Our little corner of Eden

It's time for a garden update.

Ours is small, about 10 x 25', and fenced. Though the fence is there purely for groundhog discouragement, it also serves its purpose as a Pete Containment Apparatus. Once the plants are past catfoot-squashable stage, when I go to the garden, Pete goes, too.

You will never meet a happier cat than Pete when he's in the garden. It's Pete who stampedes to our back door every morning and campaigns piteously to be let outside, Pete whose favorite food is fresh grass. It's Pete who's fallen off our second-floor porch not once, not twice, but three times (last to the tune of a $350 vet bill, good kitty). Yes, he is an indoor cat with the soul of a wild beasty. His garden time is blissful and fleeting.

There are birds to be watched, and bugs to be eaten. Huge zucchini leaves to hide under, and dirt to roll in. While I weed, he thoughtfully snacks on the grass around the edge, keeping it mowed.

Yesterday, I gave myself over to hedonistic urges and thought like a cat. I laid in the grass. I listened to birds and happy shouting children. For a meditative ten minutes, I watched clouds. I saw a ladybug larva in the parsley, systematically eating one aphid after another as it moved up the stalk. It's summer. Why not laze about in the grass and watch bugs? In good weather, there's no better place to be than in the garden, with Pete.

Despite all the rain, the garden is right on track. We should have zucchini within a week or ten days, and green beans not too far beyond that. Our broccoli is sending off side shoots, our tomatoes are loaded with fat green orbs. Mostly, late June is a time of great anticipation for the bounty of high summer.

Bring it on.