March – In like a lion, and I ain’t lyin’!

Only nine days without rain and/or snow. The wettest March in one hundred years. We at least have a roof over our heads. But that’s yet another story

The trees damaged in the storm that blew the roof off were removed or trimmed by a pro. (I don’t do trees–usually.)

April – Tattered beauties

Rain, rain, rain! I have planted some parsley and broccoli starts but done little else.

The daffodils are blooming. These are not the first of the daffies to bloom but they are the gaudiest. The winds of April often topple them and give them the look of an aging strumpet.

May – Of artichokes and aphids

This Purple of Romagna artichoke is the centerpiece of one of the vegetable beds.

Last year this artichoke had an aphid infestation. I washed aphids off each day, but more were back the next, with their attendant ants milking them for the nectar they extracted from my poor artichoke.

Then one morning the ants and the aphids had company. They were joined by the one of the ugliest looking creatures I have ever seen. I rushed to my field guide and found it was the larval form of the beautiful lady bug. Talk about puberty! Those critters made short work of the aphids. A couple of days later there was nary a one left.

I have an abundance of lady bugs this year.

June – A wild month

Anything grows!

July 2006

Today is the first day of July. I am reveling in raspberries. I hung CDs amongst the berries to flash in the sunlight and scare the birds away. It’s working. Those flashing CDs even startle me, but I don’t scare easily.

Who knows what else July will bring?

August

A heat wave, and a surfeit of cucumbers, peppers, parsley, tomatoes, potatoes and garlic left me with only a field of wildflowers at Wildseed Farms outside of Fredericksburg, Texas, to show you.

September

Where did September go? I seem to have lost it.