right now

right now

Jun 25, 2010

A Work Day!

It was 87 degrees today, heat index of 91... feels like FALL! I finally got back into the garden to get some work done. Although it was still sweaty, it was the kind of sweaty where you feel good once you have a shower, not the kind of heat where I need to make sure my kids know how to dial 9-1-1 on the phone!

Today's Harvest (upside-down, apparently!)
Blackberries, Raspberries, Radishes, 1 Fourth of July Tomato and the 1st Brandywine of the year, even if it was a small one!

I rigged some shade over my lettuces until I can figure out something better...

Massacred a few Japanese Beetles by hand, but then decided it was time to spray Neem anyways all over the apples and grapes since it was overcast. I still had to kill a few by hand just for the sick pleasure of it!

Other things accomplished today include hanging 2 loads of laundry on the line and weeding the fenced-in garden pathways. Since there is no relief in sight for the heat, I decided to clear off the deck, sweep it, rearrange chairs and plants and make room for some containers of lettuces. I have a bamboo screen stretched over the pergola so there is filtered shade there. Now we have 3 chairs so we can at least go read a book or something in the late afternoon in the shade. At least it's fresh air and not being cooped up inside! Bonus, I can sit in an uncomfortable chair and stare longingly at my hammock that can't be used until it cools off!

Not a ton of work done, but after the past 2 weeks, I'll take it! Tomorrow is back into the upper 90's so not sure if I will have anything worthwhile to post, I'll probably be cleaning my house and checking in throughout the day go garden vicariously through you all!

8 comments:

  1. I went out to the garden at 6 this morning, to beat the heat, and got so much done I didn't come back inside until Mr. Granny called me in for brunch at ten. He cooked it! Then I went back out and worked until noon, after that it was too hot. Finally! I love that feel good kind of tired :-)

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  2. Funny you should say something about making sure your kids know how to call 911. That very thing has crossed my mind when I think about you trying to go out and do anything in the garden in the awful, terrible, bad heat you're having. Make sure you keep drinking lots and lots of liquids so your system doesn't go wonky on you.

    Now say, "Yes, Mother!" and do as I say. ;o)

    P.S. Boy, have your blackberries been looking good to me!

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  3. Nice harvest. Your shade rigging looks great!

    ~Stay cool.

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  4. That harvest looks good. I was wondering, is the blackberry plant planted near the raspberry plant? Do they do well together?

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  5. Glad you got a little break from the heat! The little harvest looks good, even if it is upside-down (or is it sideways?). Sometimes blogger just turns pictures around! No apparent reason...

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  6. Your shade for the lettuce looks great. Let us know how it works. I have been thinking of doing something like it. I was out all day the one cool day we had here. Just felt I had to get things done while the weather was cool (if 87 is considered cool, guess this month it is! I pick these really hot days to do some weeding under the shady trees. We have lots in our front yard...and those crazy weeds grow in the shade too!

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  7. MamaPea, on the serious side, this is one of the things that use to cause a lot of anxiety with me. My 2nd pregnancy, hubby deployed again and also a 1 year old not walking yet, and the "neighbors" on my street don't talk to each other at all - I used to go places with emergency info basically in my pocket at all times, and used to call my girlfriend at 8 am every morning to "check in". I think one of my biggest fears is for something to happen to me and my 2 little ones wouldn't be taken care of and nobody would check on me... can you say ANXIOUS??!! It's better now that they are older, thankfully!

    meemsnyc, my blackberry and raspberry bushes flank both sides of my garden, they are separated by about 15-20 feet.

    Kelly & Lorie, that shade rigging is VERY temporary, we have almost continual high wind gusts here and I don't even think it would withstand a good rainstorm! I planted some lettuces in pots on my deck in the shade yesterday so hopefully those will survive the summer, I just hate having all the makings of a salad except the lettuces!!

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  8. wow, look at all of that good stuff you've raked in already! we are a long way from harvesting much of anything, except maybe hot peppers and some onions.

    i can totally sympathize with the japanese beetle problem. they arrived here this past week. ugh!

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