Remember that garden I planted a couple of weeks ago? Well, nothing's grown yet. I know it hasn't been that long, but I'm worried that our recent cold snap has screwed up the garden's potential.
I'd really hate for this first garden outing to be a bust. Especially since I was getting used to doing things outside in the yard. Yes, that sounds odd. But when you despise hot weather, insects and reptiles it's not difficult to be afraid of a snake and wolf spider infested yard (Why did I have to look that up? Now I'm all creeped out and itchy). It took about a year for me to realize that wandering through our yard could bring some rather unexpected results.
Also? It would be awesome if the garden could produce veggies because Mother Nature has decided to be a complete bitch. On Saturday? I found a tick dug deep into my left side.
I know! When I first saw it that morning I thought it was a skin tag. It was basically the color of my skin, and who among us has not discovered a scar/mole/pimple/stretch mark that wasn't there the day before? Later I was looking at it and kind of flicking it around when I noticed...the legs. Sweet Lord Almighty!
The resulting hour was filled with me asking HUBS to confirm the tickness, having him pull it out with tweezers, watching him set it on fire and then me taking a shower and washing all the clothes I'd worn that week while crying and trying not to have a full blown panic attack as I contemplated Lyme disease. Does that sound extreme? Sorry, I didn't grow up in a Yellowstone National Forest. I'm a city girl who has never been feasted on by a tick and never thought such a country-life type of thing would happen to me. I was in shock, OK?
So, really, garden. I'm going through a lot for you, including being turned into food. You'd better damn well grow and grow good. Hear me?
6 comments:
I am coming from LinkedIn group. I will also be horrified, if I find a tick on my body. Sometimes I dream about country life. i am scared of spiders and snakes. So you are not alone. What else can be there in your yard?
Hope, you will have few pictures of the garden next week.
I am Bindhurani in Linkedin
Luckily our particular brand of yard spider and snake are not poisonous, so there's something!
What else could be in our yard? Considering the track record there's probably a Sasquatch hiding out there.
I love it. I am a gardener. My advise to you is patience, patience and more patience. Mother Nature has her own timetable which means she pays very little attention to ours. Good luck with your garden and enjoy the journey, bugs, snakes ticks and all ... LOL.
:-), Susan Cooper
Last summer I decided to grow tomatoes. You just can't buy a decent tomato any more. They look lovely in the store (all red and nice from having been gassed) but they are hard as baseballs and have no flavor.
So I bought some tomato plants (2.50 each) and tried to grow them in pots ($15 each) on my lanai. (We have no "soil" in Hawaii - just lava.) (Miracle Grow potting soil ($7.99) They grew large and spindly and I staked them and then bought those wire "cage" devices ($2.50 each). They looked pretty pathetic. So I bought special tomato fertilizer ($7,99). I couldn't see any difference. In the end, I got little hard green tomatoes that never ripened property. Bad experiment.
You would have thought that would have cured me. But no..... I saw a TV ad for the Topsy Turvy hanging tomato planter. I bought two at $12.95 each. More Miracle Grow potting soil, $7.99. Had to bore holes in the lanai eaves to hang them. I was careful about how I planted them and within a few weeks they were beautiful. Then they got the fungus. I bought stuff to spray on them. $8.95
Then came the dark spots. I researched the internet and discovered that they were lacking some nutrient (I can't remember which one). $10.50 and you have to spray it carefully because they absorb this stuff through their leaves. Evidently I didn't spray carefully enough. They all died.
Did I quit? Are you kidding? I bought a couple of other tomato plants (different species this time) and replanted. Eventually, I did get about 6 tomatoes the size of a golf ball (maybe smaller). Total investment, about $85. Cost per tomato: a little over $14 each.
Would anybody like a couple of free Topsy Turvys?
Good luck with your garden!
Kay in Hawaii
Oh my god I would panic too!! I'm glad your Hubs was there to help out!
I don't have any experience but I have heard a garden takes quite a while to produce... I am no good with patience either but that's all I can recommend!
hope you're having a good weekend!
Kay: man, you put a lot of time and money into those tomatoes! I hope mine aren't as stubborn! Thanks for visiting :)
Sugar: Since I've done the planting, patience is all that's left since waiting is the only other thing I can do. Well, that and pull weeds, keep bugs out, keep small animals out, pull weeds again...Yeah, this is going to be loads of work!
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