I've been triking and radioing and watching "The Office" DVDs. All good activities.
But how about a quick garden update:
Some good news: The squash blossoms are gorgeous.
I harvested a beet (1.1 inches in diameter approx) and ate the greens, then forgot to eat the beet so it's composted. The worms in one bin are doing great, the other bin is mediocre but improving. Coffee grounds from work are the new mulch (and the old black). Onions in pots look great. Tomatoes are on most of the plants now. And there is at least one pepper (I think it's a Hungarian variety). Spinach is HUGE. Kale doing well. Red leaf and some other lettuce is still doing well. I have an echinacea or calendula about to bloom (didn't bother to check variety). The herbs are doing well for the most part and the 3 mints are all well rooted. Next year I may be over run with mint. I like the tea so that is fine.
Some neutral garden news: In trying to check which tomato variety is doing best at the moment I discovered that "permanent marker" is not permanent when on a popsicle stick out in the weather. It was faded past readability. And the popsicle stick has pretty well disintegrated.
And the not so good news: The kohlrabi leaves are so bug eaten they look like lace. I haven't checked the other parts. The onions in the garden are not getting big and the tops have fallen over! Bastards. Carrots continue to be lame. Even in buckets. The potatoes suffered in the hot wind that lasted 2 days and possibly from bugs. The buds for blooms come out and then mysteriously die or fall off. Only a few have managed to actually bloom. I've seen tiny grasshoppers all over the garden and suspect them of doing some damage. I spray with garlic water (water with garlic powder in it) every couple of days to try to get rid of them and it may be helping some. There are some bees around (I know because one drowned in a water bucket...I felt bad) so at least things have a shot at getting polinated. The squash has overwhelmed at least one pepper plant. I knew it would but what can you do. At least it's a nice big plant in the garden so I look successful.
In other news: Plummer is in the midst of its centennial celebration. The parade yesterday was a thing of wonder. Like "I wonder what the hell they were thinking." Very amusing even when I saw this girl almost get killed. She was riding on top of a combine (yes, that's right) and we were screaming at her to "watch out for the wires!" but she kept staring at us. Turning back just in time to duck before hitting either a phone or electrical wire running across the intersection. Could have been tragic had she been maimed, knocked off and maimed or electrocuted, knocked off and maimed.
2 comments:
Jill, I think you need to take your camera to anything, any event, that could be classified as "small town." Parades, carnivals, festivals, craft fairs. You need to take your camera, take lots of pictures, write zesty captions, and share them with us big-city folk (about 100,000). I am sorry the grasshoppers appear to have taken up shop in your garden. However, I always find a grasshopper really refreshing on a hot summer day. You are talking about the ice cream and creme de menth after-dinner drink, aren't you?
Now that parade sounds like my kinda event! I really am glad that she didn't get decapitated or anything, but the way you described it was good. Our next big local event is National Night Out. You know, the night when all the criminals know that every single house in town is empty because all the townfolk are at the rally against crime. I never go. They can take back the night, while I sit in neighborhood watch mode.
Have you ever had fried squash blossoms or fried sage? It's yummy!
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