neglect

i am powerfully tired. this last week has been a lot of fun, but it has also worn me out. i have clearly been neglecting the garden updates, and honestly... little knitting has happened.

quick overview!

Days Nineteen and Twenty
thursday and friday.

i was sick both of these days with wht appears to have been a sinus infection. it was painful and draining, but now it is gone. i was the short of functional sick that allows you to get out of bed and go teach a class, but when you come home, you don't really remember teaching the Northern Renaissance or riding the train home.

i think i dragged my miserable body out to the garden both days, but my thoughts didn't go much beyond "ahh. plants".

Day Twenty-One
saturday. pumpkin blossoms!

i am still sick, but this is the only day rW and i can go out to pick tart cherries. next weekend he is going on as an understudy, so cherries must be picked.

we hit the garden first on the way out and i finally caught a a pumpkin blossom while it was fully open! (above) i also took a picture f the little curling vines on my pickling cucumber plants. (below) cute!

here are pictures from the cherry picking trip. rW took most of them because i wasn't feeling so hot by the end of the adventure. i wouldn't let him take pictures of my face because i was scowling about the sun and my congestion all day.

Tart Cherries 2009

Day Twenty-Two
sunday. peppers?

i am having suspicions that some insects managed to pollinate a few of my peppers when it stopped raining for a few days. the little leftover green bits look like they may be growing into vegetables!


Day Twenty-Three
monday. and tomatoes!

i think (and hope i am not getting myself too worked up over nothing) that i may also have a tomato forming on the cherry tomato plant. it seems possible because the few dys it did not rain, there were many insects visiting my garden.

Day Twenty-Four
tuesday. blossom drop.

so, it is true. i have both peppers and tomatos forming in the garden, but the pumpkin plant seems to not get the insect visits it needs to make little pumpkins. the flowers are pretty , but they close up and fall off the day after. boo.

Day Twenty-Five
wednesday. gah! rain!

more thunderstorms, and this time the rain was so hard that it shredded my pumkin blossoms! it was so sad seeing a tattered one try to open up and attract the insects who are all probably bailing water out of their homes.

maybe when i am in ohio, the pumpkin will get pollinated and i can have a surprise when i get back.

Day Twenty-Six
friday. poor peppers.

conditions this seson are not that good for peppers. my green pepper looks like death. the poblano is losing leaves all over the place and won't make more blossoms. my red bells are trying to blossom, but who knows if we will have enough dry days to get them pollinated. my anaheim pepper is in the same boat as the reds.

two have peppers, however! the jalepeno and the Early Bell (supposed to be red, but i fear it is green) have tiny fruit on the plants. the bell lost one pepper over night. i am not surprised. he was not growing at the same pace as the other two.

so right now i have jalepenos, bells, and tomatoes producing. we shall see if the garden kicks some butt while i am in ohio. i really want it to dry out enough that i can apply some fertilizer to a few on the plants. i leave next wednesday and i am not back until after July 4th--that is a long time not to see my plants! rW will have some garden sitting on his plate!