Black Gumbo

There are many things I like about gardening. When it is spring and the waiting begins for the crops to bear, there is little to do but watch, monitor the health of the plants, water, weed and feed. But with a tidy little garden growing, I was inspired to tidy up my old compost bin area. I had two of them there and another on the opposite side of the house, but have not been actively composting. I've allowed the two full compost bins on my 'working' side to slowly compost down to good stuff naturally apart from turning, mainly because we did not garden last year and I was lazy about it. But after pulling out all the weeds on the backside of the bin, the good stuff was there, a ton of it. I filled four large five gallon pots with rich compost before tearing out the old wire cage to put in the new one.

Composting has not always been an active activity for me, for I usually just let stuff rot and rarely turn it properly, but if I can get a good, green/brown balance going, Ill do what I'm supposed to do.

This year, around the front of the house, my little fig tree is finally getting up some gumption and growing. Its put on a host of leaves since being pushed nearly over by hurricane Ike. It lost a few branches (twigs, really) and all its leaves, but is really taking off after two years. Originally, I had planted two, one didn't make it and this one was just a little sapling at best. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy the fig tree's celebrated trait of fast growth. I love figs, can't wait until I can get some home grown ones!



Today I also went ot to harvest some radishes, thought a photo of these beauties was warranted. I ate a bunch of them while washing them, sort of like spicy candy!



Since planting, we've had far more visitors to our back yard. Of course, these little guys don't eat the fruit yet, and I am sure some of the feathered visitors will be my adversaries as soon as they see red tomatoes, but for now, they are welcomed guests. I had a Chickadee scolding me yesterday, a Cardinal building a nest, a pair of Mourning Doves came by, a flock of Grackles patrolled the yard for bugs, and then the blackbirds moved in to clean up the leftovers. A mockingbird chided them all for trespassing, and the ever present sparrows jockeyed for position on the best branches to keep the dogs in view. I love these common birds, and enjoy the uncommon visitors as well. Though most of the local songbirds birds don't eat anything I am growing, the blackbirds, sparrows, mockingbirds and grackles will eat tomatoes, or at least poke them to see what they are, thus putting a nice hole in every fruit before moving on. Frustrating. But for now, I welcome them.



I've tried bird netting in the past and it works pretty well, but its a hassle. I hope this year I have enough to go around.