May 30, 2019
I picked the cauliflower that had caterpillar poop on it and it was undamaged. I guess this time of year the leaves are so tender that they don't eat the crown. The leaves went on the ground, overlapping like shingles, along the burm that surrounds the plot. The burm is weed free after the entire year so this systematic mulching with broad leaves is very successful. Keeping them from drying out is how the system works so well because light never gets to the ground..
I'll put layer after layer on, and then sprinkle straw over the top and be done with that row for a year. Then I move on to another burm, and when I run out of broad leaves use weeds, clippings and spent veggie plants. By the end of summer the whole garden should be done again..
May 31, 2019
This is the time of year when we get to savor the fragrance of our fresh garden soil. Kneeling on the ground , digging little holes for transplants, we inhale the sweet smells of mother earth. Gardeners are addicted to the experience. The earth's molecules enter our lungs, but they don't all come out. We absorb some , and become one with the land. They change our brains too, adding reinforcement to a growing body of memory..
We change as we exhale because we have moved forward another moment, and have another memory. I have three open mounds going into the summer. There is no sense in leaving them empty so I'll plant more melons. You can't have too many melons if you have grandkids, right?..
June 01, 2019
I was delighted to see a dragonfly in the garden yesterday, and surprised when it landed on a Red Hot Poker flower. I had not even noticed they were forming already, because they are nestled down among the leaves, and still green. I'm glad they're back. They provide an entire summer of viewing pleasure because they are close to my chair in the shade, and sport a continual barrage of hummingbirds, dragonflies and bumblebees. Even the little hover flies dart around among the leaves, playing hide and seek..
Honeybees are scarce around it though, perhaps because it's so busy with more intimidating insects. Beneath it's shadows lurks the frisky ground spiders that are ever present but seldom noticed. They dash and pause, disappear when they aren't moving, like little ninja arachnids..
