While I was waiting for the container to arrive today, I was doing various little tasks like cleaning up the house and any other small stuff that didn’t require that I be outside of hearing range of the front door. I went in the garden to check on the lettuce and see if more of it had disappeared. Yesterday about 8 of the 12 plants were still there and we couldn’t confirm whether something was eating the plants or they were just dying. Today, the answer was very clear. Slugs had devoured all but 1 plant (which is doing beautifully) and left their slimy trails all over the ground and even the cold frame.
Luckily I came armed with cheap beer and plastic cups so those little alcoholics are hopefully going to party like it’s 1999 tonight so we can eat some of our own lettuce in the near future. We still had 8 or so plants left over from the first planting so I stuck those in the ground as well. At least this way the one plant doing so well has slightly better odds of surviving. It will be interesting to see if we’ve caught any slugs starting their weekend early when we check everything before our walk with the dog 😉
And here you can also see my garlic which is doing quite nicely. We planted them a few weeks ago after a couple bulbs we had in the spice closet started to sprout. I moved them into the backyard yesterday because they’re getting big enough for the dog to notice and I don’t want her deciding she’s going to “harvest” them before we do.
I also finally got around to planting the catnip for the kitties. I buy them a plant every now and then from the pet store and before I manage to replant it, they die. Of course when I buy them, there is hardly any soil left in the pot so it’s no wonder they don’t last long…but it does make me wonder how they keep them alive in the store…or maybe they get new ones every day lol.
Unfortunately, while I was outside in the garden, I also seem to have been bitten by a spider. I actually saw a tiny little one crawling beside me while I was serving up beers for the slugs and my first instinct was to kill it but I figured, “I leave him alone, he leaves me alone.” Apparently that didn’t work so well…or maybe it was a friend of his…but when I came inside later, my calf muscle was sore and there was a small lump. After very close examination, I finally found the bite marks (they’re about an inch from the lump and painful area).
I actually had a spider bite in almost exactly the same place last summer and it took me forever to figure out what actually happened. It bruised so quickly and happened right after the dog collided with me (she was still in her puppy stage then) so I thought it might be from her. But apparently it was also a spider and after a few days of looking like I’d been beaten, the enormous bruise finally turned lovely shades of yellow and green and went away.
So far there is hardly any bruising or pain but it’s starting to be a bit more noticeable. I guess it’s good that it’s not summer yet so I don’t have to worry about people seeing me in shorts lol. It should be lovely by tomorrow…so maybe I’ll take a picture of it to share although I’m sure our parents are not going to be amused. 😉
