What is this?!

I checked on my garden the other day & saw

these little buggers hanging out in my beets:

Take a closer look:

What *is* that?!

Intruder!

My New Zealand house sit

Not bad, eh?

They were selling vegetable plants at the grocery store, so I got a few & planted them in pots on the side of the house.

Hamilton is a quiet town of about 200,000 people. You can hear birds chirping in the morning & everyone is super friendly. It's a nice change from the big city.

Weeds

I planted some red poppies last year from some seeds that my friend Michelle gave me. They came up tentatively then, so I was looking forward to seeing more of their red petals this year. But none came up. Then finally, on the other side of the driveway, a single poppy plant sprang up. I had one beautiful red poppy, then two, & more on the way. I was so happy to see them.

Then a couple of days ago I came home to find that the poppy plant was gone, torn from its roots by the neighbor's gardener.

The First Poppies of Spring

Choppin' Broc-o-laaaay!

I stopped by Baker Nursery yesterday after having coffee with the Cool Chix & bought some broccoli starts, as well as some strawberries. I planted four of the six broccoli plants, which I think will produce plenty of broccoli for me. I have two plants left over if anyone wants them.

This will be my third attempt at strawberries. The first time, I think I planted them in too much shade. The second time, it was in the spring time. I planted them in the sun, but they didn't last long enough through the heat of summer to produce any berries. This time, they're in the sun, & they should have plenty of time to grow & grow before the spring harvest. That is, unless they die in the cold. But they told me at Baker's that they'll do fine. Only time will tell.

Anyway, now I feel that my garden is complete. It's all over but the waiting.

Sprouts!

I've got sprouts!

Garden Party

Thanks to all my friends who helped me pull weeds & plant my winter vegetable garden! We worked all morning on Sunday to clean up the yard & get the garden area ready for planting.

We planted carrots (both orange & purple), snow peas, beets, a variety of lettuce-like plants, & parsley. I'll probably also put in some broccoli in the next week or so.

In a few months, I'll have lots of yummy salad for everyone to enjoy!