Desert Laura

I have a thief in my garden. I came home the other day and ran outside to pick the biggest, reddest tomato growing so far in my garden. It was bigger than my fist and was hanging so nicely just that morning. I thought, " this tomato will be perfect to pick when I get home from work." So, I ran outside and it was gone...it disappeared. At first, I thought it just fell off the vine because it was so gigantic (it really was that big). But I looked down, around, on the side of the plant and nothing ! I looked on my lawn, in the pond, in the basket near the door...maybe it walked out of the garden all on it's own. Nope. Gone. Disappeared. MIA. Then, I turn on my dog. My dog who has been loyal to me for the past 12 years...I immediately blame her. I look her in the eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of the guilt that Nerina has when she's done something wrong and has been caught. Nope, no guilty look. I open her mouth, check her teeth, smell her breath. Again, n...

My first harvest...delicious! I am raking in the veggies this week! My first full week of a bountiful harvest! Just 2 months ago I was pulling endless weeds from my very neglected garden. After 2 years, I decided to take up the much-loved hobby of backyard gardening. I stopped gardening after I began seeing my last boyfriend. It seemed there was no room for 2 things in my life...so the garden had to go. Hmmm...I should have reconsidered my decision, since the garden space is still around and the boyfriend isn't. Instead, the garden became a nice space for all the neighborhood cats to hang out, for my dog to sniff around, and for the weeds to flourish. I got my garden shovel out, along with my gloves, manure, and compost and set out to re-create a space which I used to love to hang out in. After spending many hours pulling weeds taller than me, creating a watering system that conserves water (remember, I live in a darn desert), I planted little itty-bitty transplants of 5 h...