Garden Science

It's one of those fantastically gorgeous fall days. It rained yesterday, so everything is nice and damp. We don't get those glowing fall colors that you see in fall calendar pictures, not here in the valley at least. But the trees are beautiful, half-changed, the muted rusts and reds and orangey-golds mingled with shades of green. Our neighbor's tree, the one across the street, has one golden fork and one green.

This afternoon the lovely ladies were away. I sent the fine young gents outside to take advantage of the last of this lovely perfect fall sunshine before the rain and gloom sets in for the winter. They zoomed around the deck on their scooters, silk-scarves-turned-capes waving behind them. Today their names are Speedy, Zipper and the Champ. I don't dare call them by name-- I'm corrected with an impatient "Moo-oom! I'm Speedy, remember?"

I started my fall garden cleanup, pulling the weeds and vines, harvesting the last of the decent tomatoes, and hunting down stray pumpkins. I found a couple teeny-tiny green pumpkins hiding in the tomatoes, and I'll be eating fried green tomatoes for dinner tonight. Yum!

The Champ was fascinated and repelled by his first up close encounter with an earthworm. He held it briefly, warily, then pronounced it "Uck!" But he watched as it squirmed itself back into the soil. Speedy and Zipper watched a spider eat some kind of tiny bug it caught. Speedy-- or was he calling himself Zipper? The oldest gent, anyway-- regaled us with the gruesome details of exactly how a garden spider devours its victims. A bit later Zipper (Speedy?) found a ladybug in the rosemary, probably a descendant of the ones we bought and released when we moved to our white-picket-fence home. He asked me if ladybugs can go in the rain, which led to a discussion about where ladybugs go in the winter (I suspect our bathroom walls harbor a fair number), and I promised him that in the winter when I see ladybugs sheltering themselves in our bathroom I'll show him.

I love the natural teaching opportunities offered in the garden. I'm amazed by the attention my active gents give to these everyday miracles, completely absorbed by sights I'd normally pass by or throw out without much more than a glance. It's such a joy to follow their curiosity about the world around them. We all examined the roots of the weeds I'd pulled, noted how different plants had different kinds of roots and seeds--Why do you think that might be? Oh, these gents are such sharp cookies. They must pay attention to some of the things I say, and they've got great ideas of their own. We looked at what happens to the plants in the garden as the cool nights start to take their toll. The guys who bounce their way around the house can sit still watching the busy ants for what seems like forever. I never thought I'd see a spider and say "Hey, guys! Come look!" Or that I'd stop in the middle of a task to sit with a child and just watch a worm dig, totally caught up in the moment myself.

I have dirt under my fingernails and my hands smell like rosemary. Those tomatoes are going to be mighty tasty. It's been a good day.