Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we cleaned out/up the garden and put in some new plants -- my first attempt at...GARDENING! The weather has been mostly sunny and warm since, and after watering on alternate mornings, things are starting to look pretty good already!
My planting choices were entirely practical -- stuff we would eat, not just look at. So we have green beans and corn!
Strawberries! (a few of which I suspect have already been eaten by "Masky," an interloping raccoon we've seen from time to time).
Tomatoes and peppers! Planted in hopes of, later in the summer, making some homemade salsa, plus perhaps some pasta sauce seasoned with thyme, marjoram, oregano and basil that we are also growing in the garden.
I'm sure a lot can go wrong between now and harvest time -- I fear if the corn comes up well I'll have to have Buddy and Pepe sleep in the garden at night to discourage Masky's nighttime visits. But so far so good!
16 comments:
I'm SO proud of you for planting your garden. I really love working in my yard and "getting my hands dirty." There's something very calming and universe-connecting about it, for me any way. I've tried to plant vegetables (I haven't had a decent tomato since Grandma Fern died) but I've never been able to get the right kind of soil in any place I've lived. I have some friends who can grow almost anything here, so I know that it's just me. I've accepted it (mostly) graciously. . .
[cough, cough]
Huh?
Yes, yes. Argotnaut is commenting on the fact that WE didn't do the planting...I hired a gardener and went with him to the plant nursery to pick out what we wanted, and then I had him do it. I don't do the crouch and squat thing very well, you see.
So, sorry. Didn't mean to suggest that I single-handedly put in a victory garden. I do like watering and weeding, though, now that the "heavy lifting" has been done. And it's enjoyable to keep track of how fast things are growing. It's quite amazing, actually.
Hah! Here I thought you had, like, INTEREST, in gardening. Well, about as much as Prince, I guess. Eating doesn't count!
But I DO have an interest in gardening. I just don't have the physical ability to do a lot of bending and stooping and crouching and what not. Of course, I'm sure Grandma Fern would respond "Andrew, you are a big, fucking pussy."
Or words to that effect.
You might try one of those sort of chairs they sell to old farts who like to garden. They're short (like 20"), so you can lean from a sitting position, instead of crouching. MUCH easier on the knees too.
Yeah, right, Grandma Fern used to say that all the time. No wait, that's Tony Soprano.
There's a difference?
"Elmer, Roy, Leo, Clifford and Irving got whacked. Whadyagonnado?"
Come on, Tavia. . .
Back to gardening (not the "planting" one sees in the Sopranos). . . the marigolds tell me that you're into organic gardening. Marigolds are a great natural insecticide.
Andy: that's Ray, not Roy. I'm probably one of the few of us siblings that remember Uncle Ray. He was very good to Grandma Fern and used to visit her in the summers. Who's Irving?
Obviously I'm misremembering the names of the uncles, all of whom I think kicked the bucket before I was old enough to remember any of them.
Yes, the gardener dude and I consulted about what I wanted to plant and he suggested the marigolds as a way to repel some pests. Now if only there was some plant that could repel raccoons. Sumbitch has wiped out our strawberries. I'd hate to ruin the aesthetic by putting a fence around the beds, which would probably be ineffective anyway. Perhaps a motion sensor attached to a high intensity strobe...
You'd be better off trying cayenne pepper, chili powder and some hot oil like mustard (not the "boiling oil" youre probably thinking of). Mix with water (or Vodka, it will mix better with oil) and a little dish soap to make it stick, and put it in a spray bottle. Spray around your plants.
Walter Elmer Lawrence Clifford Ray Leo, whatever your name is... Uncle Elmer is the only one I remember; unless I'm mistaken, he used to put together bicycles.
Cayenne pepper, hot mustard oil, vodka and dish soap? Sounds like it would glow in the dark like Homer Simpson's plutonium tomacco plants. But it would be worth a try and much cheaper than some sort of testosterone-induced strobe light/motion detector nightmare.
I wonder if it would be possible to get those little tiny bottles of vodka like they have on the airlines at the liquor store...
Why would you want a tiny bottle?. . .it's not like there's not a good use for leftovers. And, that motion detector thing won't work, whattaya gonna do once motion's detected? The raccoon will bust a gut laughing . . . Eureka! That's the answer!
Hey, have you tried the spray yet? Let me know how it works against your sophisticated West Coast pests.
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