Welcome Visitors

     Some wild visitors to the garden are welcome.  Some are not.  After thirty years of gardening out back, the deer discovered us last year.  This year they have grazed most varieties of beans down to nothing, but for some strange reason don't seem to like the yellow wax beans.  Though also not my favorite, some beans are certainly better than no beans.  So the deer are a not, as are the voles that nip at the squash.  I even watched a vole climb a yellow wax bean plant to snip off a bean.  The voles don't seem to do well against rat traps baited with peanut butter, so that problem has been cut back.  But here are two new visitors to the garden that I do welcome.

Box turtle

Double click pictures to enlarge

      This box turtle came for a visit one day, maybe to get a drink from the water bowl.  Cindy got home from an errand maybe twenty minutes later, but when I tried to make introductions, Mr. Box was nowhere to be found.  And he hasn't been seen since.  Well at least the visit was documented on film.
      The next visitors are leopard frogs.  I keep the concrete mixing vat both to collect rain water and to give me a spot to easily soak potted plants.  A good soaking in the vat is much more effective than a watering can.  The soil in a pot shrinks as it dries, and then water just scoots down the inside of the pot.  A good soaking fully hydrates the soil.  But back to the vat -

Living on the edge

       You can see a leopard frog sitting on the edge of the vat, just left of the fish tank frame.  His buddy was a little more nervous and had just performed a froggy dive into the pool.  Our house is probably three hundred yards away from the creek, but that must be where they previously called home.   I suspect they live on mosquito larvae in their new digs, as I never see mozzies along with the frogs.  There is a third frog in one of the big clear plastic pretzel jars.  I need to liberate that one as I don't think he can get out.  These little guys are way too small to dream about frogs legs as a crop from the garden.  Just kiddin...