Friends

Bok choi and Tuscan ("dinosaur") kale in the hoop house

A rainy Sunday -- a good day for soaking the garden, working in the hoop house, and catching up on my blog.

The past two weeks have yielded large quantities of March-planted bok choi (a Chinese cabbage) and kale -- some crowed in the hoop house and some transplanted to more roomy quarters outside. I have 2 quarts of kim chee (Korean pickled cabbage) almost done fermenting and another two quarts started. We've acquired quite a taste for it, typically having a small serving along with our meals; we've missed it the past 2 months since finishing the last stored jar from the fall. Dinner typically also includes sizable servings of braised greens (a quick stir fry in some sesame oil, with some tamari added at the end), with left-overs for lunch the next day.

Harvested red kale from the hoop house

If I could only grow one kind of vegetable, it would be these members of the leafy green brassica family. They are reliable and prolific, require minimal fuss, can be harvested year-round, are easy to prepare, and delicious.

The other yields from the past two weeks are a collection of photos of garden friends. The diversity of life in our gardens continues to amaze us. The more "wild" -- that is, the more like a biologically diverse meadow or native woods -- our plantings become, the more life they support. It makes clear how much of a "desert" the typical lawn is. Here's some of what we've seen within 15 feet of our house in the past two weeks:

These gentle garden snakes are probably feasting on the numerous garden snails and slugs. Warm rock piles, like our small stone wall, make attractive nesting places

.

Harvester butterfly

According to my Pocket Naturalist Guide to New York State Butterflies and Moths, the Harvester is the only carnivorous North American butterfly, feeding primarily on aphids. We've been finding many in the hoop house, as well as the gardens. This one came to visit during my breakfast on the porch, landed on my finger, and then returned after I came back with the camera. It stayed for about 10 minutes. My friend Petula says that in her native Guyana they have a saying that butterfly visitors like this herald the arrival of money. Stay posted ...

A Monarch butterfly sipping nectar from (and pollinating)

the chive flowers.

Helpful pollinator: either a honey bee or a solitary bee;

I'm not sure which.

One of our infrequent sightings of one of pileated woodpeckers, on one of the pine trees at the edge of the woods, viewed from the living room window (early morning, early May).

Sleeping baby robin, under the eaves of the shed.

We've seen three robin's nests near the house -- one under the shed, one in the plum tree, and one in a dead pine tree at the edge of the woods. Apparently when the larger flock arrived early in March, they were so many remaining berries that a number of breeding pairs stayed. They are also voracious insect eaters, so we're happy to have them.

Of course, there are "pests" as well as friends. One of our apricot trees appears to have succumbed to a virus. I periodically pick asparagus beetles and their larvae off the leafy fronds. And the squash borer beetles and striped cucumber beetles arrived this week. I've procrastinated about putting floating row covers over the many squash, and now it's probably too late. I'll have to hope for the best -- along with a combination of hand-picking those beetles I see, a little help from my varied "friends" to keep pest populations in control, and (hopefully) healthy plants that can withstand some stress. When I find myself worrying, I try to remember that although yields may be reduced, we always harvest plenty of food.

While I don't consider deer to be garden friends, this fawn was outside the deer fencing. Richard came upon it while wandering in the woods at the end of May.

Fawn, snake, and Monarch butterfly photos by Richard Lansdowne.