Thursday, June 28, 2012

No Green Thumb Required

It won't be long now!









Last year's garden was a dismal failure. Maybe it was because of the extreme heat. Or, perhaps, my heart just wasn't in it. Either way, the phrase "be fruitful and multiply" did not describe my gardening prowess last year. So this year I debated some time before deciding whether to try, try again. Ultimately, the part of me that can't abide failure decided that I would once again try to grow vegetables. Nothing fancy. Just a few tomato plants, a couple of hills of squash, and some pepper plants. A small, modest, manageable garden.

So what did I end up with? An unlucky thirteen tomato plants, six hills of zucchini, and way more pepper plants than I'll ever use.

Zucchini anyone?
Naturally, the weather turned Hades hot and dry as, well, dirt, and, as a result, I'm probably spending more watering the vegetables than I would if I purchased them on a nice, relaxed Saturday morning stroll at the Farmer's Market.

Which poses the question:  Why do I keep doing this to myself?

I know. I know. When these puppies start coming on and I've got fresh tomatoes for bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches and I pair them up with corn on the cob, and I've got zucchini to grill or make bread with,  it will all have been worth it.

I hope.

And while we're on the subject of the great out of doors, I thought this was kind of freaky. I'm a big walker. I take a pretty ambitious walk every day--sometimes twice a day. I'm fortunate that I live very near a facility that has huge, towering trees and nice wide sidewalks and is generally deserted in the early morning and the evenings. The morning following a storm complete with thunder and lightning and very loud, very close BOOMS!, I took my walk and noticed tons of shredded bark along one section. Being the clever, observant former cop type that I am, I discovered that one of the trees had been struck by lightning and apparently the force of the lightning sent long strips and chunks of the tree bark up to fifty feet from the tree. Here's the tree:




Okay. So maybe this isn't earth shattering stuff, but I still thought it was kind of cool.  But hey. I don't get out much.

Any gardeners out there? How does your garden grow? :) And anybody have any storm/lightning experiences to share?

Me? It's a hundred degrees here again today. I'm off to water my plants.

~Bullet Hole~

7 comments:

Terri Osburn said...

We've had two beautiful, spring-like days in a row then today and on it's back to triple digits. Isn't this a bit early for the century mark?!

I don't even keep plants in my house so no garden for me. I can't grow anything. Plus, I don't eat veggies. Though I do like tomatoes. Having my own fresh from the garden would be lovely.

Amazing slice through that tree. The one in my front yard was hit, either by lightening or just heavy wind, and I lost half of it last May. What's left is still holding in there.

Kathy Bacus said...

I'm a HUGE veggie fan, Terri, and I'm afraid the hot, dry weather is going to really do a number on them. Looked at the 7 day forecast and there's little relief in sight.

Sigh.

Erick said...

before you know it, all too soon WABAM! you'll have enough vegetables to live off a few weeks should there happen to be a zombie apocalypse...

Heather said...

Hi Kathy!

I hope that young tree won't suffer any significant damage from the lightning strike. My sister lost one of her small maples a few weeks ago when it was split in two by lightning. At least neither tree caught fire!

I would love a nice, rousing thunderstorm or an all-day soaker. 90's here again today, and it's been weeks since we had any significant rain. The last rain we did get was only .09" -- basically nothing. We're not quite at drought conditions yet, but close -- about 4 inches below normal. They have just issued a ban on open burning (burn barrels, camp fires, consumer fireowrks) for several counties in Southern Wis, but so far only a few communities have canceled or postponed July 4th fireworks.

Kathy Bacus said...

I hear you, Erick. Gotta plan for all contingencies.;) And just think of all that fresh salsa!

Kathy Bacus said...

I think we're officially classified as being in a drought situation here, Heather. When we had the mild, dry winter, I wondered if we would see a very hot, dry summer and that's exactly what has happened.

Last summer was hot and dry, too, but the spring was very wet so we went into the summer with more than adequate precipitation. It was sprinkling here a bit ago, but nothing significant on the radar.

Drat.

Queens County Tree Removal said...

Zucchini, upon zucchini, upon zucchini, with a little bit of zucchini. Hahaha, your post made me laugh and look at my own garden in a rather more, comical and fun way. I love my garden and caring for it, but I don't relax enough and look at its gracefulness. God bless, and good luck gardening!

-Carlos Hernandez
Tree Service Queens