My Lovely Sage
I have cilantro, coriander, lavender, marjoram, oregano, and it looks like the chamomile is a no show, but I tried, so I'm counting it.
Other things that are struggling: beans (when the Square Foot Gardening guy says the birds will come and eat your seeds, so you need to cover them up, listen to him!), corn, leeks, carrots, radishes, artichokes, and some other stuff I forgot I planted, but which is also a no show. I have one tiny eggplant. Some of the corn is doing great, and is adorable. The cucumbers may make it. A few of the beans avoided the birds and are making a valiant effort. The rest of them are now safely caged up. Stupid birds.
The squashes (butternut, summer, and pumpkin) and melons (cantaloupe) are thriving, although I wish someone would explain why I have never been able to grow a zucchini. Isn't that the one thing even a person with a brown thumb regrets planting because it grows like a weed? Not for me. My zucchini plant isn't dead, but it looks very sad and unwilling, as usual. I expect I'll get one pathetic squash sometime in August. That's not all bad. I don't really like zucchini. I just try to grow it every year in order to prove myself.
The tomatoes will be lovely, I think, except for the one I stepped on. I'm training them to climb, and they excel at that. I just hope they will also excel at bearing fruit one of these days--that I haven't destroyed their focus on their real purpose.
The grapes may actually produce some sweet fruit this year, on account of we're trying the little-known secret grape growers' trick of giving them water. And then the birds will eat them all.
I have cilantro, coriander, lavender, marjoram, oregano, and it looks like the chamomile is a no show, but I tried, so I'm counting it.
Other things that are struggling: beans (when the Square Foot Gardening guy says the birds will come and eat your seeds, so you need to cover them up, listen to him!), corn, leeks, carrots, radishes, artichokes, and some other stuff I forgot I planted, but which is also a no show. I have one tiny eggplant. Some of the corn is doing great, and is adorable. The cucumbers may make it. A few of the beans avoided the birds and are making a valiant effort. The rest of them are now safely caged up. Stupid birds.
The squashes (butternut, summer, and pumpkin) and melons (cantaloupe) are thriving, although I wish someone would explain why I have never been able to grow a zucchini. Isn't that the one thing even a person with a brown thumb regrets planting because it grows like a weed? Not for me. My zucchini plant isn't dead, but it looks very sad and unwilling, as usual. I expect I'll get one pathetic squash sometime in August. That's not all bad. I don't really like zucchini. I just try to grow it every year in order to prove myself.
The tomatoes will be lovely, I think, except for the one I stepped on. I'm training them to climb, and they excel at that. I just hope they will also excel at bearing fruit one of these days--that I haven't destroyed their focus on their real purpose.
The grapes may actually produce some sweet fruit this year, on account of we're trying the little-known secret grape growers' trick of giving them water. And then the birds will eat them all.
The other thing the birds are doing that is really annoying is taking luxurious dirt baths in the garden. And when I go out to work, they fly up into the trees and shriek at me. They discovered that the soil there is really loose, rich, and rock free, and dirt is a great cooler-offer of birds, when they can't get water, I guess. So every morning I find these pits where they've been wallowing. So far I don't think they've killed much off, but it must stop. It's the principle of the thing. The question is, how do I get them to go elsewhere?
1. Birds, please stop. (Ineffective)
2. Install an actual birdbath? (Cost prohibitive)
3. Snakes? (We already have several. They don't seem to be doing the trick.)
4. Scarecrow? (I believe the birds mock these. And they're a lot of work. And I don't have any extra floppy hats.)
5. Dig them their own special dirt-bathing hole? (Something to consider, although I don't think they'd use it--they have principles too.)
I think I'm going to go with the hanging, fluttering-in-the-wind CD trick--they don't like the shiny glare and allegedly keep away. We'll see how that works.
And now, duty calls me to the weeds. I must away.
3 comments:
And then there was a time the goats got out and ate half our garden. Luckily it was early spring, so we were able to recover.
Then it happened 2 more times. The most recently was 2 days ago.
Needless to say, the goats are finding a new home.
I like the CD idea. And if there are any CDs or games your kids have that you don't like, you can casually use them... Do you want to borrow Little Miss's Miley Cyrus CD?
My mother-in-law is a Master Gardener and Church Service missionary gardener on Temple Square. (I'm giving her credentials so that you can feel confident it is good advice!) Her no-fail method is to cut wide strips of chicken wire and place them in a U-shape over the beds. She just sticks them down in the dirt in the edges of the bed and then they are easily removed for weeding and harvesting. This is also effective for the deer, which is a problem we struggle with here.
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