I’m working on it, I swear. What Uncle Sam never tells you is how all-encompassing growing things can be. When I’m not out in the garden, I’m thinking about it, cursing it, or dreaming about it. This is not necessarily a good thing.
But – things are starting to progress. Things are sprouting to the point where I feel like I’m not completely useless. The cold frame is done enough that it’s usable (though the windows are not actually attached to the frame at all, making hoisting the darn things a little difficult) and all the seedlings are outside. That is, all the surviving seedlings are outside. I’m not even going to dicsuss how many seedlings looked fantastic one day and dead the next. (Cilantro and romaine, I’m looking at you).
The peas are going INSANE. They’re already waist high and have completely overwhelmed the sad bamboo trellis that worked ok last year. And something has started munching them – though that only started about a week ago, so I consider myself lucky. I drafted my minions to help me wrestle some deer netting (aka nasty spiderweb craziness) and the peas are securely wrapped. Not sure how I’m gonna get to the peas, but that’s a thought for next week.
Now for the real goods: money. I caved and bought some seedlings at the Grow Pittsburgh seedling sale at the Frick greenhouse, mainly because I was unhappy with how my basil was growing and never got around to starting the dill. But! I was only sent two apple trees, not three, so not being charged for the third tree helped balance that out a little. I SWEAR I will buy no other plants or seeds. I promise.
Even better – harvesting has begun:
Yes, I know, it’s pathetic, but it’s only the beginning. In case you’re wondering, I’m weighing everything on our home food scale (that’s the best I can do), and then heading to the grocery store to see what the corresponding price is on the shelves that week. I’d compare it to our local farmer’s market but since that’s only for four hours one day a week and I’m usually doing a screaming trip to the store a half-hour before it closes, I figured this was more realistic.
Hey, it’s you husband’s FB friend Erik Johnson. Just wanted to point out to you that most critters which like to graze on backyard gardens are easily warded off using the strangest trick (although it completely makes sense, once you think about it.) Here is the trick in its brilliant simplicity.
Step 1) Invite over several adult males who like beer. Or wine, or liquor or whatever. They MUST be male. They MUST be adults. Otherwise it won’t work.
Step 2) Serve a few rounds of beer (or wine or liquor) to said adult males.
Step 3) Ask each of the said adult males to, rather than using the typical facilities, expel any urine he might feel inclined to dispose of into a receptacle such as a glass jar.
Step 4) Pour the receptacle of urine around your garden, forming an unbroken perimeter. Be careful to pour judiciously so you make it all the way around. If you have a very large garden, invite more men.
I’m serious as can be, this works tremendously, and you’ll find that asking your husband’s friends to pee in a cup is far more embarrassing for you than it is for them, and if it’s really embarrassing for you, make him do it! That’s all you need to do, obviously you need to repeat every couple weeks. And for what it’s worth, assuming your producers are all relatively healthy (e.g. free of typhoid) then the urine is completely sterile and safe, although you should use it immediately and not try to store it because it quickly breaks down into ammonia and that doesn’t work as well. The reason this works should be obvious, grazing animals are universally afraid of humans and adult male human urine positively REEKS of human. It won’t work using children’s or women’s urine, I guess the beasties are in on the patriarchy kick.
Best of luck in keeping the critters at bay! Lots of green thoughts for your garden!
Erik
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