The Progeny
The Garden Report
Is there anything more satisfying than the sound of dripping rain on the morning after one was outside until 10pm, frantically putting mulch on the garden?
Not hardly!
Except, now I'm stuck in the house.
Yesterday was pretty great--despite an unwanted interlude--and I have the scars on my thumbs to prove it.
First off, I went out before breakfast and finished digging grass out of a path and pulled up the rest of radishes, which were flowering.
Radishes: not good, this year. Forgot about them for a while, but some went to flower without even developing the radish.
Eggplant: another less than stellar product. I started these from seeds, in early April, before I went out to visit Mom. They took more than three weeks to germinate and then apparently held a conversation amongst them selves: "Well guys? Whaddya think....should we live, or die?" "I've got it! Let's just grow REALLY slowly and drive her nuts!" I nurtured those pitiful little things. I tended them and wept great tears when they wilted and EVERYTHING (I may not have actually wept, but they don't need to KNOW that...). Finally the day of transplanting arrived. I even covered them up with little styrofoam cups, INTO WHICH I HAD PUNCHED AIR HOLES, to shield them from the burning sun. At this point I would be hard pressed to say whether they will survive. I am sorely tempted to take them into a greenhouse and point out what they are sup-POSED to look like.
Everything else is doing pretty goodish. And thanks to Mr. Lupkes mowing by the bins on Saturday, we have lots of lovely, thick mulch on most of the beds. I---is---so---happy :-D
I don't mean to brag--it being totally against my nature and everything--but I PERSONALLY raked up most of that grass, minus a little still left around the back of the bins. There are three blisters on my hands to attest to my hard work and raking skills (these blisters always come, despite the use of gloves).
Still left to plant is the summer squash. I'm waiting a bit to miss the bad beasties who love to eat upon their vulnerable stems. By planting late, I hope to totally interrupt the squash bug cycle, or at least confuse them quite a bit.
If my eggplants don't make it, I can always replace them with squash. And I might just tell them that, too.
Coming up after it rains, pictures of some of Ma's blooming wildflowers, rescued from the ditches of Iowa.
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Not hardly!
Except, now I'm stuck in the house.
Yesterday was pretty great--despite an unwanted interlude--and I have the scars on my thumbs to prove it.
First off, I went out before breakfast and finished digging grass out of a path and pulled up the rest of radishes, which were flowering.
Radishes: not good, this year. Forgot about them for a while, but some went to flower without even developing the radish.
Eggplant: another less than stellar product. I started these from seeds, in early April, before I went out to visit Mom. They took more than three weeks to germinate and then apparently held a conversation amongst them selves: "Well guys? Whaddya think....should we live, or die?" "I've got it! Let's just grow REALLY slowly and drive her nuts!" I nurtured those pitiful little things. I tended them and wept great tears when they wilted and EVERYTHING (I may not have actually wept, but they don't need to KNOW that...). Finally the day of transplanting arrived. I even covered them up with little styrofoam cups, INTO WHICH I HAD PUNCHED AIR HOLES, to shield them from the burning sun. At this point I would be hard pressed to say whether they will survive. I am sorely tempted to take them into a greenhouse and point out what they are sup-POSED to look like.
Everything else is doing pretty goodish. And thanks to Mr. Lupkes mowing by the bins on Saturday, we have lots of lovely, thick mulch on most of the beds. I---is---so---happy :-D
I don't mean to brag--it being totally against my nature and everything--but I PERSONALLY raked up most of that grass, minus a little still left around the back of the bins. There are three blisters on my hands to attest to my hard work and raking skills (these blisters always come, despite the use of gloves).
Still left to plant is the summer squash. I'm waiting a bit to miss the bad beasties who love to eat upon their vulnerable stems. By planting late, I hope to totally interrupt the squash bug cycle, or at least confuse them quite a bit.
If my eggplants don't make it, I can always replace them with squash. And I might just tell them that, too.
Coming up after it rains, pictures of some of Ma's blooming wildflowers, rescued from the ditches of Iowa.
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posted by Ma Hoyt | 8:35 AM
2 Comments:
I have a question for the great on-her-way-to-becoming-a-master-gardener...what do you do to repel ants in a garden? Ants ate our first pea plants right down to the ground (and last summer they ate a foot high pepper plant too). This morning I went out to find they decimated one of my geraniums (they left three leaves and one flower on it) and are back wreaking havoc in the garden again. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Ivan has put out ant poison but they just move over a little and avoid it.
Well Kim, you must have strange ants down there in Argentina!
Some people claim ants don't eat plants, but others have complained there are certain species that do.
From what I've looked up, sprinkling baby powder, cinnamon or some type of vinegar-water solution might be helpful.
I do know that baby powder has been effective in keeping rabbits away from some of our things, in the past. And the vinegar is supposed to mess up the ants' sense of smell.
You would probably have to respray or sprinkle after each rain, though, as the substances would be washed away.
I hope this helps, and I'm sorry I didn't see your comment, sooner!
I think I'll go out and sprinkle baby powder around the beets, right now...
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