Carrots Are Special

Today I weeded the vegetable garden.  I picked the peas and fertilized the plants.  What a chore!  In the hot weather my face was beet red by the time I finished.  Most of the work I can do with a hoe.  Most of what I dug up today was that grass that grows stickers.  So many sticker plants.  With their long white roots they make a tearing sound when you pull them up that can be very satisfying.  With my chickens by my side I hoed and pulled weeds for a couple of hours.  It's easy to hoe around the potatoes.  I hope the blue potatoes are doing as well below ground as they are above ground because the plants are almost up to my waist.  Some have purple flowers and others have already formed little green balls.  It's easy to hoe around almost all the plants except for carrots.  Carrots demand special treatment. Because they come up so late and are so delicate. I have to get down on all fours to weed the carrots.  I had two sunflowers that survived the deer and were now almost 3 feet tall.  A deer came by last night and ate off all the leaves but did not chew off the very top of the plant so maybe I have a chance of them living  Gardening - it may be hot and it may be dirty and it may be hard work but it's relaxing too.  To celebrate the end of a big job I sat outside with a tall glass of cold water, a dragonfly identification guide, and my net.  Ruby meadowhawks were common in my yard today.  I'm pretty sure they were ruby meadowhawks.  I went through the book five times.  By the time I let my specimen go it had to rest on the sidewalk for a few minutes.  I think I might have pinched it's wings too hard.