Summertime blahs

Summer is not my favorite time in the garden. It's too hot to work for more than a few minutes at a time, and it's a constant battle to make sure everything is getting enough water. We have a fairly sophisticated drip/minisprayer system, but drip irrigation is never maintenance-free. Drips get plugged and don't put out adequate water, or a sprayer works loose from its stake and sprays in the wrong direction, so we're constantly repairing and trying to improve the system.

The corn is going to be a disappointment, I'm afraid. Some of the silks have already turned brown and are not filled out, so I would say our experiment with hand-pollination was unsuccessful. Most of the pole beans died as a result of an emitter-failure that went undetected for a couple of weeks, and the surviving ones have no beans. I think it may be too hot for the pollen to be active now. Although we have several squash plants, I can see only one squash growing, and a couple of smallish Japanese eggplants. Tomato plants still have fruit, although they probably won't set any more this summer- too hot for them. There are a handful of blackberries and blueberries left, and our June-fruiting peach tree has a half-dozen peaches.

Sometimes all you can do is keep on keeping on- five minutes at a time weeding, checking for those plants that need supplemental water, and wait for the weather to cool off!

Good Mulch

If you miss two weeks in the garden, you miss a lot, and that's how long I've been away from it. Larkspur, hollyhock, bachelor's button, sweet alyssum, black-eyed susans, yarrow, and Gloriosa daisies have faded and gone to seed, which the birds are enjoying. Surprisingly there are a few petunias and snapdragons still blooming. Without my daily walks through the garden to pull up the tall dandelion-like weeds, they have multiplied exponentially. Some things are wilted because of malfunctioning drip irrigation emitters-checking the moisture status of plants and giving supplemental water when needed is another daily responsibility. However, nectarines, blackberries, and tomatoes are ripening, pole beans have started to produce, and the apple tree is bowed over by an abundance of fruit. Squash, melon, and cucumber plants look anemic and spindly...the spring flowers grew faster than the spring vegetables, and probably shaded them too much. The corn plants are producing tassels, and soon we will see if our hand-pollination efforts produce any edible ears.

We spent the morning pulling up flowers that were past their prime, and removing weeds and grass from the raised beds. This involved separating the dead flowers from the weeds as their remains will make a good mulch that also contains the seeds of next year's flowers. The weeds and grass have to go into the trash as we don't want their seeds spread around. (Unfortunately, quite a few of the ones that sprouted in my absence have already done that) There were a few surprises that were hidden until we removed the taller plants- tiny zinnia and snapdragon plants that sprouted from last year's seeds. After a run to Home Depot, I planted a few six-packs of vinca and portulaca in the most barren raised bed, scattered more zinnia and cosmos seeds, and topped it all off with two bags of mulch.

As I was pulling up plants and separating them into usable and nonusable piles, I was reminded of the parable Jesus told of the wheat and the tares:

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

This story probably came to my mind as I was working today because two recent events that occurred in close proximity have caused me to think about "the end of the age", or at least human mortality. In practical terms for the individual, I think the two are synonymous. First, there was a great deal of publicity about the May 21 Rapture prediction by Harold Camping, which of course, did not happen. Second, my younger sister suddenly and unexpectedly died due to a complication from a medication she took that was supposed to prolong her life, not take it. As "no man knows the day or the hour" of Jesus's return, so also no one knows when his or her life may end. I hope and I pray that my life will be the kind of "good mulch" that enriches the soil and contains the seeds that will one day grow into next spring's beautiful flowers.