In the garden

    I made my first post winter venture out into the garden today except that it won't officially be spring for a couple of weeks. Usually I don't get out into the garden until late in March or even April because the soil is usually to wet to work with. I am conscious of the weather shifting and changing. The lack of snow in the western mountains means we will lack water this summer even though we had near normal rain fall in the valley. Gardening will be challenging this year. 
    We have had a streak of dry weather with cold nights and warm days the last week. So, I was able to cut back last year's dead branches on my herbs, prop up the border fencing where it had been pushed down by rain drenched soil, and cut enough sprouts of broccoli and kale for dinner. I was dismayed to see aphids on some of the green sprouts. I can usually count on the over wintering spring greens to be without aphids. I look forward to the luxury of not having aphids to deal with like I do in the late summer and fall gardens. Evidently there was not enough really cold weather this year to inhibit the little critters. I have yet to learn how to manage aphids. I don't use pesticides and none of the organic or natural methods have have been proposed to me seem to work very well so far. 
    A friend of mine showed me how to capture fruit flies without hurting them. I often end up with fruit flies in my office at work and really they are too small to catch and release even if I could catch them as I do flies or bees.  At the bottom of  a jar or glass you place a piece of fruit with a drop or two of apple cider on it to increase the scent. Then you make a cone with a very small opening out of paper and put the pointed end down into the jar, but not touching the bottom of the jar. Then be sure that the large opening of the paper cone is up close against the rim of the jar. The fruit flies will then fly into the cone and down to the fruit but they will not fly back up the cone. I tried this and within a few hours I had many fruit flies feasting on the fruit. I took the whole thing very carefully outside and let them all go.  
   I was pretty happy that my fruit fly trap worked so splendidly. There were no more teeny flies buzzing around in my office, but I left the trap up one night too many. I had placed some left over bits of my lunch in the bottom of the jar before going home and when I came in the next morning I found the jar filled with ants who were busily taking the bits of food apart and carrying them back to their homes. Ants are very clever and they will crawl right up the cone and out. I watched them for a while and determined that they were not getting into anything else. I am always careful to cover any foods that might be around. So I left the ants alone to take the food I didn't need to wherever they were going. 

   On Tuesday there was a prayer on the World Peace Diet website (www.worldpeacediet.com) for all of the "nations of insects and other small creatures." It spoke of "all the tiny beings who live in the soil, the trees, the water, and the air, creating harmony and balance." It was really quite lovely and I shared it with several people. When I was out in the garden working I was very conscious of all the little beings moving around. I also remembered how dead the soil was when I first began gardening in earnest some years ago. The little beings bring life to the garden. They are an important part of life-- and there will be more of them in the garden to watch for this year; a mixed blessing!