Random yard updates

Just a few random things going on around the yard.  First off, my lavender v2.0 a.k.a my second attempt at planting lavender in this pot has failed!

I decided to just move one of my lantana plants into the pot instead.  It was not doing so well in this one spot that I had planted in the backyard, so what's the worse that could possibly happen?!

The lantana didn't start out so great as I think I may have overwatered it too! But then, it finally did make a comeback!  And do you like my new ladybug self-waterer??!  We bought it during our trip in Big Bear.  You'd think that would solve my over-watering problems.  Ha ha!

Looks like more gravel is needed!  But at least I have the weed tarps down so hopefully no weed will show up, at least for a little while:

We had picked up some free rocks via the neighborhood App and I decided to use them here.  And as usual, mulch always makes everything look so much better:

That green plant to the left - not sure what its name is, but it's super hardy! I've moved it around several times and so far, most of them have come back.  I love the flowers that they have - super pretty!!!  Somehow feeling very tropical when I see them :-)

For whatever reason, the one strawberry plant is doing really well in the front yard!  I cut up an old plastic pot and put it around the strawberry so when it does fruit, the bugs won't get to the fruit as they just lay on the ground.  Not sure if this will work, but it's worth the try:

And those 2 little brown and white pots next the strawberry plant - those are for the "runners". You can pin the runners into the soil and they will eventually root and grow into a new strawberry plant!  I learned that watching an online video.  Who knew you could propagate new strawberry plants that way!  So exciting :-)  

Our tomato plant is still sometimes producing funny looking tomatoes.  For example, with this one below - two tomatoes fused into one!

Our tiki torches are set up and lit!  Although, I'm still being bittern by mosquitoes.  How is that possible??! 

A friend of mine came over one night with some durian (yes, the infamous Malaysian "stinky fruit"!) and poor her, she got bit so many times by mosquitoes!  I felt so bad when I saw all the welts on her leg a couple of days later at the beach with her kids.  Oops!

I hope these birds on the electrical line don't poop all over my nicely painted pergola!!!  No idea why they have showed up here.  Thankfully, so far it has only been a one-time thing:

I found a worm on my Fuchsia!!!  I had no idea what kind of worm it was, so I let it live for another day:

Well, looks like the worm is called a Yellow Striped Armyworm:

Looks like it's not very plant-friendly, so bye bye Armyworm!  I thought I saw two of them the day before.  Hmm.... I guess only time will tell if/when I see more of them.  Supposedly they lay their eggs in the soil.  I'm guessing maybe they were buried when I picked up that Fuchsia plant :-/

Did I mention how many figs we are getting from our tree??!

That's it for now!  The backyard is looking so much better than when we first moved here. What a process it has been!  Oh, there is one more thing though. I still have to figure out how to make grass grow:

There used to be a big old tree stump in this bare spot. We were able to grow some grass there last year but somehow, looks like we've lost all that grass again!  I'm guessing the slip-and-slide may have something to do with it.  So, in the meantime, we have moved the boys to another part of the yard.  They really do enjoy that water so much, especially when it's been so hot this past week:

I bought some top soil and some seeds.  Let's see if we can patch up this yard, as there's lots of bare and uneven spot.  Wish me luck! :-)