[gardeners] Sunday in the garden with Spartacus
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 20 Sep 1998 15:21:04 -0600
Senor Spartacus, also known as Sparty, finally caught a whiff of voles in
the garden today. Only a wagging tail showed between the tomato vines.
Since i was nearby, he got up his courage to wade through sweet potato
vines in quest of prey, never imagining there might be something there he
was afraid of. If there was, he didn't find it, but when he crossed the
deck to come in the house he gave a wide berth to something, with his
intact ears snapped forward (Sparty is a mixed breed, part Schnauzer and
part terrier of some kind, ears and tail intact, cojones not). I asked
Chuck if he could see what it was. "It's a large dragonfly," he answered.
Whew! For a minute there, I thought Sparty was a goner.
I don't think he caught a vole (just as he's not catching mice in the
house), but I've known they were there because of their random nibbles on
cucumbers. When he does catch them, two chews and swallow. Sometimes we
see the tail disappearing as if someone's slurping spaghetti. I think
they've taken some bites of tomatoes as well. Hornets are cruising through
the tomatoes in search of tomato worm larvae small enough to provision
their egg cells, but the supply is kaput, thanks to their predations. And
today I saw a dragonfly cruising through the tomatoes in quest of cruising
hornets. Will the circle be unbroken...and I heard, but haven't seen, the
first of the winter birds. It's a flicker.
Have been checking my chiles, especially those plants with red ones. Am I
growing hot chiles? You betcha. I've found some very large and very dead
grasshoppers who were so scorched they couldn't even take a flying leap for
earth. Just died where they et. Marcelle would be so proud. Guess I'll
walk through the room where the Denver Broncos (all rise) are playing and
see what's on Victory Garden. Might even watch This Old House without
That Old Man turning it on since the last two programs have actually been
interesting. Normally I loathe that program because of one of the hosts
(Steve). Have a wonderful rest of the weekend...Margaret, who actually got
her greenhouse cleaned this weekend.