Tag: nature

Gardening Diary: Tomato Frog (Toad)

I’m so behind on my gardening updates. I’ve been shooting a lot of photos, but I just don’t have the time to update the blog!

But I wanted to mention another fascinating bit of nature. Back about a month ago, I was in my garden in the morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a teenie tiny frog (or is he a toad?) sitting atop of one of my cherry tomatoes. He was mid-plant, about 2-3 feet up.

I immediately rushed inside to get my camera, and snapped a bunch of photos of his cuteness.

Look, can you see him? He’s in the middle of the photo, on a tomato. He was so tiny!
tomato frog/toad on top of cherry tomato in my garden

Here is a close up. You can see his tiny fingers grasping onto the tomato stem. So freakin’ cute!
tomato frog/toad on top of cherry tomato in my garden

I love my garden! There’s always something new to discover. It’s sad that summer is fading, and so is my lovely garden.

Even though I’ve grown a few veggies in prior years, this was truly the first year that I was serious about gardening. The first year is always a bit special, but I hope I always feel the same appreciation and respect for what’s growing out there EVERY season. I know subsequent seasons probably won’t feel as “wondrous” as this year, and that makes me sad too.

Humbled By a Spider

This morning, after a marathon weeding and grass-clipping along the fence near our vegetable garden, I snipped off two branches of grape leaves, so I could perhaps try a new recipe. I left them for a few minutes inside in the workroom, and when I came back later to get them, I picked them up, and noticed a huge H-U-G-E spider moving on the leaf. I immediately screamed and dropped the branches on the floor!

Then I got up my nerve, picked up the branches, praying that I could get them outside without the spider dropping off in the workroom. I tossed the branch on the pile of weeds/grass in the wheel barrow and ran inside to grab my camera. No one would believe how icky and gross this spider was, I needed photos! I mean this spider was like 2-3 inches!

I took lots of photos, at every angle. (Note: If you have a fear of spiders, don’t read any further, as I’m including detailed photos that might be troubling to someone with arachnophobia.)

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