I went up to see how the little pumpkin passed this stormy Barcelona night. She is perfectly happy. And a little fatter. You can see her in the pictures. There were also a few male flowers open, but no female ones, perhaps the plant is reserving its energy for its new progeny.

It always happens that I can't just look at what I went up for, so I visited the little strawberry runners I put in dirt over the weekend. They look lively and perky. I found a nice ripe strawberry too, but it was touching the wet earth, and had attracted a bunch of picnicking worms. Yuck. But I left them a little piece and ate the rest. I guess we have to share.

Worms must be the theme of the day as next I went to see how the new grape vines are growing, which I planted from pruned branches last year. I noticed they had a few caterpillars still (which according to a quick Google search are 'grape flea beetles'. I saw them for the first time this year maybe a month ago. When the leaves look lacy you know you have a problem. The nice thing about having a very small garden is that you really can get rid of pests manually without having to spray them with chemical pesticides (especially on plants that produce things you're going to eat). With caterpillars, that means looking on the back of each leaf to find the culprits. You might think it'll take you all day or that it's gross squishing them with your fingers, but first, I can tell you that it's fast, and you only need to do it a few days. If you catch them early, they don't get very far. And it's not like they're laying new eggs every day, it really is possible to get rid of them by hand. And you get let squeamish the more you do it. You can always use a leaf or squish them on the ground.

The grape flea caterpillars reminded me that I had seen that the rose bushes were suffering too. Well, bushes is a big word for these tiny little plants that I bought myself on Sant Jordi Day three years ago. Indeed caterpillars is a big word for the sawfly larva that are chomping on them, but they do the same handiwork on the leaves. If you can't find them, look for the frass (don't you love that there's a special word for caterpillar poop?) and then pass your finger under the leaves just above, and you'll find someone having breakfast. I also squish these with my fingers. It's the fastest way. 

I enjoy this time observing my plants close up, I start to develop a relationship with them, as strange as that sounds, and I see if they need anything. It's not a drag, or a hassle, it's a moment to watch the complexities of nature and think about my day.

Soon I'll tell you about the worms I don't squish: my composting worms. They are ravenous too, but at least work for it.

By the way, if you'd like to correct my Catalan, that'd be lovely. You can send me suggestions and corrections and I will learn and improve. If you want to share my garden or receive these posts in your mailbox, subscribe! And if you're wondering what I'm doing writing about urban gardens, let me tell you that without it, I couldn't do any of the other things I do. And it makes me happy sharing it with you.