A Frog Came A Courtin'

Yesterday, we decided it was time to get going in the garden.  Not that we haven't been doing things all along.  We finally (after a week) dug a hole and planted the new azalea, which was kind of an adventure, since the bees were working on it and we didn't want to get stung.  I pulled LOTS of weeds (and baby maple trees).

I've kept the veggie garden covered with a tarp in an effort to keep the weeds down.  It worked.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I've weighed down the tarp with rocks, flowerpots and pieces of slate (where they came from, I have no idea--they were under the deck).  So I'm tromping all over the tarp, picking things up, moving them around and finally I grab the tarp and yank it up and ZOWIE!!!!!!!!!! there's a tremendous TOAD under the thing.
I screamed and ran away.

But then I found some courage from somewhere and had to come back.  I pulled the tarp off and laid it on the ground but didn't see the toad.  Was I dreaming I'd seen it?

I called Hubby, and he came out and there it was -- camouflaged to fit into his environment.  It's warty back even mimicked the pebbly dirt.  He sat there for a LONG time, which was inconvenient, because I wanted to get in there and work the soil.  Frank gently poked him with a little stick, and he would not MOVE.  So I went and pulled weeds somewhere else for a while.  (I was NOT picking that bad boy up.)

Eventually he hopped under the deck, where he's free to live a happy life--just DON'T JUMP OUT AT ME, MR. TOAD.

I never realized that toads ate bugs and slugs. I  mean, bugs, maybe--but slugs?  Go Mr. Toad--eat hearty!

We pumped the pool off again after another heavy rain, but the polliwogs are still there.  They don't seem to be growing much, but they appear to be having a great time swimming on the little rivers of water in the creases of the pool cover.  They've got another two weeks and then they're history--one way or another.

I'll be planting my beans this weekend, and hope to make a visit to my favorite nursery to get plants.

So what have you been doing in your garden?