May 18, 2019
I blew a bunch of tiny holes in the leaves of my spaghetti squash by tapping the head of the weed eater on the ground next of it. I've got to learn to be more careful. I've never thought about the discharge causing damage before, but now I'm going to have to think about it as I go. I have noticed that the garden looks a bit disheveled after I use the weed wacker because of all the shredded weeds covering everything, but in a few days, when the green grass pieces turn tan and fall off of the plants, the garden looks cleaner and neater than before. I don't have a problem with the patches of tall weeds that get missed because as soon as they begin to bug me i can just whack them down too..
I have found that having unmanicured areas allows the puppy places to dig as well as insects to forage. The grass gets covered in pollen and I find ladybugs climbing on it and feasting. i used to think they were looking for aphid and would catch them and release them on my broccoli, but I've since learned that pollen consumption is part of their life cycle..
May 19, 2019
I couldn't wait any longer to see if the artichokes would get bigger so I picked the four largest ones. They were about four inches in diameter and were enough for a serving for my wife and I. I also got to pick first broccoli even though the heads were a bit undersized. The small crowns are so tender you barely need to steam them, and only chew them for the taste. The plants started producing side shoots, called broccolini, before the main crown was harvested, which is part of the reason I picked them earIy. I always get more broccoli from the side shoots than from the main crown..
I also got another bag of spinach and a handful of asparagus spears. Two small heads of iceburg lettuce topped off my picking spree and I thought about how much produce we eat because of my gardening passion. You can't stand to see waste when you've tended to the plants throughout their lifetime, and they represent part of your lifetime. Consuming them concludes their lifecycle and contributes to yours. Us old people tend to listen to our heartbeats more so than when we were young..
May 20, 2019
If you haven't gotten your bush beans planted yet you made the right decision. Mine are getting over their yellow leaves that I think we're caused by the cold weather. They were the most cold intolerant plants in the garden this year. The tomatoes and zucchini kept growing but they had corrugated plastic mini greenhouses around them. The beans only had a sheet of clear plastic..
The corn continued to grow with only clear plastic on it so it's not as sensitive to cold as beans are. Peppers and eggplant have arrived from the salsa lady, confirming that Mother's Day plant sales are the start of summer veggie season. These overcast days are perfect for transplanting..
