In a pickle

This is my first garden, and there is a big learning curve. This week has been a lesson in quantities. It turns out, 24 cucumber plants can be frighteningly prolific. Here is the haul from one day. The previous day was just as many and there seem to be more cukes forming faster than I can pick. It's early in the season and one of the four types I planted hasn't even begun to set fruit yet. These that you see are (from left to right) Calypso pickling cucumbers, General Lee slicing cukes and de Bourbonne Cornichon picklers. The Lemon cucumbers, which are the size, shape and color of lemons, haven't started up yet. The cornichon pickles are supposed to be picked when pinky sized, but grow so fast they are generally larger. The big vines are so covered in flowers you can barely see the green for all the yellow.

What is wonderful is how many bees there are flying around the garden, it makes me feel a little less panicky about bees disappearing off the face of the earth.

SoCal

Going to San Diego and the Land of Avocado between SD and LA was like walking on the moon. Mountains that were giant piles of rocks. I didn't recognise any of the flora. There were things that looked like aliums but huge and spiky like yuccas. Trees that resembled sycamores. sort of. and just the general desert-ness of the place caused a shift inside my head that I still am unable to shake. And there were lizards. And My Guy wore a tuxedo. weird wild place.