06-08-2013 Tropical depression Andrea

I figured I better start by talking about TD Andrea since it had such an impact on the garden the last few hours. Its high winds and heavy rains did bring down some of my corn, a number of lilies and impacted my raspberry production from a handful to nothing. The fruit is way too soft to stand heavy rains without major damage.

Yet, as a gardener, I am very happy with the 3 1/2 inches of rain I received in the last 48 hours. No hand held hose watering can even come close to this kind of impact.

Just before the rain I ate my first cherry tomato. It had the perfect summer taste I did remember. It's a little early since tomatoes ripen around the beginning of July but I did not complain. And it was a week after my son David's first tomato. Living downtown keeps things a few degrees warmer!

The potato plants look really good; they like for things to be a little cooler and love a good, regular supply of fresh water.

But the real big news this week have been my first full size harvest of home grown bush beans. Nothing tastes like a freshly picked, freshly steamed home grown bean. This is a moment I look forward to every year and, then, I look forward to as many repeat harvest as they will give me.

But the real surprise, this week, happened this afternoon when I went out front to take some pictures for this blog. I opened the front door and totally startled an adult gray fox. I had never seen one in this neighborhood and sure did not expect one in mid afternoon  when my neighbor's driveway was full of well wishers.
It disappeared so fast I had no time to see where it went. A few minutes later, as I was observing my honey bees doing a sun dance, I also noticed some movement in the corner of my eye: little gray fox cubs that, apparently were living rent-free under my tool shed, a slightly raised, perfectly dry and well protected birthing nest. After getting a better camera and hiding myself behind a hanging fern, I got to see 6 little cubs coming out a t turns, rough housing in the sun giving a new meaning to the old children given nickname for my garden:"The Jungle."