Feeding Fenzy.

4-16-12 VERMONT: After a run to Longacres Nursery to buy plastic bags filled with magic granules, I spent the day fertilizing, offering one type to the acid lovers and a different one for the other plants. Those that prefer an alkaline media got some limestone, and the blueberries got extra acidification. Add in a bit of weeding, pruning and trimming and it’s a full day. In fact, I ran out of fertilizer before I got to everyone.

At one point I saw three turtles, all painted turtles, soaking up the sun on this hot day. All the major pond species are present and accounted for—turtles, newts, fish, frogs, crayfish. The frog eggs are a feast for the fish and newts, and probably the crayfish.

New blooms: hepatica, blood root, dandelion.


A newt [lower case newt] breakfasting on the unborn young of a different amphibian species.

Two of the three turtles seen catching rays today.