Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Gardening again (More Cheshirekitty)

I meant to blog on last Friday's Tree Planting at the campus, and I will soon (when I get a copy of myself and two of my students posing with our tree, ankle-deep in mud).

We've been busy doing more garden prep. Last weekend, we bordered the now-enlarged moon garden, and it's been re-rototilled, and waits for its white datura and moonflower and jasmine and woodland tobacco. The peas are popping up in the peas/tomato/eggplant/pepper/basil garden, and I saw the first of the radishes in the root garden. I'm hoping the new seedlings I just saw are rampion and not lamb's quarter, but that's hopeful thinking.

Last night, I was trying out a new gadget in the daylily/daffodil garden -- a dandelion zapper you mount on the end of a power drill. I don't know if it's any more effective to drill the leaves off than it is to try to pull the dandelion out, but it's infinitely more satisfying. I suspect I'll have to re-drill a few times before those dandelions are so demoralized as to quit growing.

I was visited by a hummingbird hawk moth as I drilled, and he hovered around my knees getting drunk on daffodil nectar. He was almost close enough to pet, although he didn't seem receptive to that. If I were my sister, I would have taken an award-winning picture of him, but I'm not a photographer. It was enough to watch him impersonate a hummingbird