4 of 140

Write now Article Tools

Having grown up with a grandmother who depended on her garden for a great deal of her food, I had learned the basics at her knee. When to plant, water and weed were taught to me with my ABC's. So when I finally had a lovely little plot of ground behind my house that was clear and available, I decided to plant a small garden.

I grew up in Texas and was now living in Virgina, so I had to do some serious reading about planting times and what would grow in this climate. In the south everything will come up but many will die in the heat before they can mature. In fact many cool weather crops must be grown in the winter. But, armed with my newly acquired knowledge, I bravely planted seeds of my favorites and waited.

All went well and my lovely tomatoes, squash, onions, bell peppers and lettuce came up and grew happily. By the end of June I was harvesting all sorts of lovely veggies including my favorites, eggplant and zucchini.

I went out one warm day and was happily harvesting tomatoes, lettuce and peppers when I suddenly heard an angry buzzing around my head. I lazily brushed the annoying bee away and continued. But, then he came back and brought a few of his equally annoying friends. They buzzed me threateningly and I soon abandoned my picking and rushed into the house. The next morning I went out very early to pick some more veggies, but I had barely started when that bee and his hoard of supporters arrived and ran me from my garden again.

Now I was really getting aggravated. I went outside and puttered near the garden trying to figure out where the bees were coming from but could find no nest in or near the lushly growing veggie patch. I cautiously ventured toward the tomatoes. I hadn't even picked the first one before the defending army of bees arrived and ran me off again.

I tried earlier mornings and late evenings to no avail. I even slipped out of the front door and crept around the house silently, sneaking into the garden as quiet as a mouse but I hadn't even pulled my gardening gloves on before they showed up and ran me off. Those bees weren't about to let me near my garden. One bee even took up the lookout post on the top of the fence to watch for me. And, while he watched me, I watched my zucchini grow to the length of baseball bats and my lovely tomatoes were munched on by birds and squirrels.

I finally turned to an expert for help. The bee man came out and looked the situation over, then calmly announced that the defenders of my garden were not bees at all, but rather hornets which lived in the ground under my garden. They were probably asleep while I planted but had warmed up nicely by harvest time and were ready, willing and able to defend their home from the intruding giant who stomped around on top of them every day. He promised to rid me of the pests. I bid him godspeed and left, not asking how he planned to accomplish this feat. I have an aversion to killing things just because they are in the wrong place, but in this case they would have to move on to new digs or pay the consequences.

He was successful and I happily returned to my lovely little garden. I did have a few moments of alarm when a true bee would buzz by and my eyes would fly to the fence expecting to see the sentinel hornet sitting there ready to sound the alarm. But, they never returned. Maybe the bee man sent them all to heaven where they could joyfully guard the pearly gates from unwanted intruders for eternity.

Learn more about this author, Melba Dagan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about True gardening stories: How it all went terribly wrong (humor)?
We want to hear your view. Write now!