The garden is doing very well this season with the corn, potatoes and tomatoes doing well. Basil and carrots are growing much better than they usually do. The lettuce is not doing so well though, I think that there was too much fertilizer in the soil and it turned the leaves yellow.
Heres’ a picture of one of the types of bumblebee that likes to visit the garden. This bee wouldn’t even leave the onion flower when the garden was being watered and got a bit soaked:
Wet bumblebee on an onion flower– click for viewing full screen
I like to let some of the plants to go seed because many of the birds and insects like to have these things to eat and it is fun to have stuff come up in the garden on their own. Lots of Swiss chard is coming up all over the garden from some that went to seed prior to last winter. A couple of Swiss chard plants survived all through the winter and could be harvested in a limited amount.
We decided to plant some more green onions because they are very handy for using in lots of different meals. I like to put some fresh green onions from the garden chopped up on top of soups and noodles. The onion flower will take some time before it makes new onions and we’ve eaten many of the onions that survived the winter. Also, if you let the onion flower there is not as much to harvest to eat.
Here’s some onions that were recently purchased that I’m getting ready to plant:
Green onions from the store – click for viewing full screen
These are in pretty good shape and haven’t been stored in the refrigerator too long. Some of them have had all their roots cut off – these will go back in the fridge to be eaten. You can get a bunch of onion starters at certain stores too but that’s usually more than I need and they seem to not work as well as the larger ones that are sold ready for eating.
I’m not that fond of eating the white part so I usually leave the onion growing in the ground and just cut off some of the green part to eat.
They will die back a bit just after planting but if watered enough when getting started they usually survive and grow really well.
Here’s a recent sunset picture I took when out walking the dog:
Sunset by the pond with cattails – click for viewing full screen
I could almost imagine Pan dancing around by the cattails playing the pan pipe for the ducks. It was a very nice evening with a wonderful temperature.
I went back to the same area just the other day and someone had hacked off many of the branches of the trees and thrown them on the bike path. At first I thought that kids or vandals had done it but the damage was much too extensive for the typical vandal.
Then I noticed that the area had been carpet mowed and many of the cattails were gone, as well as the native flowers, blackberry bushes and other natural trees. It kind of made me sad honestly. Later on in the season this area would attract a wide variety of frogs and insect life. Bunnies and other critters like the native growth as a place to find food and refuge. Dragonflies often flew around the cattails.
I’m not against mowing places and clearing some branches away from a walking path but this seemed to be a bit excessive to me. The way in which the branches were removed was not very gentle to the trees and I think it might leave them prone to getting disease. If I were to trim a tree in my yard, I try to cut the branch in a way that the tree will be able to heal the wound up easier.
I walked along the path and noticed that a narrow strip of cattails had survived the mowing by growing close to the ponds edge, where the mower would have had to upchuck some water to get them.
I suppose I should be happy that they got a lot of ‘work’ done very efficiently and cleared all the brambles away from the path. Although I’m not really happy, I certainly do not bear any ill will towards any of the workers involved or the decision making. To me this is just a product of what we all as a society have decided collectively to do, but it does seem like a lot of effort spent on something that might be better spent on things like a few trash cans around the city to toss out the dog poop in.
Maybe I’m just an odd duck but I kind of like paths where I have to dodge a few brambles to a limited degree. It kind of keeps you more aware if there a few things like that and you can’t just walk along watching cat videos on your phone. (Nothing wrong with cat videos, but there is a time and place for everything)
Besides, I like to go back in the fall and harvest many of the blackberries and other native berries. It used to be a really good area for that but they keep clearing more and more of it out and carpet mowing what used to be a more natural area.
As a child I loved playing and walking to many more natural areas nearby, and there was an empty lot right next to my house that make a great play area. I guess I was hopeful that this area near the walking path would stay more natural but a large part of it is planned for development.
I like gardening and I think the natural world likes gardening. I think the best kind of gardening works in harmony with things. I personally think that everything enjoys living and has some awareness at some level. The natural habitat is just as important if not more so than the parking lot or a walking path through a city imho.
Thanks for reading! I always value your support and comments. The pictures were taken by me with my Galaxy S9+ with some modifications done in the digital darkroom on the first one by Google Photos.
