[gardeners] weather
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 18 Jul 1998 07:11:49 -0600
Well, thank God our heat wave is over. We're only supposed to reach 99
today. We had too much rain in the spring, so I don't envy George's or
Myra's rain, but the Deity removed our parasol yesterday. 108. Set a new
temp record, for sure. Highest temp for that date previously was 102.
We stayed in the house (air conditioned) with shades all closed. The
pup-ola went outside a time or two, stood on the deck bewildered, then came
back inside. Now I've got to go out and turn on the water for the garden
again. I'll bet my watering bill will top $125 this month. I picked a
zillion squash bug eggs off two squash plants at the west end of the
garden. Squash at the east end was untouched. I'm soaking a wild gourd
from New Mexico, and will see if spraying the squash plants with the water
will repel squash bugs. These gourds are supposed to be world-class
bitter. A Cochiti elder told the authors of "Wild Plants of the Pueblo
Province" he used to sprinkle gourd soaking water on squash plants to deter
squash bugs. It's Cucurbita foetidissima, BTW. I'll let you know if it
works. I certainly hope it works. One of the squashes hit by the egg
layers was an heirloom squash, seeds sent to me from western Oregon.
Margaret