BBH report 402
Blueberry Hill report 402
Another phase of the garden has been completed – the placing of straw for mulch. The straw in this case is wheat straw and was purchased in bales from our local feed and seed. As I may have mentioned, this is done to help keep down the weeds and maintain a more constant level of moisture.
In the case of the tomato plants, this is a bit more of a hassle than for the others. This is true because I place the round wire ‘baskets’ over the tomatoes – for support – at the same time the straw is placed. So far I have kept the space between the rows fairly weed and grass free – minor miracle – but around the plants had to be cleaned out by hand before the placing of the straw and baskets.
This involved much crawling around on hands and knees and the old back reminded me in no uncertain terms that it did not care for this strenuous adventure. In fact, it kept reminding me of its displeasure for the rest of the evening. It seems that I usually wait about two weeks too late to place the baskets and the plants have to be carefully ‘stuffed’ into them so as not to break a limb. The reason I know it was too late was that several did break off but they seemed to come through it OK.
Straw was then placed around the cucumbers and squash – these two are very heat and moisture sensitive and while this procedure does not work a miracle, it does tend to even out the plant shock a bit. Even with some of the scattered storms in our area of late, we have yet to get a good rain. This makes watering the garden a necessity if any produce is to be forthcoming.
This day was such a hot one that the squash and cucumber leaves were looking like limp rags on sticks. The tall sprinkler was hooked up and cranked up and the life giving liquid started being dispersed. In my mind I could almost hear the plants oohing and aahing as the water splashed on their drooping leaves.
The garden can be viewed out the kitchen window and I looked out to check on the sprinkler’s progress. It seemed to be covering everything except for the far corner, which will have to be hand watered. This is when I noticed something that I enjoyed very much because it both amused and amazed me.
In the semi-circle of the influence of the sprinkler, a mockingbird seemed to be having the time its life. It was flying back and forth in the sprinkling water and even jumping through the veggie leaves for the droplets on them to splash on its feathers as well. It reminded me of a child experiencing the joys of a sprinkler for the first time. Of course, if the bird is a first year hatchling, this may well have been the first sprinkler that he/she had ever seen or experienced.
This brought a smile to my face that I know must be like the one on the face of God when we His children have fun doing the right sort of things. ec
Another phase of the garden has been completed – the placing of straw for mulch. The straw in this case is wheat straw and was purchased in bales from our local feed and seed. As I may have mentioned, this is done to help keep down the weeds and maintain a more constant level of moisture.
In the case of the tomato plants, this is a bit more of a hassle than for the others. This is true because I place the round wire ‘baskets’ over the tomatoes – for support – at the same time the straw is placed. So far I have kept the space between the rows fairly weed and grass free – minor miracle – but around the plants had to be cleaned out by hand before the placing of the straw and baskets.
This involved much crawling around on hands and knees and the old back reminded me in no uncertain terms that it did not care for this strenuous adventure. In fact, it kept reminding me of its displeasure for the rest of the evening. It seems that I usually wait about two weeks too late to place the baskets and the plants have to be carefully ‘stuffed’ into them so as not to break a limb. The reason I know it was too late was that several did break off but they seemed to come through it OK.
Straw was then placed around the cucumbers and squash – these two are very heat and moisture sensitive and while this procedure does not work a miracle, it does tend to even out the plant shock a bit. Even with some of the scattered storms in our area of late, we have yet to get a good rain. This makes watering the garden a necessity if any produce is to be forthcoming.
This day was such a hot one that the squash and cucumber leaves were looking like limp rags on sticks. The tall sprinkler was hooked up and cranked up and the life giving liquid started being dispersed. In my mind I could almost hear the plants oohing and aahing as the water splashed on their drooping leaves.
The garden can be viewed out the kitchen window and I looked out to check on the sprinkler’s progress. It seemed to be covering everything except for the far corner, which will have to be hand watered. This is when I noticed something that I enjoyed very much because it both amused and amazed me.
In the semi-circle of the influence of the sprinkler, a mockingbird seemed to be having the time its life. It was flying back and forth in the sprinkling water and even jumping through the veggie leaves for the droplets on them to splash on its feathers as well. It reminded me of a child experiencing the joys of a sprinkler for the first time. Of course, if the bird is a first year hatchling, this may well have been the first sprinkler that he/she had ever seen or experienced.
This brought a smile to my face that I know must be like the one on the face of God when we His children have fun doing the right sort of things. ec
posted by mreddie | 11:26 AM
6 Comments:
you work so hard. I mowed my small lawns yesterday and moved two hostas and felt as though I deserved a hero cookie.
Let me state for the record that everyday is not like that - on some days it takes a crowbar to pry me out of the house. :) I may have rewarded myself with a large bowl of goopy ice cream or something - it was definitely something with calories. ec
Ice cream or no ice cream, it still sounds like a lot of work.
Thanks for your comment. I giggled the whole time I was reading the original email and wanted everyone to see it.
Hi Mr Eddie ~ Sounds like you got a lot of work done and deserved icecream. It is a good feeling to get the work done, you feel satisfied.
The mockingbird was a bonus.
Kids do say the darndest things !
Take care, Merle.
I've got the straw around my tomatoes and zuchinni, too, and in trenches around each growing berm. With our rain, the trenches pull the excess water out of the growing berm. I use the straw and grass clippings around things to camoflage them - we've got crows that will pull anything out of the dirt - especially sprouting beans.
granny - It was a lot of work but the ice cream did help. The energy level was very low when I came inside.
merle - All I've done to the garden since is to water it a couple of times. A chance of rain is predicted for the next couple of days, hopefully it will come to pass. Rain is always better for the veggies.
bonita - Each area has its own growing problems, ours is too little rain most of the time. I have never liked crows - mostly because they eat the eggs and young of other birds.
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