into the ground.


Lantana

This is a very desert-hardy bouganvilla. It's currently in a pot until I figure out where to plant it on the slope.



Bouganvilla

 This is one of my mother's favorite flowers.  It comes in vine or bush form.

Here are my mother's other project flowers, day lilies.


Day Lily



Day Lily

This is my dad's mis-order:

This annual is turning into a perannual.

This is my favorite agave.  No spines!  I'll transfer the chicks (baby agaves) after they're a little bit bigger. 


Foxtail Agave





The Dog Days of Summer

It's been hot the past couple of weeks, and all the dogs have been hanging out inside where the AC is on.  But today it wasn't so bad and at least the male dogs are able to find their own cool zones in the yard.  PoongSoon is heat-adverse though, and so we always bring her inside during the middle of a warm day. 

BokDol rests on the cool concret.

BaekSan prefers freshly dug earth.

Dog Agility Equipment - Teeter Totter

I finally finished making/assembling this dog agility teeter totter.   The base came from Affordable Agility and the plank came from good ol' Home Depot. 

This is probably the most challenging obstacle for PoongSoon and so I needed a home version.  She's been "over-thinking it" during the few classes we attended.  She stops right before the fulcrum. 

In hindsight, I should have introduced a rocker board as a foundation training, but we didn't get this in class.  I'll probably do it for the next pup. 

Zucchini Thieves

Someone, or should I say, some DOG, has been picking and eating zucchini from the garden.

I suspected that BaekSan was doing the deed, and this evening I actually caught him in the act.

As I was stalking him with the camera, he dropped his green prize.

What I wasn't expecting was that BokDol would take over where BaekSan left off.

BaekSan was looking forlorn over his lost prize and so I tried to shoo BokDol to his kennel so BaekSan could finish it.  Surely, BokDol wasn't THAT interested in a veggie, could he? 

What ensued was BaekSan snatching the zucchini and then BokDol evading me and giving chase after BaekSan.   They went behind the chicken coop/run and I went after them thinking, "No, they're not going to have their first fight over a ZUCCHINI?!?"

No growls originated from behind the chicken coop, which made me relieved but somewhat puzzled. 
It turns out that the zucchini got dropped near "no dog's land", which was their #2 potty area. 

I picked up the zucchini since it was still poop-free and put it and BaekSan into a kennel.

An hour later, I let BaekSan out of his kennel and PoongSoon grabbed what was left of the zucchini.

BaekSan hovered near, but PoongSoon blocked his view of her prize by turning away.  She ate the rest of the zucchini, thus ending today's veggie drama.

Happy Ddol, BaekSan!

I amost forgot BaekSan's 1 yr birthday. 

Happy Ddol, BaekSan!