Blog Archives
In the garden with DH
At dinner last night, I told DH that the large cantaloupe has suddenly begun to ripen. “Another day or two and we’ll have some for dessert,” I told him.
Despite the heat, DH came out later to join me in the garden. He climbed onto his mobility scooter and went to check out the melon patch. “That melon sure looks good. It’s much bigger than the other four.”
“I lifted it and it is hefty. I can almost taste it.” I walked alongside him, and pointed out to him which tomato plants were which—Beefsteak, Big Boys, and the heirlooms.
He drove over to the back porch and checked out the potted plum tomatoes. “Think I can pick a few of these for my Mom?”
“Those aren’t ripe enough. I already picked some for her they’re on the kitchen counter. Just the plum tomatoes and the Beefsteak mind you, don’t you dare take my heirlooms.”
“She likes the plum tomatoes the best.”
“Good, that means you can leave the Beefsteak too.”
He laughed. “You are bad.”
“Yeah, but can I help it that I love tomatoes?”
Web crawlers
She guards the tomatoes. Every evening she labors. She weaves, waits, and weaves some more. It is miles of silk to her. Impressive to us. Five feet across and tall, and begins three feet above the ground. A perfect circle. In the morning, it’s gone. She never leaves a strand of silk to warn others of her lair.
She’s one of many who live in the garden. One of many different species who weave their webs each day or night. She’s the largest.
We have water spiders who weave their webs over the pond. Their oddly shaped webs are as strange as the spiders who weave them. They are delicate and difficult to photograph.
Spiders, if they stay in the gardens, I’m fine with them, but come into my house and well…
Garden gossip
I should have waited another week to pick the watermelon. It wasn’t ripe. I do have another one growing. Maybe this time I’ll know better. I don’t know if I’ll try growing them again next year or go for a small seedless variety.
The tomatoes are turning red now that we’ve had a few cool nights. In another day, at least two will be ready for picking. Next week I can harvest the two eggplants in the back garden. Yum, fried eggplant is one of my favorites. The first one I’ll fry and the next one I’ll grill. Yeah, sometimes I need to cook healthy stuff. DH will only eat them fried so I’ll share the grilled ones with G. There will be many more to pick after that because the potted eggplant plant is loaded with them. (Next year all the eggplants will go into pots.) G and I can enjoy some moussakka and other dishes with the others since DH quickly tires of eggplant. He can have hamburgers or something.
Even after giving a lot away, I have so many sweet Hungarian and banana peppers I’ve begun to put them in almost everything I cook. They are so mild in flavor you hardly can tell they are there. Now the cherry peppers, Anchos, poblanos, and pimento peppers are starting to ripen. It’s a good thing I love peppers.
I have one good-sized cucumber in the fridge and a gazillion tiny ones on the vines. Last night I cut one cucumber into strips and munched them down, they made a lovely fresh, light snack.
A rare treat
I wandered out to the garden this afternoon to take a break from writing and I was glad I did. I got one heck of a photo op. There, directly behind my yard, up on a telephone wire, sat a red-tailed hawk. I dashed inside for my camera praying that no one scared him off while I was inside.
I snapped a few shots from the yard. Several people walked under him never seeing this magnificent bird. Many city people are not observant of nature. Since he hadn’t moved, I unlocked my gate and walked down to where I was almost directly beneath him. He practically posed for the pictures.
When I got the shots I wanted, I ran to G’s house and told her husband to grab his camera there was a fantastic hawk photo op if he hurried. He did and he got some great shots too.
Every year for at least the last twenty years we’ve had a pair of red-tail hawks nesting in the ancient and very tall horse chestnut trees in the cemetery. Getting pictures of them is a rare treat since they usually stay hidden because the crows tend to mob them.
Doggonedmysteries 