Garden helper

So here's a view of part of the raised beds - they're looking pretty lush right now, hunh? Right behind me is the bed that had cabbage, broccoli, kale, carrots, some chard and beans in it, and then behind it is the north-most bed - it has the peppers and leeks in it, as well as a green zebra tomato volunteer that STILL hasn't had any tomatoes ripen, and suddenly it's got The Blight. Dammit.

Directly in front of me is the strawberry/cucumber/gourd bed - the strawberries and cukes are long gone, and now the gourds are withering while the nasturtiums take over the bed.

And between the cuke/gourd bed and the in-ground bed you see in the distance is the only 3' wide raised bed (my first raised bed, which was an experiment). That has bok choy (bolted), beets (why bother - blech), chard (OMG), beans (yay!) and basil (YUM!). Oh, and it looks like there's something else in the bed....


Here, let's take a closer look...


Awwww...isn't he cute? Now Tucker didn't start voluntarily getting into this gap between the chard and beans, but once I showed him how nice it was in there, he has hopped back in there a couple times if I take him to the back part of the yard (meaning I need to pick beans and can't supervise him up on the deck at the same time).


And if you know cats - they can go from looking all peaceful to INSTANTLY focusing on something - so I figure he's out there helping me - I'll be picking and he can keep an eye out for bunnies and chipmunks (which I almost NEVER see).


Tucker's also decided this is a good spot for dodging the dog if they're both out with me... I also feel there's an added bonus - Tucker comes out smelling like basil sometimes! ;-) Maybe we should change his name to Pesto?




Tucker loves water while he's outside - I can totally hose him off. And if I'm minding my own business watering plants, I might find him sneaking up on the stream of water, ready to pounce on it. (For what it's worth, he's our only pet that loves water - the rest are terrified of it!) Anyhow - that's why he looks damp here. And what's he doing in these pictures?


He's getting WAY TOO FRISKY with my beach plums, which just got planted bareroot this year. (Give 'em a few years before they start fruiting, and then I can't wait to make jelly with them!) I kept telling him he better back off've the plants - if he broke them, he'd be in BIG trouble!! I think that just made him more friendly, because he was rubbing all over that poor little shrub.




Here he is on guard on one of the deck posts:


Just looking up at him like that can make ya feel dizzy.


And I'm sure he's working REALLY hard here, guarding the beds from mice, chipmunks, etc. You can see how focused he is, right?


Check out his front paw - he was so happy he kept scrunching the paw up, relaxing, scrunching again...


And here's Tucker checking out the pineapple sage, which I put in in the SPRING and they're only JUST NOW blooming! I plant these more for the hummingbirds (they like red trumpet-shaped blooms) than for any culinary purposes. Sure, the leaves smell great, but I can't think of anything I want to give a pineapple/herb-y scent to. I've got a pineapple sage in each of the two huge pots on the deck, and this one took a serious hit from one of those big summer storms we had - half of the plant broke off in the wind storm!


Anyhow, that's plenty of Tucker pics...as you can see, he's working really hard with all the garden chores... Keep up the good work Tucker!