The weather has been plenty warm enough to plant the spring/summer gardens. Mark has been building several raised gardens to go along with our in-ground plots. These are being filled with mulch from the downed leaves (winter storm) and compost from our bins started last year. There will be no need to buy the chemical-laden stuff this year which makes me elated. So far, squash, potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes have been planted with hopes of digging rows for green beans coming this weekend. It is a lot of work but the rewards are great...fresh veggies without the high cost, getting a workout without a gym membership and lots of sunshine just to lift the spirits. I guess all of the elation comes from memories of growing up on a small farm and the happy times as a kid.
In one of the veggie plots there is a pear tree right smack in the middle. When it was planted, I had no idea that my gardens were going to expand to this area. The tree does not present a problem and actually provides a bit of cooling shade to some of the plants. As I was looking at the pear blossoms, I noticed a bump on one of the small limbs. Yep, there was a praying mantis egg case! Yay! I am excited! I am in hopes that every last one of the eggs in this case would hatch to be a healthy critter. That would mean that up to 200 praying mantids would roam the garden devouring all of the pests that intended to devour my plants! After admiring the case for a few moments, I started to work again.
On the west side of this same garden, there is a small persimmon tree that has seen better days. In fact, I do believe it has met its demise so I started to remove it. While examining the small tree for any life, I found yet another praying mantis egg case! Whoa! That could mean up to 400 mantids! My gardens would definitely benefit from this. Needless to say, the persimmon tree (even though quite dead) will stay put for the time being. That egg case is valuable if only to a gardener.
