12:48 PM [19 Jul 2007 | Thursday] |
Bugs ‘n Such |
I am pleased to report that the replanting efforts to the beet, carrot, chard and fennel plots proved successful. There are little babies coming up in most of the spots and where there aren't, well you can't have everything. Our tomatoes, bush beans are coming on strong followed closely by pole beans that needed parental direction, you know how these adolescent plants can go astray if you're not there to wrap them around their poles. I worry about the onion crop, I didn't do any weeding for a week and when I went in yesterday they were overrun with weeds and grass. When I pull out the big honking clots of grass I inadvertently yank out an onion or two, look around to see if anyone noticed and then stick it back in. I keep thinking the onions should be bigger by now, we planted so many of them, but they look a little puny. I could be experiencing gardener's anxiety or as the Pharmaceutical world calls it GA. GA is a midsummer condition, those afflicted show signs of distress, angst and some even get paralyzing vegetable envy (PVE), a sneaking suspicion their vegetables just aren't measuring up to last year's crop. This can be exacerbated by well meaning neighbors dropping by with bushels of their vegetables sighing, "It's the best year we've ever had, What oh what shall we do with these?" GA can cause a gardener to run and hide, leaving the poor garden to fend for itself. I have faith big Pharma will eventually come up with a chemical solution, but in the meantime, I suggest kicking yourself in the pants and start weeding! I also find picking potato beetles off your plants and dropping them into a cup of soapy water does wonders for me. You must find your own solution.
Which brings me to the bug/pest front. Our cucumbers have once again been destroyed by cucumber beetles, the wretched vandals. A pox on their house, which is sadly, my cucumber patch. I bought a pheromone and attached it to a sticky trap and caught every insect imaginable except for cucumber beetles. They smell the pheromone and then go back to destroying my crop. I even tried pasting one on there to lure it's compatriots, to no avail. Oh well. As I mentioned earlier, I'm controlling the potato beetles manually, a solitary pursuit as my wife for some reason can't bring herself to grab the disgusting larvae and drop them in the soapy cup. The Japanese beetles, the gift from the land of the rising sun that keeps giving, are here but I think I've got the situation under control. I put out Safer beetle traps in early June. They use a mixture of pheromone and sweet smells on a yellow background to lure them and then they drop into a plastic bag and well . . . DIE! Some say these traps actually lure the little varmints to your yard but that doesn't explain the multitudinous flocks of beetles in our yard for the past three years before I had the traps. I used the traps last year for the first time but I put them out too late in the season (late July) where they would fill up faster than a kid's bag on Halloween. (Non-US readers consult Wikipedia for an explanation of Halloween) This year I think I have the situation under control, the bags are slowly filling but not in the previous summer's nightmarish fashion. I still have to go out and plunk the occasional beetle into the soapy cup, but nothing like before. Time will tell if I toil in vain. |
Mood: relaxed
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11:04 AM [01 Jul 2007 | Sunday] |
Weeding, Mumbling, Mulching, Humming |
Now that everything is in the ground the Sisyphean task of weeding begins. This is something that cannot be left to the amateur. You have to be able to distinguish between a weed and the baby plants you're trying to protect. I'm weeding little tiny carrots, fennel, chard, and beets. I literally pull the weeds out one at a time keeping a close eye on those baby plants cause if you don't when you're done weeding there will be nothing left. Pull them out two, three at a time, which is tempting and you'll see little dead plants in your fingers, you'll desperately try to replant but to no avail. I save the weeds and dirt and place them in strategic dry spots on my lawn to encourage growth. It's very time consuming but necessary. Yesterday while I weeded the temperature was perfect, mid 60's, sunny, the birds were singing, with an intoxicating aroma of pre-blossoming milkweed in the air or is that the pheromone from the Japanese Beetle trap?
There is a downside to the weeding process, besides distinguishing what we planted from the weed freeloaders. Occasionally when I'm all alone doing a task I have a tendency to mumble, internally usually and if I've had a particularly rough week the mumbling might be of a negative nature. I replay scenes in my head of some misperceived wrong or maybe something I should have done or even more an alternative scenario I envision for a situation that will set things right. These scenarios can get complicated and ultimately pointless. Whenever I find myself indulging in these revenge dramas I apply the brakes. That's not what being in the garden is supposed to be about. I'm supposed to be relaxing.
In Joseph Ellis's great book about Thomas Jefferson, American Sphinx, a witness to Jefferson's personal behavior said whenever Jefferson (a noted gardener and emotional mumbler) was engaged in a solitary activity he always was humming or singing a song under his breath. Another group of noted workman, the Seven Dwarves, you know their names, encouraged whistling whilst they worked. I know the reason. I think the idea was help Grumpy and our third President through the rough spots. Whistling, humming really helps to keep those pointless scenarios and mumbled imprecations at bay. Full throated operatic arias can lead to pulling out the wrong plants and should be avoided. I suppose you could wear an ipod with your favorite songs but then you can't hear the birds. I leave that choice to you.
After weeding the plant beds I mulch with shredded bark. Completing that allows you to see where remaining weeds are and where you need to replant. Which is what I'm going to do right now. I'll fill in those empty spots with leftover seeds.
We finally have sugar snap peas, little baby zucchini and yellow squash, and while I was weeding the beets I saw them forming globes, so soon we will be stocking our menu with more food from the yard.
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Mood: accomplished
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