You can learn a lot from a garden

Mike has been bugging me to put up more pictures of the garden. So, you can stop reading now if you want. This one is for Mikey.

I have always been a nature geek. I love to sit and watch living things. I try to figure out just what they're doing. Tidepools, in my opinion, are the absolute best places to observe nature but our own backyard works fairly well too. Just look at the garden.



Everything is growing! The tomatoes and corn are off the hook.




Look at the lavendar and cilantro living side by side in perfect harmony.



The sunflowers are starting to bloom.



I've noticed a certain type of little, green caterpillar on the sunflower leaves. I probably picked off ten of them before I found the big mama. She was a couple inches long and yellow and very hairy. I thought it was very polite of them to eat only the sunflower leaves even when they were surrounded by such a plethora of greenery in the garden. I thanked them as I hurled them over the fence.

How about this tiny cucumber? I think it's precious.



And then there's the bell pepper. We thought this plant had something wrong with it. Turns out it just takes a long time to produce something so good. The jalapeno plant has been showing off for weeks now.



What about the tiny white flowers on the strawberry plants? Who knew strawberries had flowers?


Finally, the lettuce. I'm including it because I think it's pretty. However, looks can be deceiving. Turns out that once temperatures get hotter than about 85 degrees the leaves of the lettuce plant turn all bitter tasting. It was a dark, dark moment when we realized this fact.



I'm reading a good book right now called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It goes into much detail about the growing seasons of different plants. Who knew there were such things as growing seasons? We can buy whatever we want, whenever we want at the supermarket. But it tastes so much better if you grow it yourself or get it from someone who grew it themselves. If you just wait until it comes into its natural season. The one thing I'm confused about? Why in the world does lettuce go bitter before the tomatoes get ripe? How am I supposed to make a decent salad?