[gardeners] Wednesday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 15 Mar 2000 12:19:50 -0600
Not me folks, it's misting rain outside and I've had a runny nose and
sore throat for a week now. Miz Anne is out planting the strawberry
plants that came in yesterday. She decided to plant them in the holes in
the cinder blocks that surround the main garden. Consequently she mixed
up horse manure, well-aged sawdust, compost, and some old potting soil I
got for two bits a bag at K-Mart and filled the holes with the mix. She
has 25 Oglalla and 25 Ozark variety, neither of which I am familiar
with. This is strictly for her as strawberries are the one berry I don't
like. Don't even like strawberry in anything. When I order a banana
split I ask them to substitute something else for the strawberries.
Anyway, she's been back and forth to my office a dozen times with a grin
on her face and muddy hands. Reckon she's happy enough, she's wearing an
old sixties clear plastic raincoat, has a plastic grocery bag on her
head and her plastic gardening clogs on. Typical old southern female
gardener only lacking the whacky straw hat (shades of Steel Magnolias).
She's still quite the beauty though even when tackyed down.
Noticed today that the dewberries are really blooming good this year.
Spotted two big beds on the back side of a client of mine's property.
Asked him if I could pick them when they got ripe and he said okay and
that he would tell the help not to mow them. I do love one of Miz Anne's
homemade dewberry cobblers with vanilla ice cream on it. And dewberry
jelly, yummm, and don't forget dewberry wine or fresh dewberries on your
breakfast cereal. Boy, I'm getting hungry now.
Here's one for those of you still in the throes of winter. We have
tomatoes and eggplant blooming. Nyaah, nyaah! The chile plants that
survived the winter are covered with blooms and small chiles, looks like
it may be a bumper year for hot sauce.
Before I forget, it started drizzling rain early yesterday and hasn't
stopped yet. It's glorious but it still won't be enough to save the rice
crop for this year. Better stock up on rice while you can because
Louisiana will plant 150,000 acres less this year than last year - no
water resources. Back here on the home front, I walked across the front
lawn earlier this morning and the ground wasn't even squishy. No water
is running off anywhere, it's all soaking in. Hope it continues for
another two or three days.
George, home with the sniffles