This is the first summer since I lost my marriage 13 years ago that
I've recovered even the slightest interest in a garden. Last year I
half-heartedly put in three tomatoes which only sort of obliged.
Tomatoes really are not worth eating unless one grows them oneself.
Even the "organic" ones really don't have any idea of what a tomato
is.
And when I moved into this house I did get a little fired up about
flowering bushes - the house presented a 1.5 storey high cedar
shingled wall (18 feet) to the visitor - not even a window because
there is a stairway on the inside. Now the rhodi that was scheduled
to grow to 10 feet in front of that wall has indeed done it. And
right now it's extravagantly colorful, too.
But this year, for the first time, I have been collecting seaweed and
mulching things. And using the seaweed to kill the grass where some
fresh vegetables might actually thrive. 16 trash barrels of seaweed
during the last two weeks, unfortunately one at a time, a 6 mile
round trip to the beach at about 3 hours after dead low tide in hopes
of getting dry seaweed. Damp seaweed is really heavy and I have to
drag the barrel about 60 feet back to the car, most of that in soft
sand.
So I upped the tomato plant quotient to 6 and put in 6 basils to go
with the tomatoes and maybe make pesto. Last year's pesto wasn't too
bad but I had to take basil from friends to have enough.
Gas prices have really put a crimp in my shooting this spring, too,
and getting that show up and paying for the mats and frames really
shot the checking account as well. So I'm glad my irises and poppies
are finally blooming so I have something close at hand to shoot!
--
Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races
http://www.landsedgephoto.com
http://e-and-s.instaproofs.com/
