Tuesday cleanup. Tomatoes. Lavender, pyrethrum, stevia. Cucumbers.

We had a sudden storm blow through last evening--high winds and very hard rain.  Normally my little patio is well protected but the wind swirled around blowing plants every which way.  All I can see that needs fixing, so far, is the big Amish paste tomato listing into the tansy.  Later I will pull it back into its proper position and tied up.  I got a bit more trimming on tomatoes.  We decided not to go to the farm market today.  All we need are tomatoes and ours are coming in now.  I get a handful of cherry tomatoes each day and several of the slicers are ripening.  I finally transplanted the lavender yesterday.  they will spend the winter inside.  I also cleaned up patches of bee balm and stevia.  I put them in a bad place shaded on one side by purple cayenne and on the other by the hibiscus before I moved it.  Both were weak and straggly.  On a whim I cut the stevia back and put it in a pot to see how it would do.  But he bee balm wasn't worth transplanting.  I have another, healthier stand elsewhere.  I put the pyrethrum in the spot they had been.

I put in crystal apple cucumbers this year after growing the dragon's egg variety for the last couple of years.  I saw several developing and a couple ready to pick.  I put them up as a spicy-sweet freezer pickle.  Until just a little while ago I thought I wouldn't get anything out of them.  Now I am cautiously hopeful.

Another good reason not to deal with the big banks.  How much and how often can these guys screw their customers?

Monday, Monday!! Herbs and tomatoes.

Sunny for the moment.  We may get some showers later--possibly a thunderstorm.  I have the a dehydrator full of rosemary, stevia and grapefruit mint to grind a bit later.  I found a ripe slicing tomato that went on our roast beef sandwiches yesterday and four or five more just turning pink.  I trimmed a lot of leaves and non-producing branches off a one stand of tomatoes yesterday--the Supersauce.  Looks like a nice lot there that should be ripening soon.  We'll have a nice bit of stewed tomatoes in the freezer later.  I still need to transplant the lavender into permanent pots.  Some of the Mohawk peppers look about ready to pick also.

I didn't have to look far for idiocy on the 'net to comment on.  Health Nazis are at it in New Zealand and displaying about as much as their brethren in the U.S.

And the idiocy meter ratchets up another notch.  Some idiot family judge in Tennessee has decided that a baby cannot be named Messiah because "it is a title and only one person has ever earned it."  So is she going to declare than any boy named Jesus (often done in Hispanic communities) should be renamed?  Maybe we should retire Virginia and rename the state.

Ted Koppel describes another idiocy--the continuing War on Terror.  And it isn't just the American economy that is at risk.  How much of our Constitution has not been converted to so much toilet paper?

Cool, easy Sunday. Rosemary, stevia, grapefruit mint.

I didn't get as much done in the gardens.  It was laundry day and going up and down the stairs with baskets of clothes gets a bit tiring.  I did find a couple of little tomatoes ready to pick.  I figure if they come off with a very gentle tug they are ripe enough.  Today I got a nice double handful off the vines.

I cut the rosemary bushes (and they are miniature bushes) back a bit.  The older one is about three years old now and is shaping into a pretty little tree.  I didn't take much off of it--just enough to shape it a bit more.  The other I cut abut a third.  Sounds like a lot but not really.  I think I see how it is shaping itself and I took enough to help it along.  I bought it just this year because after the winter I was afraid I was losing the other.  But they have both come along nicely.  I also trimmed the stevia and got four trays of leaves in the dehydrator.  That is where the trimmings from the rosemary went also.  To fill up the rest of the dehydrator with grapefruit mint.  Right now I am taking a break before getting another bit done outside.

Saturday. Garden update. Govt snooping. Deja vu all over again!!

I got some things done in the garden yesterday though, of course, not all of what I wanted to do.  I got distracted by cultivating and fertilizing some of the beds.  I can get to most parts of the gardens easily now that the hibiscus is moved.  I can actually see most of the table now.  Since I put four of the strawberries on the fence I had space at the foot of the patio chairs (which we have never used for their designed purpose) I moved a couple of the large herbs to replace them.  I still have about half of the containers to cultivate and feed today.  And some more trimming.  I have a dehydrator full of chocolate mint to grind today.  I could have filled another two the same size but the remainder went into the compost.

I watched Obama's press conference (or at least part of it.)  I was struck by a lovely Catch-22.  Obama tried to give some lip service to the notion that citizens have a right to know what their government is doing and publicly call attention to its transgressions while defending, lukewarmly, the spying programs that have become so technical and pervasive.  On the one hand, he says he wants more "transparency" but doesn't indicate how to have that and a covert spying program which is by its nature secret.  Can anyone tell me how those two notions can co-exist?  It is beyond my limited brain.   And if both are desirable good where do you draw the line between them?  Right now the line is so fuzzy who can tell when it has been crossed.

