A WEED GROWS IN QUEENS
Just a short update on the progress from the Backyard Garden recently voted, "The World's Third-Most Favorite," trailing only the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, and the Gardens of Versailles just outside of the French capital. I've attached another photo -- the East Pasture this time; note the sculpture donated by appreciative gardening fans -- for your viewing pleasure.Those of you who've followed all the heart-thumping gardening excitement since I started discussing it in April, you know of my wife's Battle Royale against the aphids, played out mostly among the stems and branches of our leafy green edibles: green lettuce, arugula, bok choy & this year's pride, the red lettuce. As noted here, she won the battle after weeks of rather insane diligence and effort.
And for her troubles, I got to eat really delicious vegetables for a couple months. But now, the cycle of life continues.
Lettuce plants, it seems, survive only for a few months, eventually passing on to the Happy Sunning Grounds as the dog days of summer arrive. And, indeed, that's what's happening. The red luttuce have grown quite tall the past few weeks, actually doubling their height, as bushy leaves have given way to tall, thick stems. And, in the apparent coup de grace that Mother Nature delivers, the tallest have began to flower. According to the Aphinator's research, that means the last harvest is upon us.
Nonetheless, our late-planted tomatoes are progressing nicely, and the two pepper plants are yielding a lot of big, tasty fruit. So as one backyard varietal passes on, two others step in to take its place.
Corny? Yup. But only because it's as rewarding as I'm making it sound.
posted by Mike at 8:35 AM
2 Comments:
I keep thinking that one of these years I'm going to give gardening a go. Nothing too big and ambitious; just a few veggies for the table.
Then too many other things make demands on my time and attention. And beneath it all, I don't think agricultural pursuits will ever be a high priority.
But I salute you, your spouse and all who make a success of it. As Martha Stewart says, "it's a good thing."
S.W., you should give it a go. The basics are simple and the rest is just tweaking:
1) Choose a sunny patch of your yard.
2) Dig up the grass in a 2 or 3 foot square or circle.
3) Dump a couple of bags of compost on it and mix it with a shovel or pitchfork.
4)Make some little mounds and put seeds in (zucchini, pumpkins, peppers are good starts) in the spring or transplants later in the summer (ask at a nursery and they'll tell you what will still grow).
5)Water every 3 or 4 days, whenever the first inch of soil dries out. You can tell by sticking your finger into the soil, which is surprisingly like being a kid again.
6) Eat the suckers.
My less-engaging-than-Mike's take on gardening is here and if I can do it, anyone can.
- Dan
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