Desperately Seeking Shade

In my last post I said I would get the painting done this weekend even if meant no gardening. Ha! Nope.

I didn’t even think about picking up a paintbrush, when there were plant swaps to go to and cars to buy.

Yes, T and I found a car that works, and spent most of Saturday afternoon at the dealership. I did not plan on buying a car that day, but the stars aligned and it all fell into place. It is a hybrid, the first hybrid any of us have ever had. Given the state of gas prices and the fact that he’ll be commuting 18 miles each way to school in the fall, I feel good about this.

The plant swap was at 10 am Saturday, so I made sure to wake up in time to label my plants. I brought one of each kind of lettuce, an Ideal Market green bean, and thyme.

It was a simply gorgeous morning, warm with a bright blue sky. The town was buzzing as I drove toward the center, people walking and biking all over — it was yard sale day and farmers’ market day.

I came away with basil, a zinnia, coleus, coral honeysuckle, a lilac, a tomato and a bell pepper. Not sure where they will all go but I couldn’t help myself. There were so many plants! Many thanks to Suburban Jungle for organizing it.

Screenshot of coral honeysuckle from FB below. Thinking maybe I could use it in the front garden somehow.

Now the challenge is to get through the heat wave that started Sunday. I pulled the remaining lettuce and brought lettuce seedlings inside for the duration. I’ll be really sad if the heat ruins the carrots, which are mostly not big enough to pick yet. Hoping the frost cover I threw over them will help a little.

The strawberry bags are actually not working:

Going to have to do a full-on barrier, with chicken wire or something. But not until the heat breaks. I should have known.

I’ve been saying that the onions have thrips, but given that the garlic is affected too, I think it might actually be allium leaf miner. Regardless of what it is, at least some of them seem like they will pull through. Today I found a lot of slugs on some of them. I looked it up and they are more likely to eat weakened garlic and onions. I suspect the heat has something to do with it too. Guess I will need a slug trap. Oddly only one of my lettuce plants has been eaten by slugs. I think the location of that big raised bed (on the ground) is part of it.

In better news, I have a lot of bean sprouts (pole and bush) and the tomatoes look good.

During the week I tried out fish emulsion as a fertilizer for the first time. Stinky! I used my remaining Amazon gift card money.

I had wanted to write about the state of the world in this post, but gardening continues to distract me, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Food prices seem stable, if still high. But used cars seem really expensive, even more so than when I was looking last year. Apparently inflation did jump again, and tomato prices are high. Glad I’ll have my own! (hopefully)

This was an interesting personal finance read. Maybe I’ll check out his book.

Meals this week:

Monday: scrounge: nachos. The cilantro is so flavorful. That’s about to bolt now, thanks to the heat.

Tuesday: scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries

Wednesday: grilled chicken from the freezer, Caesar salad, roasted carrots and green beans (I roasted them the night before)

Thursday: Wawa sandwich (running around for softball)

Friday: Manor Pub. The food was… not good.

Saturday: Tacos with garden lettuce and cilantro

Sunday: Mack & Manco Pizza in OC

Lunch Tuesday: turkey sandwich with lettuce. Bought on Wednesday and Friday.

Saturday lunch: delicious salad with chicken from the freezer. One thing I did right in the garden this year is the lettuce. I’ve had plenty for me, my mom and friends.

Those pics above are from our brief trip to Ocean City on Sunday. We all needed a beach fix, and it was much cooler there than at home.