[gardeners] Wednesday at work and in the garden

George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Wed, 16 Aug 2000 19:54:48 -0500

It's so blasted hot around here that we either have to get in the garden very
early or very late. Today it was very late, good thing as I worked until 6 pm.
Had two hours in the office around noon and got caught up on some paperwork.

Back to the garden - harvested 6 more eggplant today, we have officially topped
the 100 eggplant mark for the year and the things are still blooming and
producing. Never saw the like of it before. The Louisiana Long Greens are now
outproducing the Ichibans. All of them are shorter when ready than they are when
the weather is cooler but they still taste good and haven't started making seeds
yet. The Burmese okra is still producing well, picked about a dozen pods today
off of about that many plants. We're getting about a dozen pods every other day
and that is more than sufficient for two people to eat what they want and freeze
the rest. The hot chiles are producing about a half-pint a day right now but
with the 1.25 inches of rain we got a couple of days ago I'm expecting the
output to go up. The sweet chiles (bells) are starting to bloom again, certainly
hope they bear better than they did in the spring. We only got one chile per
plant then.

The green beans and the crowder peas are blooming and doing well. Got leaf
hoppers again though so reckon I'll spray sometime this weekend. Miz Anne
spotted squash borer damage on one of the zukes today so we're back to fighting
those devils. Think I'll take my syringe and inject some Bt into the vine. May
not save it this year but should keep them from living to reproduce again.

My work has more than doubled so the gardening and dog belly rubbing time has
dropped considerably. I like the extra money but miss my afternoon naps with
Sleepy Dawg. One of the meds I take makes me sleepy but a 15-minute nap usually
does it. I napped today at a clients office, asked permission and then leaned
back in a chair in the empty conference room and dropped off for a quarter hour.
They were amazed I could sleep that short a period and then get up refreshed. I
was just grateful for the short nap. Wish I could get off the med that affects
me that way but it's the one that's doing such a good job on my blood pressure.
Oh well, asi es vida, "such is life." Speaking of which - Life is good.

George