Random Post

I am calling this a random post because there isn't much going on in the garden. It has been extremely hot. 102F with a heat index of 119F hot, and I wish I could say I was exaggerating. But, God is good, and we know Fall (with a capital "F") is on the way. Pre-season Monday Night Football is playing in our house tonight - Giants vs Jets. You have no idea how happy Chip was to hear the theme song. He did a little dance while he cooked dinner. Eli received a massive hit and is getting 11 stitches.

I've been away from home a lot recently - for work - in Dallas. I feel like my gardens have suffered because of it.

I haven't had a chance to fertilize my tomatoes, so they have been prolific but small. I would generally like to apply Garden-Ville's Sea Tea once a week, but I haven't been doing it that regularly. We've been eating the tiny tomatoes in salads. If you remember, I planted my cucumbers later in the season. This decision ended up being a great one because the vine borer moth was gone, and it's babies didn't suck the life out of my cucumbers. I'll be harvesting my first cucumber this week!

If I sound negative, then it's because of all this darn heat and how busy I've been at work! I had to work all day Saturday (second Saturday in a row), but thankfully on Sunday I got some down time. I had a chance to take a walk in the early morning before it got too hot. Then I watered my coleus, vinca, and petunia containers. As I was moving the foliage out of the way of the hose, a mean ol' red wasp popped me on my left ring finger. It hurt like hell, and it still itches like crazy. Cortizone 10 has been my best friend lately.

Lastly, I am going to rant about a product I saw an ad for this week: Kleenex Hand Towels. Paper towels for your bathroom at home. Made from 100% virgin trees.

Do you know anyone who has ever gotten sick from drying her hands on a cotton bathroom hand towel? No? Me either. Is it really that difficult to wash and fold a load of clean hand towels anyway? That are probably only as costly as these disposable paper towels? Then why do we need paper towels in our home bathrooms? I know they are trying to take the cleanliness angle to market this product, but rest assured it is the obscenely lazy that will buy it.

I briefly bought in to the Swiffer craze a few years ago, but when it broke in two (because I had to press down so hard on it to pick up grime), I bought a real, NOT disposable mop. I am still embarrassed about ever buying one of those stupid disposable Swiffers. These days I use a bucket, hot water, eco-friendly soap, and a real mop to clean my floors, and it works better than any disposable mop ever did. Hot, almost boiling water works wonders on grime. The "disposable" trend drives me nuts. Do families really need to eat off paper plates every night? Believe me, there are people who do this. Do we really need paper napkins with every meal? Or styrofoam cups?

I try to be conscious of the disposable things I buy. To-go food is the worst offender in my house. Thankfully, many plastic containers can be recycled.

To my few readers: please, let's show companies out there that we aren't interested in buying more disposable products. Instead of buying cheap disposable crap, why not invest in an effective product that will last? Washing and reusing may not be the easiest option, but it is better for our planet.

Veggie Garden Update

The vine borer moth and its wiggly offspring must be done wreaking havoc on my cucurbits this season. Since my last post, I have not seen any new eggs on my winter squash or my cucumbers. I am so relieved. I may plant a few new yellow squash and zucchini seeds this evening to see if I have better luck now.

What is producing now? I have Roma tomatoes but some of them have developed just a touch of blossom-end rot. I plan to go get some Rot Stop tonight to keep it from spreading. One of the tomato plants my grandmother gave me is still steadily putting on fruit. The birds are pecking at the green tomatoes, so quite a few of them have been damaged. I have a few yellow and mini-orange bell peppers, too, and those look good so far. I have one red bell pepper, but it has developed a sunspot this week.

It has been ridiculously hot. Temperatures are in the 100s with heat index readings between 105F and 113F. I am going out of town again this week, so I really must remind Chip to water! It is so important for my vegetables to have a steady water source in this heat.