[gardeners] Saturday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 15 May 1999 21:59:53 -0500
Went off to Home Depot this morning and picked up some more soaker hose.
They had 5/8" by 75 ft. joints on sale for 11.76, the local builder
supply was selling 1/2X50 ft joints for the same price. Picked up a
couple of 15 ft joints of hose too, one for the greenhouse and one for
the garden faucet, where it will connect perfectly to the soakers.
Back home we mowed and ran the weed eater then it was off to take a nap
during the hot part of the day. Miz Anne, Miss Sleepy, and myself, all
piled up on the floor snoozing for a couple of hours. Pretty nice way to
pass the hot part of the day.
About 5 pm we went back out and harvested thyme, basil, parsley, dill,
winter savory, and lots of oregano. It has all been washed, patted dry,
and then into the dehydrator for a few hours. Tomorrow I will harvest
some rosemary and the green beans need picking again.
Today I made a "healing" salve with petrolem jelly and calendula
blossoms. Melted the jelly in a double boiler, added the petals of the
blossoms, and let it steep for about an hour. Strained it and poured it
off into cosmetic jars I had ordered for the purpose. Has a nice
yellow-orange tint to it and a light coat is now on all my cuts and
scratches. The calendulas are still blooming like crazy so may make
another batch later this month or next.
The tomatoes are getting bigger on an almost daily basis as are the
cukes. It's time to plant another batch of radishes, I do like those
little rascals. The bell peppers are producing slowly and the paprikas
are producing prodigiously. The pimientos are just producing and the hot
chiles are finally blooming a little. Since we're now experiencing 90F
days on occasion everything will start producing a little quicker.
Tomorrow I will start the seeds for the Heatwave II tomatoes, they
consistently produce during the hottest part of the summer and are easy
to winter over in the greenhouse. They will get planted in 15 gallon
containers when they are ready to pot up and that will make them easier
to move into the greenhouse.
Here's a surprise - I have actually grown 6 or 8 rosemary plants from
seed! Everything I have read says they are very difficult to grow from
seed but since I had the seed, a Xmas present from my son's family, I
had to try. There weren't many seeds in the packet so suspect that a lot
didn't come up but we do have viable plants about 4 inches high now. I'm
tickled with the results anyway.
Time to go to bed now. Life is good.
George