Garden Update (WARNING: Snoozer post for non-gardeners!)

Woke up this morning and we dove right into productivity mode. Bunny completely weeded the garden and made it look as though some of the things growing there are intentional. I generally stick more with the "Let it all grow and harvest what you want" method. This is not the result of a philosophical approach to gardening, rather a deep distaste for weeding. After he finished weeding, I tackled my very favorite garden chore of the year - the first pruning of the tomatoes. My poor husband can hardly stand to watch me do it. Truth be told, I think it makes him weep a little bit. I have a rather militaristic approach to pruning, and for the first of the year, I generally believe you must remove at least much as you leave. Their denuded appearance is slightly shocking when I've completed this most zen of tasks, but I know they'll thank me later with many a bushel of lovely, lovely 'maters.

The Nasturtiums are about 6 inches high now and I'm tickled to see them growing. They will be so tasty in our salads this summer and lovely to behold along the garden fence.

B procured many pounds of favas this week at a location which shall remain nameless (as we will probably go back and buy everything else they have today...). We made a simple and lovely succotash of some of them this week, and he set out a few pods to see if we couldn't get them to sprout. I have my fingers AND toes crossed for this, as a ready supply of favas from our own garden would make me, quite possibly, the happiest girl on the whole block.

In the clem garden, the Dr. Ruppel continues to put on vigorous growth on both vines and I believe there are a few tiny buds emerging. I'd love to see a big show from him this year, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm slightly concerned about the Nelly Moser. She's still putting on growth from both vines, but her lower leaves appear to be slightly starved. Could just be aging from the false start to spring and subsequent arctic blast that we incurred. I don't think I've ever mentioned here how much I despise, in a deep and fundamental way, the cold. No, really - this can not be overstated.

There are positively ten million lady bugs in the garden. I saw at least half of them today while barbering. This delights me endlessly. B's being followed around by the spirit of Praying Mantis lately. He sees them everywhere, and when he finds them around the yard, he's been moving them to the garden. I hope they'll colonize. I also need to go put out some little spider houses so they can move in and set up housekeeping. Oh, and I need to put the bird feeder back out. All of our friends in the garden will keep away the nasties - we hope. For good measure, I wrapped the pumpkin vine in foil this morning. I so despise the vine borers.

Zombie Squad crawfish boil this afternoon - have to run and make polenta...