Oh Yeah, This Is Techically a Gardening Blog

Things are finally happening! They may be smaller than my pinky finger, but we're actually getting some cucumbers. The raspberry bush has 6 or 7 berries ripening, which may not sound like a lot, but it's 6 or 7 more than we had last year. The peas are really sprouting right now, tomato plants are coming along nicely, and I got to use some of my own cilantro in a chicken tortilla pie last night (yum).

Perhaps my greatest sense of accomplishment comes from finally gaining the upper hand (or mollusk) over the slugs. The day after I installed the seaweed barrier, I found the stump of a squash flower encased in slime. That night, I went on stakeout. At around dusk, I found 5 slugs coming from all directions, heading toward a secret society meeting in the middle of my garden. Skulls: The Invertebrate Chapter. Only one of them was trying to amble over the seaweed; the rest seemingly emerged from camouflaged ninja hiding spots within the garden itself. I took great pleasure in hurling them into the prickle bushes, and haven't heard from them since. Not that I'm waiting for a postcard.

Not everything's coming up roses, though. The corn is stunted, the slugs seemed to really like the soya beans and it appears that carrots are just not meant to be for us this year. I'm not sure if a slug ran down the rows of carrots like a lawnmower, or if the birds have been sidling up to the buffet. Regardless, I am reluctant to sow them a third time and am considering allotting the real estate to one of my pumpkin plants. So, you win some and lose some. And in gardening, like life, I tend to learn more from the losses. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat my one strawberry before the deer beat me to it.