Garden Mascot

Working in the yard today, and noticed this little guy.

Like the ladybug, the praying mantis is a sign of a balanced ecosystem.

I paused and gave thanks with him, then went and got my camera. :)

I tried front and backlit, but opted for the backlit 

because it made the day lily leaf so much more interesting. 

Plus I liked his wing detail and backlit body shape.

Mrs. Lady (Bug)

Close up view of my garden.  One of the great successes this season, my tomatillos, still going strong. (Tiny tomatillo forming in the upper right of the photo.) I was clearing out some of summer plants that are finished, making way for some quick fall planting while the weather is still warm, when I spotted this cute little bug.  Next year I will plant fennel because I learned that it really attracts ladybugs, which love to chomp on aphids. Plus, it's tasty, so a win-win. 

I See You!

Heading out to pick some tomatoes from my garden this morning, I was startled by this little toad trying to blend in on the arm of a patio chair.  He didn't think I could see him, I suppose, because he let me come in real close with my 10+macro filter.  I got about a dozen shots, but this one had the best focus on his eye.  (I love that his eye looks like a copper coin from some ancient civilization!) He never budged the entire time, except for that breathing flap under his chin.  Eventually he figured out I could see him, and he hopped into the tomato bush.  I'll pick the tomatoes later on this afternoon.

Linking to Weekend Reflections.

A Quiet Morning in the Garden

This time of year I just love starting the day in my garden.  The temperature gets into the low 60s overnight, so it's cool and shady, and I can take stock of what has grown the day before.  I'm looking at a very busy couple of days, so a quiet moment in the garden is something I can really appreciate!

Star of the Garden

How is it that my zucchini plant is growing a zucchini a day?  Each morning I go out to inspect the garden, and pick a zucchini, thinking I won't need to pick another for a few days.  And the next day, I do just the same thing!  And don't get me wrong, I love zucchini, but I've never had such an amazingly prolific plant.  (Is prolific the right word here?)  When you include the fact that we get a bag of zucchini in our weekly CSA box, it's all I can do to keep up.  Last year I went to a book talk by a local author, Spring Warren.  She wrote a book titled The Quarter Acre Farm: How I Kept the Patio, Lost the Lawn and Fed My Family for a Year.  I'm going to start employing one of her zucchini strategies this week: run some of my zucchinis through the food processor, and shape them into zucchini pucks on a cookie sheet.  Freeze the pucks and store them in the freezer for a quick addition to winter meals. 

July 21

So it seems that gardening and photography have converged for me this week, and I'm completely helpless to change this.  I'd much rather put up a variety of photos, and yet here I am with another garden photo today.  This photo has a lot of flaws for sure.  I was just so fascinated with the light glowing through those pumpkin blossoms.  I thought they looked like Japanese latterns.  By the way, these are male blossoms :)  Not that you'd guess it with the fancy up-does they're sporting.  The female flowers are fatter at the base, where the pumpkin will form.  Also the male flowers shoot up on long stems like these and the female flowers are at ground level.  Speaking of ground level, I'm practically there with this shot!  I had lots of trouble bumping into leaves.  They're about 16 inches in diameter! 

One other comment I'll make here:  Summer 2011 is the time I got comfortable shooting in manual, and I'm very happy with the effects I can achieve.  So now I'm almost always working in manual and spot-metering on my subject, then dialing my settings to get the best exposure.  I actually can't remember what the meter showed here, but I think probably it was slightly over-exposed. 

July 20

Back to the garden again today.   I spent some time photographing the tomatillo plant and watching bees come and go.  My favorite photos were the simpler ones with just the blossoms though. Usually back lit. I brought a chair out the the garden, and I have to admit I felt a little bit like Marlon Brando in the Godfather when he's in the garden with his grandson. Not the dying part. The watching the garden grow part. I'm learning that different bees pollinate different plants. And that they come in groups about every half hour. I'm learning the difference between pumpkin and squash blossoms, and between male and female blossoms. And my pumpkin plant that I was complaining about the other day now has two little pumpkins. More Bert than Ernie in shape.  Fun to see the changes each day.  Still working with my prime lens, and f/2.2.  Right now I think it captures the garden mood best.

July 18

View from my garden...I started out focusing on the little curl of vine, but decided it was a better picture if the water droplets were in focus. f/2.2  I think that was the wrong setting.  Maybe something around f/4 would have been better because I'd like that entire section of vine if focus.  Shifting my angle might have helped, but I think I used that angle because I wanted the blossoms in the background. Also could have underexposed this shot a bit more.  Now I object to the blownout section of flower just behind the curl...

I think the vine is my pumpkin plant, although it's a little crowded in this stretch, so butternut squash or bon bon squash are also possibilities.  No pumpkins yet.  Lots and lots of vines and blooms, but no pumpkins.  On the other hand, four large butternut squash so far.  I'm growing to love the plants that put their energy into producing fruit.  They take up less space and yet have much to offer.  And the pumpkins better get going if we're going to have something to carve at Halloween!  My Valenciano white pumpkin plant has three pumpkins growing, so at least we won't have to have a Jack-o-lantern butternut squash...although come to think of it, that would be interesting...