Re: [gardeners] Saved!
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 21 Jun 1998 07:53:33 -0600
At 08:08 PM 6/20/98 +0000, you wrote:
>In the Texas Hill Country, the fireant reigns supreme. With their
>voracious appetites and breeding habit they have all but eradicated
>fleas, Lyme ticks, roaches, scorpions, and pillbugs. They have also
>bitten all residents -- four and two legge -- increased the sales of
>repellants, and contributed to the "Hill Country Salute" (a discreet
>scratching when one hopes he/she is unobserved!). A common subject
>of conversation hereabouts is therefore, "Does the fireant represent
>a blessing or a curse?"
> We can now, personally, add our experience
>to the debate. The fireant has conquered the squash! This morning,
>when making a fearful inspection to see what had transpired
>during the night, we found nothing! A blessed, happy, nothing.
>The dreaded plants were gone -- tops, roots, all. The fireants had
>ringed them, eaten them, and moved on to other targets. Only their
>mounds -- empty now -- marked the site.
> To celebrate our deliverance, we drove to Boerne to the Peaceful
>Habitation, a rose emporium with 100 varieties of antique rose. We
>bought a rose to place -- in honor and memorial -- where the squash
>had been. Rejoice with us. We are saved. Pat
>
IMO you were robbed, Pat. Robbed of a lot of good food, probably the most
food per cost of seed on the planet. I grow two hills of zucchini every
year, and have been growing the Costata for about three years. Some hide
until they're thighs, but we usually get them sufficiently small they can
be sliced by a mandolin slicer. Then we freeze the slices, often with thin
slices of onion. Saute them in their own liquids until hot, and they're
gu-ud.
Some people I know started out with 11 hills and when asked if that wasn't
a lot, they answered, "No, Ray and I love zucchini. Besides, what if we
should have company?" "They" had yanked out all but three hills by the
time their company arrived, then began attacking ME just because Johnny's
Selected Seeds Catalog said these zucchs don't produce much. In sympathy,
Margaret