Why does this sound so damned familiar?  Oh, yeah!!  We hear this over here.  Often.

I think I'll stick to beer.  This is a waste of perfectly good sugar and yeast.

Friday on the 'net.

I haven't seen too much today to comment on but this is interesting.  Of course the vindictive and careless credit card issuer thinks that he has a case for a charge of fraud.  I don't see it.

This mess is a crock of shit.  Some of the best news sources are blogs and informal sites, especially since the corporate news media doesn't deal much in real news any more.  And certainly not in honest news--that is news that isn't massaged to a positive slant for the corporations and politicians.  So much for a free press.

Sunny Friday. Garden photos. Garden Update.

 It is a nice sunny Friday.  The weather people say we might have a chance of a passing shower later but not much of one.  I said before that I was thinking about whether to grow borage next year and this decided me.  The bees love it.  I have a spot for a permanent patch and will try to move this plant after I harvest the tomatoes and peppers that are in there now.  I say try because I have no idea of how the roots are arranged and whether I can get the plant out without serious damage.  But I know where I can get seeds next year.

This is the purple hyssop.  It is good as a tea and it attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.  It is a perennial so I plan to keep it over winter where it is with protection.

Cherry tomatoes ripening.  About time!!!  We enjoyed a handful so far and a lot more are on the vines.

Here is the firefly begonia.  It is growing well and blooming profusely.  Another plant the hummingbirds like and visit regularly.  It has a trailing habit and I took this picture just after I trimmed it back.  I hope it will do well as a houseplant over winter.









Yesterday was a productive day.  I think I said I harvested the lemon squash and pulled the vines.  I won't be planting any next year.  I cleaned out several of the strawberry pots and put four back on the fence.  The Japanese beetles have disappeared so I think it is safe.  I also found 8 or 10 plantlets on runners and put them in pots to root--I hope.  Out of the last group I found only 2 with roots.

I didn't get to the new lavender yesterday.  I still need to transplant them along with the lemon balm.  But as long as it is cool and dry I can get out there and get some things done.

Cool Thursday. Unfinished chores in the Garden.

We had some rain yesterday.  How much I don't really know.  It fell in a hard downpour for a while but perhaps not long enough to give us much.  I did get all my grapefruit mint, chocolate mint and spearmint in the dehydrator ground and into jars but didn't harvest anything.  Mom was busy in the kitchen doing up the turnips and zucchini we got from Brother and fixing up a big pot of beef soup.  After the veggies cooled I packaged it up for freezing but that was the extent of my time in the kitchen. I have said before that the only thing we don't like about our little townhouse is the small kitchen.  Not enough room for the two of us unless we are working on the same process and/or not moving around much.

So I still have the peppers and peppermint to harvest.  I saw some tomato and pepper branches that need to be tied up and some leaves I should cut back because they are starting to cover the bird feeder.  I need to pull the lemon verbena.  It has definitely given up the ghost.  And the new lavenders and a cutting from the peppermint should go into permanent pots.

For new chores--I need to move some plants and the chair that has the spearmint pot on it so I can get to the squash.  I know a squash fruit is maturing behind all that foliage but how far along--I have no idea.  The bees have been very busy with the cucumber vine and I can see several little cucumbers growing.  As I have said before everything is late this year.

Some dead firefighters are evidently more equal than other dead firefighters.  There are times when the distinction between "seasonal" and "full-time" shouldn't exist.  When a person dies or is injured in the performance of a dangerous and necessary job, it shouldn't matter.

Update: the smell of peppermint pervades the house.  It is drying now.  We got only two very small lemon squash.  Mom will put them with other veggies so we won't have any to freeze.  Oh well!!  I pulled the vines since I didn't see any new squash coming up.  I was surprised at the summer savory which is doing very well inspire (because?) of my neglect.  It is blooming.  I had a surprise.  One of our hummingbirds came by as I was looking over a couple of the plants.  After a moment she perched to feed.  I stood perfectly still watching till she flew away.

Mom and I have said what this story concludes often after listening another case of governmental spying, corporate data mining, or identity theft by way of computers:  there is no privacy or security in today's world; get used to it.

This is a startling though, upon reflection, not surprising consequence of the heatwave in D.C.  We don't often think about the effect of extreme heat (or cold) on our vehicles.