Busy Bees

As you know, we acquired a second garden plot. Remember how overgrown it was?

Well, we’ve been busy bees – just take a look.

Doesn’t it look fab-U-lous?!

And in case you haven’t swung by Yardsnacker.com yet, you can see my hubby’s latest garden video update.

We spent the holiday weekend working on this – in addition to pulling weeds and planting, hubby did the manly stuff like hauling off many wheelbarrow loads of weeds (there was A LOT!) and grass (our nemesis) and working the huge rototiller (awesome awesome work YS!!). Not to say I didn’t do my fair share of labor but I wouldn’t bank on the tiller and me getting along very well. I’m a wimp.

Because the soil is so good to begin with (thanks to the previous gardener) we didn’t have to add anything. Just plant our little seeds. Yippee! So first off we planted corn and various sunflowers. Doesn’t that sound like a happy garden already?

We’re still hoping our tomato and bell pepper seedlings reach for the stars quick. I’m excited to see some fruit! Speaking of which, check out our strawberries - mmm, can’t wait for these to ripen (yes, there is fruit there in addition to the many flowers - so excited!)…

….and this rogue asparagus (asparagi? Heh – it popped up out of nowhere and definitely seems to have lofty goals - new flag of victory perhaps?).

With our weird spring things are starting off slowly but we’re also concerned about evil garden bugs, crows and whatnot. Hubby will be making up an organic home brew to protect our crop. It is interesting so far that the slugs have avoided our romaine but another gardener’s crop got mowed down by those slimy things. Bummer.

This other gardener is a funny lady. She’s a busy bee too! Actually, a "busy body." Hee hee! She is super nice who’s quite generous with sharing her garden tools and knowledge; her garden is AMAZING (she has 4 plots next to each other)! However, she does love to talk. And I mean about the other gardeners. Apparently, she’s also the unofficial rule keeper. Oh well. We’re trying to stay positive and not get caught up in unnecessary drama. I suppose I’m being a busy body by the fact I even mention this.

Ready for more busy bees? As we were working on our plot, exposing all the lovely dirt the bumblebees kept hovering or finding little caves within the dirt – for what I’m not sure. Nap time? I don’t know enough about these little cuties to know what they were doing but they kept flying in circles around me, buzzing past me here and there, or hanging out in the dirt or grass. Maybe they were crabby we disturbed their home? I dunno. There are TONS of flowers and everything else in the plot next to us (and you thought our plot was bad to begin with? The one next to us is way worse) for the bees to pollinate. They’re very docile so there was no fear they’d start attacking me – I just thought it was interesting. They sure are a challenge to photograph. They don’t like to stay still!

There's a bumblebee in the middle in the above pic. The next pic he's flying away.

A honeybee! Yay!

We learned that the two surrounding plots have not been rented by anyone so we grabbed the planter barrel from one of them (it’s considered abandoned) and are going to use it for various flowers at the front our plot so it'll look homey. The front part isn’t part of our useable area but we can use it how we want. The soil is a bit more grassy/rocky so we’ll probably get another barrel or plant flowers that can handle not so great dirt. As I was clearing out this area I saw the earth move (come on! Sing it – I feel the earth move under my feet…okay, I know I said I SAW the earth move and not feel the earth move but whatever it still got me thinking of that song). The critter trying to break through was trying very hard but didn’t make it or possibly sensed me and scrammed. Hubby thinks it was a vole. I’m sure he’s right as I kept finding little caves. I hope they don’t become a nuisance. Our furkid Mostaza when she was alive loved hunting these and dropping them off at our doorstep. Good kitty!

Not sure if you can see this very well but this spider was spinning its web (fascinating to watch sometimes) and had an odd-shaped body. Very long and slender. Needs food I suppose! Er, maybe it’s not that odd-shaped but I thought so anyway. Agree with me okay?

Now, if you’re still here after this already long post, who was it that recently made the Cornbread recipe from Goneraw and mentioned it on their blog? I'm sorry I can’t remember who it was but I made it too. Yummy! I have to admit though I’m not the most attentive cook so I dehydrated it too long that they turned into crackers (I also had spread them too thin). Whoopsie! That’s okay because they were still really good and I'll be making them again as crackers or bread.

It's over now folks. This long-winded post is DONE! You're a super-trooper for making it all the way. The reward is good: you'll get to carry on with your life now. :)

I’ll probably be offline for a few days but I’ll update what that’s all about soon. It’s all good. Yeehaw!