Excitement is growing!

There's something magical about a garden.  You plant a tiny seed, or even a little seedling, and the next thing you know you have squash all sleek and shiny, tomatoes heavy enough to require bracing the plant and herbs so fragrant a myriad of lovely dragonflies decorate the leaves. It is a kind of magic, or alchemy, I think, that we can transform dirt and water and sunlight into edible delights.

Doing a garden organically is new to me.  In the past, at the first sign of insects I would get out the spray and have at 'em.  This presents new challenges to me but I can see they are not insurmountable.  Yes, we lost the collards to what I believe are cabbage loopers.  But I understand that I planted a little late in the season and I think next year we'll have better luck with this.  I haven't seen too many other pests: one nasty baby grasshopper (don't get me started on grasshoppers!) and a few other insects that don't seem to be feeding on the produce.  I also saw a ladybug, a known garden friend. 

This morning I replanted the globe basil into the herb bed.  I had put them in one of the vegetable beds and they were doing fine but the zucchini are going great guns in that bed so I didn't want the basil shaded by the giant leaves. And I do mean giant!  It's like I planted elephant-ear zucchini!  Next week the residents will be dining on zucchini and  maybe some yellow squash.  The cukes are just tiny babies right now, or still in flower but I predict fresh pickles by the end of June.