AROUND THE GARDEN today

by Robin

Yesterday, I was so thankful I had my trap set.  Look what I caught hanging around the chicken coop!!



I saw some digging a couple of days ago and set it then.  I thought it was rather small, like a rat or mouse digging.  I was thankful that I reinforced the bottom of my coop the weekend before.  It could have been a different ending to this story if I hadn't been paying attention.

Anyhow, the stinker totally tore up the cage, can inside and managed to remove the handle of the cage and use it as a way of locking himself to the coop wire.  Every time I tried to release the cage from the coop entanglement, he tried to attack me.  There was no way to unhook it without risking injury, so unfortunately, I could not release this one in a different location.



The other day, I also pulled beans and they were drying in the garden.  Not very dry though..... that's why I have them drying further on this wire table.  Good air flow keeps them from molding.



Aren't they just beautiful!!  These are Black Valentine Beans.



Well, after you pick the beans off, you're left with a mess.  LOL. That's why we have brooms.

And Lulu,  she benefits each harvest season too.



Empty space!!!  Well, almost.  I still have some sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes in there.



Time to think about planting there.



While I'm showing off this garden, I wanted to show you that my broccoli is bolting.



This is not good.  The heads were very small and now...flowers.



We did not have any freezes this year and it looks unlikely that we'll be very cold thru the remainder of February.  Maybe it is time to lay seed in the rest of the gardens.




 My cherry tomatoes (not shown) have been going all through the winter and a much slower pace than spring or summer. Less bugs though, so that is good for me. And then, my bigger tomatoes (above) are beginning to bloom too. I only have a couple of these winter voluntary ones. The chickens reseeded these. Ewwww. LOL.

My thyme is showing signs of new life too.  Greener, longer vines again.  I lost one variety (lemon) but still have the German Thyme.



Here is the bloom of a beautiful Thai Basil.  There's always something blooming and beautiful in the garden.



And I keep a couple azalea bushes around because they tell me when the cobia are migrating through our area.  My bushes are filled with them.  Should I go fishing??



Happy Gardening my friends!
Blessings,
Robin