[gardeners] Monday and Tuesday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:40:52 -0500
Yesterday afternoon we got everything planted but the hot chiles and a
little radish seed I want to plant. All looking good today. The
eggplant, tomatoes, and chiles are all about 24 inches tall except two
tomatoes, a grape type, that were about 30 inches tall. The tomatoes
were planted in trenches that took up half their height and the planted
part will develop good roots and add strength to the plant. All had a
tablespoon of epsom salts and about a quarter cup of 13-13-13 buried in
the planting hole and covered before the plant was put in. Tomorrow,
given half a chance, the chiles will go in and I will stake the tomatoes
and the eggplant for when the rains come.
Today we got up and left for Houston at 0800 for an 1130 appointment I
had for carotid imaging. The good news is the side that was operated on
in October is nice and clean and the left side is holding at about 30
percent blockage. Go back in another six months for another round of
image tests.
Got home about 1730 and we got both the front and backyards mowed.
Tomorrow we will weed whack the place and, hopefully, kill the winter
rye that grows six inches in a week. I also culled every other peach on
the FloraGlo in hopes the remainder will be larger and no limbs will
break. Depends more on how often the squirrels and grackles hit the
tree. I swear I'm going to prune that thing to about about 10 feet after
the leaves drop and get it down to a size I can put bird netting over.
The giant amaryllis are blooming, five blooms per bloom stalk, beautiful
deep red with blooms 5 or 6 inches across. The pink one is about ready
to open blooms and there is another out there that we aren't sure of the
color, it too is about ready to bloom.
The boysenberries are blooming copiously, good thing I didn't get around
to killing them last fall, we may finally get enough berries to make a
cobbler. The mayhaw trees are loaded with berries about the size of a
penny, just starting to turn orange. I hope they get bigger but am going
to finish cutting those two trees down this year. They have giant thorns
here and there so it takes time to cut them down a few limbs at a time.
I hope to replace them with a red passion flower vine or with another
mayhaw of a known variety. The passion flower may go on a trellis that I
have envisioned and will probably build. Was going to buy the passion
plant but friends with a large one of the variety I want have offered to
let me take a couple of cuttings so may go that route.
Today has been a pretty good day but Miz Anne and I are both tired of
all the driving and waiting around and are about ready to crash and
burn.
Life is good.
George