Day 362 - Garden report part 2.

After mowing, you can see a patch of bare ground here and there.  A truly dedicated gardener would then loosen the soil with a fork and pull up the clumps of grass in the rows where the soil is loose, then only run the tiller between the rows. 

Not me.  I'm thinking of widening the rows anyway.  It's all going under!

Why do I always have to come home to a television blaring explosions, gunshots and car chases?  The only moment of quiet is when the microwave knocks the Roku off the network.   It doesn't seem to bother Werewolf--I can only hope he's used to it.

Day 361 - no dogs in garden -(

So here's the weekend garden report.  Part 1.







I started with this.  (North bed only; the south bed is even worse.)  I had to mow before before I could till, and before I could mow I had to remove all of the wood borders and pick up a major portion of the cardboard that made walkways between the rows.

I left the peppers alive, as you can see in the photo, but Saturday night a frost came down and killed them dead.  I might as well have pulled them on Saturday.

Day 360 - about to go for a walk but first...

I just made an awesome Three Sisters Stew! 

It's true the beans were slightly overcooked--10 minutes in the pressure cooker manual means 10 minutes, not the 12 I gave them.  And it's true the skin of delicatta squash is not as melt-away smooth as a zucchini's.  But the flavor is better.

Note as to cinnamon:  I just don't get it.  Must be my heritage.  I added 1/16 of a teaspoon where the recipe called for 1/2 and it was still somehow wrong.  Without the cinnamon this would have be a 5-star recipe.

Day 357 - fall at last?

Cool front -> especially long walk -> high 61 tomorrow -> must bring in begonia cuttings for overwinter!

Also, frisky dogs!  No picture--I couldn't get them still long enough.



I guess this means I got to work outside on Saturday.

Day 356 - things dogs don't notice

Hard to tell from this picture, but what you don't see is a cedar tree.  (American Juniper.)  All of them up the hill are dying.  After a summer of excessive heat + drought, then a summer of near-excessive heat, they're dying off in droves.  The only ones still healthy are the ones on our land, which is mostly bottom land and has sticker soil and possibly a higher water table.

It's going to be awfully drab-looking when I'm jogging up the hill this winter.

Day 354 - walking. Well, sort of.

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Since my "fast walk" means he has to trot, my little runt gets between 20 and 30 minutes of almost-continuous trotting a day.  He should be losing weight, shouldn't he?

I should start a weekly weighing--you can't feel ribs through all that fur.  And I don't want to starve him.  It's just that he's rotund and he waddles when he walks--the dog lady said he was overweight--and I've had him on a strict diet ever since. 

Day 353 - also ready!

They dig get their walk yesterday and will also today, despite it being in the upper 80s outside and humid as heck.

No supper experiment tonight.  I'm shoving frozen food in the oven and if I can find a frozen vegetable, I'll microwave it.  It's been that kind of week.