Deer, because the dratted beasts found the garden last year and even bit off the tomatoes, which they then did not eat.
Money, because buying lots of plants the silly deer then eat is expensive, but buying herbs and vegetables from the local supermarket is even more so! More than ever, I am determined to carve out some sort of a producing and productive garden which will find its way onto our plates and into our bellies.
By way of lessons from last year, unless and until we get a 10 foot fence around the place, I will have to keep the cayenne pepper on hand to apply to bean plant leaves, green tomatoes and day lilly buds. Reapply after rain.
Cucumbers and zucchini are safe bets, but get more germander to plant around them to bring on the bees. More bees, more pollination; more pollination, more fruit. I may have to learn to like zucchini this year. A year or two ago I learned to like tomatoes, so what's the big deal, I guess? Still, I can't believe my palate is being determined by what the deer won't eat!
Speaking of germander, I may be substituting it for the boxwood which have done pretty much nothing since they were planted several years ago. Several have died, which maybe is something, but the rest have stayed absolutely the same. No growth whatsoever. That's unnatural. It seems clear they're not crazy about the place.
The deer leave them alone, so that's a point in their favor. But otherwise, they just look kind of silly: small little green dots that have failed to grow up and fill in. . . . Maybe I'll put little germanders in between each and see what happens. They'll either take over, or encourage the box to get growing!
I think I might also have to acknowledge that lavender is not my best choice for these conditions. I keep replacing the ones that turn black and die. Instead, I need to find something that will thrive there instead of torturing more lavender! I do have one or two places where they've hung on, so I might keep the lavender that have survived but put - hey, germander seems much on my mind - I'll put germander wherever the lavender have failed and see what happens!
Next up: planting all the seeds I saved from last year. I'm already a month behind. . . .
1 comment:
Hi Queenie,
Thanks for your comments - I'm glad you found my blog (woollystuff) too, though I haven't posted in ages. Sorry I'm posting here, I didn't see a return email address... It might be confusing to your readers, I'm afraid :)
In my experience, the slippery slope - in fact, all jargon - has been used as a conversation-stopper; and it usually exposes lazy thinking on the part of the speaker. I prefer to avoid jargon - whether it's the slippery slope or the swing of the pendulum or a watershed - and just have people speak plain English. It's much harder work, but the results are better.
My solution? I would ask questions like: "what do you think the problems with x are?" "what do you think x would ideally look like?" "how do you suggest we get from where we are to where you think it ought to be?" I might explain my own views on x, and why I agree or disagree. In other words, why not skip the jargon and go straight to the real issues?
So while I appreciate your suggestion that jargon might indicate trends, and perhaps that's how some people intend it to be understood, the fact that there's room for interpretation means it's not clear enough and so I think it wouldn't work for me. But then I work in Best Practice communication, so I guess I'm more picky than most!
Nice to read about your garden - when I'm not being fussy about how people communicate, I'm in my garden :)
jasmine
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