We decided to give gardening on our shady, vermin infested lot another go (damn you deer, chipmunks, squirrels and moles). Throw in a drought and a labor force consisting of two three year olds and we are talking less than ideal gardening conditions...which may be why I loved these carrots so very much. Their love persevered despite the Fates trying to prevent their very existence. These are dirty, horny, hot orange carrots in love.
The carrots provided more than my perverted entertainment, however. They also hosted six black swallowtail caterpillars. We took four of them, with the carrots, of course, into the girls' classroom where they dutifully transformed into four chrysalis. Two weeks later we waited for them to emerge and there was nothing. Just four chrysalis. I've read one resource that says some blacktail caterpillars will stay in this state through the winter and emerge as butterflies in the spring. I suppose we shall just have to wait and see.
Other fruits of the garden included lots and lots of grape tomatoes, a bushy basil, oregano, parsley, and a few yellow squash. My favorites were the crops that I didn't actually plant this year. There was the lettuce that grew in last year's garden plot (we experimented with a new location this year) and the cantaloupe, gourd and half dozen tomatoes that sprouted up from our homemade (and apparently half-baked) compost.
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