Saturday, July 13, 2013

Midsummer heat and squirrel thieves

I'm finding it really hard to work in the garden in the summer heat. The weeds are rampant, and that's partly because I couldn't prepare the soil properly late last year, and partly because I haven't been as vigilant as I should have been. The squash are, of course, completely entangled, and as there are some unique heirloom varieties in there, with confusing shapes, it's hard to guess which are summer and which are "exotic" winter squash.

The tomatoes have broken some of their stakes, but they don't care, they love to ramble. However the "Caribbean cucumber" is now dancing with at least one tomato plant, and the various, unlabelled peppers are going to be a challenge. Are they ok for salad, or need an asbestos suit?

(Who was the idiot who bought one sweet yellow banana pepper plant, and one hot yellow banana pepper plant, and "forgot" to label them?  Oooops.)

I have to do midnight weeding and deadheading. And this autumn, the vegetable garden will be treated to blanket compost mulch. Like two years ago. Like should-have-happened last November.

The turkey family came and played on the deck today, and had fun in the leaf-mulch under the oak tree.

All walnuts have disappeared, POOF!!!, like magic. One day the tree was laden. The next, barren, with just a few empty green husks on the ground. Like magic, the squirrels are absent too. I think they are laying in their dreys, on their backs, rubbing their poor swollen tummies, and promising not to do it again next year. "Never again!"

I'll believe that when I see it.

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