I Made a Funny Discovery Today

Bob Bauer

April 13, 2018 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

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April 12, 2018

Woke up to snow on the surrounding mountains this morning. With a week of rainy weather forecasted I would be wise to postpone my traditional April 15th planting of corn. I planted it on March 20th last year in my over abundant optimism at being re zoned at 8b, and had 10 frost nights all the way up to May 20th in which they required covering..

I don't remember having that much covering to do but maybe that's one advantage of age related memory loss. We get to approach each new gardening season with the enthusiasm and optimism of youthful exuberance, unencumbered by the dismal realities of our past failures..

April 12, 2018

I made a funny discovery today. Well, maybe not funny to you, but hilarious for me. I've been picking spinach by the handful and marveling at there being no leaf miner damage at all. I thought that keeping the leaves picked reduced where they could lay their eggs. It turns out the eggs on the bottom of the leaves go unnoticed when you pick by the handful, and we've been eating them. What a great way to deal with your garden insect problem..

Eat their eggs. So for the rest of the summer it's green spinach and eggs. Thank you Dr. Seuss..

April 13, 2018

Saw a fat bottomed hover fly today. I just made the name up, but you'll know one when you see it. As I watched it zipped under an oak leaf and didn't come out again. Just like the bumblebees they nap in our debris. Reminds me to not always be so tidy in the garden if I want the benefits of natures tiny treasures..

I also found a puddle drying out that had tadpoles in it. I couldn't let them all die so I scooped some up and brought them home. I dug a puddle sized pond in the garden, lined it with plastic, put a rock, leaf, algae and pond weed in it, and set my pets free. They love hiding under everything so much that I may never see them again..

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