June 10, 2020
Liz Writes Life
Garden
Frost did hit on Monday morning. I believed it would and
gathered more cardboard boxes last week to add to the tubs and buckets that I
needed to cover the small and bigger plants. When uncovering, everything looked
like they made it OK. The potatoes and bee balm were so high that I didn’t even
try to cover them – even with sheets or blankets -- and they also looked good
after the sun came up. Whew!
The butter crunch lettuce did not like another week with
several days of 90 degree temps and began to bolt. So, I harvested about a
third of it. The spinach has not yet bolted, but is quite tall with giant crinkly
leaves. I looked up how to freeze spinach and it is so easy. You just rinse it,
squish it into plastic bags, seal it up and put in the freezer. Several
instructions said that because it was not blanched, it should be used within
six months. Hum, that means before Christmas. Ended-up with four gallon bags of
spinach and gave a big batch and much of the lettuce to a friend. I cut the
lettuce off at about an inch above the soil. It should re-grow and if the temps
stay cool for a few weeks it might be edible – not bitter. We will see!
The peas are blooming and attaching to the two-foot-tall page
wire fencing I staked for it to climb. At 8 o’clock on Saturday morning, it was
quite nice, so I sat on the ground taking my time weeding the seedling purple
onions. They were almost two-inches high with the roots still quite fragile.
Good thing I finally got to the project, cuz some weeds were getting up to
three-inches with bigger roots that wanted to pull-up everything with them.
This onion seed bed is only about a foot-and-a-half-square, but it ended-up with
at least 60 tiny onions still rooted and growing. I packed the soil around
them, which should help. I haven’t transplanted onions for many years and I
think I will need to transplant them to their permanent growing-row when they
are about six to seven inches tall. This is another “we will see” project.
Five zucchini came up and loved the heat. Will need to thin
them to just two or three plants or else I will be overwhelmed for sure in
August. There are ten pickling cucumbers up and about seven cantaloupe boasting
two leaves in the row with the one three-leafed cantaloupe that survived being
put in the ground as a plant. The green beans did not fare as well. Only one
came up. Hum, what to do?
After
the good daylong rain on Saturday, May 30, 2020 and a few more sprinkles, the
soil was just right for plowing-up the weeds on Tuesday. I used the
old-fashioned push-plow. It did a good job and I did get most of the dreaded
mallow weeds out. My, it looked nice. I just love newly-turned soil with the
promise of good things to come!
This
was the only part of the between-garden-rows that was not covered in this year’s
grass clippings that I am using for mulch. It needed to get done immediately as
my source for fresh grass clippings would be on Wednesday. Yep, I was able to
get a bunch of tubs filled with nice clippings, loaded in the car and spread
out on the weeded soil. This looks really nice, too.
I
have been getting clippings for over a month – a lot of them – and most of the
garden is now mulched. Can’t believe how easy the few weeds (wild morning glory
are the worst) pull right up, when they do make it through the clippings. My
plan is to continue to add clippings all summer, because they dry-out and
shrink from the heat. Any extra clippings will go in the perennial flower areas
to try and suffocate the noxious rye grasses and weeds in there.
I
also planted cosmos in the flowerbed areas and several are up. The snapdragons
are in full bloom with burgundy reds, oranges, yellows and one white. Even
though I weeded this area to reduce the volunteer four o-clocks, I need to thin
them again. I bet there are still 50 or more than must be removed. One rose
bush is gracing the world with bright pinkish-yellow blooms and several pale
pink and yellow columbine are also blooming. Oh, the wild Shasta Daisies are
also open. I did weed a bunch of them out as well, cuz they were taking over
one flowerbed where the gladiolus bulbs are planted. Ended-up with a few adding
some June smiles.
R
& R
Life
in the United States is in turmoil with fears of the Covid-19 virus, to mask
ourselves or not, the holding of peaceful rallies, marching of some-times not-so-peaceful
protests, riots, terribly destructive looting and extremely strong opinions.
Atrocities
have occurred and need to be addressed. I pray for our leaders -- that calm
will be restored at all levels of governments, cities and communities. But, in
my opinion, solutions will not be found until respect and responsibility become
the norm throughout our society and our melting-pot of cultures.
There
will always be bullies. There will be people who do not do the right thing for
none of us are perfect. That is why we have law enforcement. To enjoy liberty, all
must abide by certain rules and values.
At
this time, I want to thank our police, especially our local police and sheriff officers.
Because of a few bad police officers, (and most of us have watched the
disgraceful death of George Floyd) they all are being painted with the same
label.
This
is not right. It is not true. We have so many good and courageous and kind law
enforcement officers, who deal with so many terrible situations, domestic
violence, stealing and murders. They deserve our respect.
Thank
you to our men and women in blue! Many of us do appreciate you and pray for
your protection. And may a big humbling into mutual respect and
self-responsibility become the common ground for future decisions and solutions
in the agitated areas.
Liz
Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She
is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past
year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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