Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tomato Plants


For some reason I woke at 3:30 this morning. It was noisy outside, stuff going on in the city and the birds calling. I laid here in bed and thought about the garden, and all the ripe tomatoes I've eaten, fresh from the garden; all the warm tomatoes I've eaten, sun heated, and I thought about myself as a child, standing there outside the hardware tore, you know, back when there were neighborhood hardware stores, with racks of plants on the sidewalk. I wanted a tomato plant and mother let me buy one. I was in gradschool, that was the beginning of my love of gardening.

My tomato plants are doing fairly well this year. Hopefully the deer won't eat them. I scattered coyote scat around the garden, which didn't do a heap of good, they still ate off the peas. And the small shaker of the stuff set me back 11 dollars. I think the hot pepper spray works better. Most of the gardeners are fencing their plots. It looks like a mishmash of net and wire and payer flags now, but it could work, or is, especially where the higheur fences are used. I think I might put fishing line around mine. It works, just three of for strands around corner poles. Can't hardly see it and they can't either, bump into it and move away. Okay then, have a happy day. Hope your garden is growing well.

Monday, June 15, 2009

ROmanesco Broccoli


I've grown this broccoli and it is so beautiful and tasty. I have a neighbor in the garden who has broccoli ready to eat already. The problem with organic gardens and broccoli is the worms that get between the spears. It's hard to see them to pick them off, since they really blend in. My sister made me a big pot of vegetable soup after my daughter was born. She threw everything in it from the garden and it was pretty tasty. However, there were some worms in it from the broccoli. I lost my appetite and you know how it is, that weird thing with repulsion when you're pregnant and in this case, it lasted after I was pregnant too.

Anyway, if you miss some of the worms, they turn pale green when cooked and the broccoli turns dark green. So they are easy to find.

The weather has been great around here for gardening. My peas are about a foot high. The deer have been through, I've seen the muched pea tops. I bought some coyotee scat sprinkles and hope that will do the trick. They guy at the garden pet store said it would.

Today it is a little cloudy and they said it has almost been 30 days since it rainded. That's hard to believe, but I haven't been keeping track. I water my garden every three days or so. The roots grow deeper with fewer waterings and mulch helps keep the soil moist.

Have fun in the garden and believe in the lushness and goodness of life.
Flower