Saturday, August 22, 2009

Strange Happenings

My garden has been doing strange things this year. I have a pepper plant that has been giving a piss-poor performance. Yes, you read it right...piss-poor. The leaves were all gnarled and curled up, the plant didn't grow more than a foot and the peppers... I mean pepper, singular...well, that was no bigger than a grape tomato and twisted beyond belief. Nothing that I would want to eat. Ironically, this plant was located between two star performers, a cucumber and a tomato, that were incredibly productive. Now that the summer is nearing its end, this pepper is sprouting new growth, perfect new growth, not curled and funny-looking like the earlier growth, and it's blooming with the promise of new peppers. I can't explain it but I've got my fingers and toes crossed. I may yet get a decent pepper out of that plant before the season is over.

In another part of the garden, my strawberries are doing something they've never done before and I have had these plants for about 10 years. They are fruiting again. I've got a second batch of strawberries growing in August, and this variety is listed as June-bearing. I did have strawberries in June, more than I have ever had before, but I've never had any in August.

I don't know what my garden is trying to tell me. It's speaking is a convoluted language that I can't seem to make sense of. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what it all means.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Small Wonders

(Note: Click on an image for a larger view)
There have been many things going on in my garden. Far too many to list here. The tomatoes are doing well, the green peppers are not, the cucumbers are sweet and strawberries are surprising me with a second fruiting. The flowers are thriving for the most part but my apples are bitterly disappointing. This year I have been fortunate enough to photograph several small visitors to my little patch of dirt who have brought a smile to my face. I'll let the pictures do the talking but here's the cast of characters:

- a grasshopper sits on my gazania flower
- a pollen-covered bee also on my gazanias
- a firefly's lime green light trail at dusk
- a cicada emerging from its carapace
- a precariously perched dragonfly
- a large spiderweb and its landlord lurking nearby


When I take the time to slow down and look at the world around me, it's the little things that take my breath away.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva