Yesterday was yet another garden day. I finally moved some of our “crops” to their final plots in our little garden area. I had originally planted some red corn there and thought that the birds had eaten all of our seed. I was surprised to find quite a few sprouts actually scattered about so I moved them all to one end making four rows of about 30 plants. The boys and I weeded the bed and then planted the beans and peas that I had already started in containers. We had so many peas that I also placed some of them beside the house as there was no room left in our small, side plot. I had not realized that peas do best when planted early (in cooler weather) so we’ll see how the ones by the house do compared to the plants that are more out in the open. We also have a few carrots, some potatoes and even some renegade pumpkin plants from seeds that survived composting and sprouted. I moved the pumpkins to a place where they can have a lot of room and will only keep the best looking vine after another week or two.
While preparing the side plot and moving the corn I discovered a 6-7 inch stinkhorn (I’ve also heard of them being called “stinking phallus,” I’ll let you figure out why). This is a yucky, stinky, slimy fungus that grows on buried, dead wood. It is not poisonous however and poses no threat the plants or people. It just really stinks!
Later when I was digging a hole in which to transplant the pumpkins I dug up the larval cicada seen below. Of course I rushed to show it to Eric who, surprisingly, was less impressed than I thought he would be. Cicada larva live underground, sucking the juices from tree and plant roots until they mature and tunnel to the surface to litter and make lots of noise.
That’s all the updates for now. On one of the next sunny days I’ll take some pictures of our plants to share.
