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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Crazed Gardener

OK, I think that I may be approaching the crazed gardener phase.

Last night while in the shower, I was accompanied by a rather nice sized spider. Did I

a) Scream like a teenage girl?
b) Run for my life?
c) Unsuccessfully swat and stomp at the spider?
d) Call my boys in to come torture it?
e) Gently pick it up and relocate it into my garden?

LOL!!! You guessed it! All of the above went through my head in the order shown. But in the end, the gardener in me saw -- not a foe --- but an ally in what promises to be an epic battle with bugs this summer. I immediately had a vision of last summer when I was struck with horror at the sight of those tomato hornworms. What to do?! What to do?! Within days I saw a huge spider web and soon noticed that those hornworms were under control. Spider 1. Hornworms 0. So as I looked down at that spider in my shower, I thought to myself, I have the perfect place for you.

While capturing and relocating this spider, I couldn't help to think.....am I really doing this? This must be what it feels like to be a crazed gardener.

DH - well - I can't say he was surprised. He has seen flashes of this over the last few months. Don't throw that milk jug away, I can use that as a greenhouse; don't trash tissue rolls, I need those for seed pots; yes, I brought home a 4" deep aluminum pan from work - it's perfect for starting seeds in; this list goes on and on.

But I think this spider thing takes it to a whole new level.

I can't be the only one though. Admit it. Share your Crazed Gardener moments!

2 comments:

  1. The other night I was out trying to hang wind chimes in my garden to keep the deer away.

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  2. LOL! I do tend to leave the spiders alone in my garden, including this one....

    http://texifornia.blogspot.com/2011/09/green-spider.html

    This thing was over an inch long! When one made a nest in the weeds next to my garden, I thought...cool, garden spider. When one made a nest in my basil, I cut it out and threw it back over to the weeds. I had seen the other nest grow, which was about the size of a golf ball, and the baby spiders in it were NOT too small to bite (they were about as big as regular spiders). The idea of reaching into my basil to clip some off one day and encountering those overcame my inner gardener.

    But, I have moved not only ladybugs, but ladybug larve (in the pre-beetle stage they look like little alligater bugs and are not at all pretty) into my yard. And I really, seriously thought about offering the neighborhood kids a "ladybug ransom" for capturing any of these alive and bringing them to me. (I know...they do sell them, but our local nursery was sold out).

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