Any gardening project is both an adventure and a leap of faith. You can visualize and plan and even do everything you plan, and still get results that are a little different from your intentions. Plants have their own ways and nature takes its own course, usually with the help of bugs and bunnies. I realize that each year as I watch my garden evolve over the summer. And no where is the power of nature more evident than in the vegetable garden. Ours is already very different than what I had planned and planted.
First there were the morning glory vines. I planted them at the end of the garden, along the fence, just as I did last year. They came up and something ate them…right down to the ground. I planted them again and something ate them. I planted them a third time and I now have two pitiful little plants that may, or may not, live to bloom for me. Now, remember, last year I had vines and blooms everywhere!
Next mystery was the watermelons. I planted them, they disappeared. Planted again and we have two plants. If we have watermelons they will be very late.
Last year our tomatoes were pitiful and didn’t even produce anything until September. This year we have lush plants covered in blossoms. Of course I have to watch diligently for caterpillars. They can take all of that away in an evening.
I also have squash, peppers, eggplants, and sunflowers. Of course one of my stray sunflower plants has already given its life to a cow. We left the yard gate unlocked the other night and the cows came inside to see what was on the buffet. There was a sunflower growing up under one of the bird feeders…let’s just say that I won’t have to mow around it anymore. The ones inside the garden fence are still intact, for now.
The cows didn’t bother much of anything else. Trampled a few zinnias and irises. Drank out of both birdbaths and my little “patio pond”. Probably startled the fish, but no harm done.
When we came home from our dinner Saturday night there were three bunnies playing tag in the yard. We stood and watched them for a few minutes and I even managed to slip my camera out of my bag and take a picture. I suppose if they are snacking on a few plants here and there it is a small price to pay. They were here first, and they are so cute.
When you really stop and think about it, we are the intruders here, trying to impose our will and our ways on a patch of prairie that by rights belongs to the bugs and bunnies. I guess I should be happy that they share with me at all.
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