D'vorahDavida
Yetzirah

Garden Adventures
Fri Jun 23 2017

  This morning I was out early to pick peas. This time the kind you eat. Not the kind you inhale. There were more than I was expecting... DSC03310 I'll have a green thumbnail before the day is out shelling these for dinner. And because the light was so very nice this morning on the front porch bench: DSC03315 I thought I would take a few portraits. DSC03320 "Plants bearing seed after their kind." I took a walkaround in the garden taking pictures of various and sundry flowers. Daliah with some kind of fly: DSC03337 And of course... DSC03339 Oh my: DSC03328 I turned around from this flower and spied one I thought I might try to get a picture of. But when I squatted down to get a better look I noticed something in the background.... ONLY after I had looked at it through the camera lens. You will see why it's not a very good photo, I was startled. DSC03332 Oh dear... DSC03333 Yeah. I must in the spirit of full disclosure let you know that this Black Widow, is no longer with us. There was a certain encounter with a shovel right after this was taken. I do not care to share my space with it. Most other spiders I will tolerate in the garden. But not these. Not these. I continued my tour and thought I would take a picture of the Fava bean pods to show you what they are like. Some of them are almost ready to pick. I like them to get a fairly good size. I'll show you why when I'm ready to cook them. DSC03335 And finally, here's something I have been keeping a secret, just in case it didn't turn out well. We've had enough harsh realities lately. This is the waterbox Mr. P built inside the garden with valves and connections for my hoses. It has a leak. Not a big leak, but a persistent one. And the excess water seeps out into the surrounding area, but not enough to make it truly muddy. There's a lot of spearmint growing there that is delighted with all the water and the roots work their way into the box. Every now and again I pull a couple handfuls out. I saw a toad in there a few days ago! DSC03325 Anyway, there's about 8 or 9 inches of clear water in there all the time. This gave me an idea. I went to Wal-Mart and bought two fish. I don't even know what they are. Not goldfish. One is orange: DSC03306 And the other one is white and black and orange: DSC03324 They love to hang out right in the middle of the spearmint roots. And for once in my life, I am NOT going to give them names. I'm not. When I first had the idea of fish, I made a point to go look at what they had at Wal-Mart. And when I saw these that reminded me of Koi, I decided to do it. My son E. has a REAL Koi pond as you may recall... DSC00632L I really like them. But I'm not at all prepared to commit to a full blown Koi pond. I'm having fun with my miniature version though. I will be on the lookout for someone around here who DOES have a real pond, because when winter comes, I'll have to find my fish a good place to ride out the cold weather. The local feed store sells pond supplies, they will be able to hook me up with someone I'm sure. In the meantime. . . I have a little 'lazy girl' fish pond. Complete with toad. He's very shy. I'll try to get a picture of him. Let the summer games begin.   lime wild                    
3 Comments
  • From:
    Mamallama (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 25 2017
    Those peas were delish!! Thanks for sharing. I was with you when you bought the fish. The orange one is a Comet and the white one is a Koi. :) Name them, you must! It is so unlike you not to. My world is not right if you don't. I count on you for certain things and naming things is one of them. I've been waiting to hear. Name them. PLEASE!
  • From:
    Cheryl Taylor (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 25 2017
    On Comet, on cupid...oh...I'm weird. Fish??? Really? Throw in a bass! You could eat it come winter. Do NOT name it. hehe Of course it might eat Jeremy Fisher, the frog.
  • From:
    FutureCat (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Jun 25 2017
    Eeek! We have Katipo spiders here, which are a distant (and equally poisonous) relative of the Black Widow and the Australian Redback - they have a similar red marking on their back, but not as distinctive. Thankfully Katipo like to hang out in sand dunes, and not in gardens - if they did, I'd be even less keen on gardening than I am now!