covert ops gardening

How does this happen? And also, how does it happen that neither Kevin nor I noticed this until today? Let me walk you through this. I’m standing at the edge of the cantaloupe/melon patch. Those are my ninja-stealth-shod-feet at the bottom of the picture.

The very light green and large leaves at the top of this picture are from the largest, mutant cantaloupe plant. I’m looking at the narrower, darker leaves, wondering what kind of weed it is – maybe jewel weed? And then I notice…

You’re kidding me.

A full-grown cherry tomato plant, IN the melon patch. WOW.

Oh no, now that I look at the picture I see a bad guy crawling up the stem. Should I go outside in the dark and smush him? Naw. I’ll check up on them tomorrow. I don’t know how this happened, exactly. I’m not complaining. That’s another handful of sweet deliciousness headed our way.

I had just come back from a foray to the culvert that goes under the private drive out by the ‘main’ road around here. There’s a sort of baffle construction thing, that’s intended to prevent beaver from moving upstream out of the pond.

Said baffle. All that mud? Normally that’s a pond, but it’s been a very dry summer, and not only is our brook dry, but this other little brook is dry as well. Where did all the minnows go, I wonder? Maybe they’re dead and rotting? Is anyone eating them? Are those paw prints in the mud?

I have a little booklet that helps ID tracks of eastern North America mammals. I’m thinking these are raccoon prints. Dunno.

It’s been hot and humid here lately, but fall is definitely in the air – different light, all crickets/no frogs/no birdsong, new smells. One of the maples along the driveway has thrown up its branches in despair and dropped a lot of brown leaves. So much for brilliant fall foliage.

Turtles have hatched. I found a dead baby, 1.25” diameter shell, crushed out on the busier part of the shared drive this morning. I think it was on its way to the pond. Never made it.

Some flowers have gone to seed entirely:

…such as this siberian iris.

 

The lone globe thistle has lost its brilliance as well…

Asters came late to the party, and many are still in full bloom.

Not this one, though.

Our neighbors were busy with a chainsaw most of the day, taking care of dead trees. Some, lining the banks of the brook that runs along the shared drive, have been dead for years. But they’ve been very much part of the scene – see all the woodpecker holes?

Thus concludes the evening’s post.