Many of my most faithful readers are taking a break from blogging for a few weeks this summer: Kay's Thinking Cap, Darlene's Hodgepodge--even bloggers I read all the time, though they probably don't read XE much--like Whoopee (though not officially--she's just sidelined while her woman's bits heal after the birth of Caligula the Destroyer, aka Oscar).
Well, I'm not on hiatus...I'm just doing lots of dreaming about what to create next and running out every few hours to see if anything's up in my various gardens. So I decided, for sheer bloggy pleasure, to go back to drawing cartoons for a while. I thought of a good one today, and as soon as I finish editing a loooong piece for a client, I'll get cracking on it. Watch this space......
I want to confide in my readers about something, too. My housemate took it upon herself to dig up a second 4'x4' garden plot in the back yard this afternoon, but instead of removing the dirt from the sod and then tossing the sod along the fence where it can regrow, she just stirred it back into the plot again--with copious water. So now there is a gigantic mud pit out back filled with very healthy-looking grass turned upside down that'll take a day or two to dry out enough to plant something in it. I have memories of our Victory Garden back in Fargo in the 1940s, when we'd harvest potatoes and radishes speared with grass roots if we didn't get rid of the grass well enough. And reading gardening pamphlets from NDAC about how grass and other weeds consume the nutrients needed for the veggies. So....while I'm very grateful for her strong back and the speed with which she dug up the second plot, I think she should remove the growing matter and also add some good potting soil for the top layer as I did for the first plot, but she insists that the grass will add organic matter to the garden. The ground is so warm now that the seeds practically burst open after just a few hours in the ground. I'm feeling very conflicted about this. It's nice to inspire others to plant a garden even if they don't do it the way I think it should be done. But on the other hand, what the hey difference does it make? If she wants her own plot, she can buy the seeds and water them, too. I confess to feeling very selfish about this garden space--even though it's not even my own lawn--and upset that I feel this way, goldammit to hell anyway!
Oh my...she just doesn't know. I've done it that way, too...She wants YOUR stuff in her brew? Lordie. Lordie.
ReplyDeleteWell...this is why God made alcohol. Stick a seed or so in to make her happy. Hope for rain...
It is such a mystery to me.
Cat
yeah...hope for rain. or something. we can plant zucchinis and wa
ReplyDeletetermelon --stuff that doesn't grow underground.
well, she does know, cuz i told her, but i'm just an old airhead to her, emphasis on the OLD. she doesn't think i know anything about anything,especially gardening. and who knows? she may be right. MAW needs to make an appearance here....
that should read "watermelon"--all the letters together, not broken....
ReplyDeleteoy vey is mir....
The arrogance of youth! Just let her have her fun while you sit in the shade with a nice G&T.
ReplyDeleteMy garden is growing well - nothing underground this year but I do have a few potatoes that didn't get harvested or rotted last year. They've popped up amongst the peas.
I'm not taking a hiatus either.
How nice that your ground is warm. Here the rain will never cease and the out of doors is chill, and the grass the (deleted) grass grows more than it should in the lawn and everywhere it shouldn't, not to mention the dandelions and thistle and vetch. And everything you want to grow is sodden.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to know how your house-mate's garden grows. I think you are right. Grass is the enemy.
now she's throwing her last night's leftover popcorn on the strawberry plants. please tell me this is not the way to garden organically. it's the way to attract RATS.
ReplyDeleteThis is showing me that a garden is best done by one person. Also reminds me of why I refused for many years to live in the same house as my mother-in-law, bless her 110-year-old soul. Only one woman runs a kitchen - everyone else just takes orders or gets out. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe D.N.
you say it soooo well!! shall we call it "susan's law of the kitchen"? :)
ReplyDelete20th: My goodness, where do you live? London?? I like cool, rainy weather, but not all the time! May you have 10 warm, sunny, dry days in a row...soon!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame you don't have any of your old organic gardening magazines. She would then know all about compost. Items must be placed in a compost pile to become compost and one NEVER puts cooked things in a compost pile as you said will indeed attract rats. All that grass she failed to remove would have made nice compost.
ReplyDeletePeg: THANKS for that. Now how to get the message across?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWe are keeping all the rain out here in the Northwest...as 20th cent. woman reports from Washington, same in Portland, O.
ReplyDeleteCartoons redux? I await appearance with enthusiasm.
naomi....MAW and Hen Pink are my constant companions these days, but so far, they're still in hiding. You'll be the first to know when they come out...
ReplyDelete