I love Japanese Eggplant sometimes called “Millionaire Eggplant”. I was fortunately able to purchase six today. They are very small so hopefully they will survive and bare some fruit. They like it hot and so far this growing it is anything but. It was end of the season for “Two Thumbs Up” green house in Pass Creek so they were having a blow out sale - 2 for 1. I got two containers (six little plants) of the eggplant and it was the kind I prefer (double bonus) and I got 2 squashes, Table Queen Acorn and Green Hubbard.
Yesterday I asked Bob to turn my magnificent compost but I had to take out my pepper and eggplant plants first ~ I have them in there to stay warm at this time. I saw the pepper plants but I just couldn’t see the eggplant – did someone borrow it. So Bob goes to turn my magnficient compost with the pitch fork and he says. “Hold on a minute something is stuck on this thing”. It was my very healthy waiting to be planted eggplant – now busted ~ guess what my reaction was – it wasn’t pretty!
Large Gardening Day:
Yesterday I continued to rassle with the rest of those darn Blue Bells and the chick weed in my no-longer-rose garden so I could get the bedding flowers planted. It got done and it will hopefully be spectacular but it was a lot of work – I mean my body doesn’t get that good hurt any more ~ it is more like what now hurt.
Then I moved onto the large vegetable garden. I started to putter in the end (tires) which I planted at least 3 weeks ago. Hmm . . . why isn’t anything coming up? Well the Blue Hubbard is up as well as the Parsley and Cilantro but where are the squashes and cucumbers? So I replanted the Barbra and Zucchini squashes and the cucumbers. We have had so much rain that maybe the seeds floated away or maybe the red wigglers have eaten them?
Then I moved down to the front of the garden and did some weeding. That end is looking pretty healthy and most everything is up and getting to the point of thinning out.
At the end of the large gardening day (I call it that because I put so much time and effort into it) I put my big, comfy cushion on my Muskoka chair and proceed to tell Bob that I think next year I will either plant all garlic where the veggies are at this time (that depends on how the garlic does this year and if I make enough money selling it to make it worth my while) or even plant grass seed. My reason is that there is only two of us, I don’t harvest other than freeze (I don’t even like frozen vegetables and Bob isn’t a vegetable fan for the most part). The no-longer-rose garden is plenty big enough for what we want in fresh veggies and I grow a lot of veggies and herbs on the deck in big pots any ways. I could easily move the two remaining rose bushes to another garden area then till and fertilize the no-longer-rose garden and away we go – easy, less time consuming and a lot less watering and expensive fertilizing. I am not even worried about the Blue bells because I have a plan which I will divulge another time. Bob is not so keen on the idea of shutting down the big vegetable garden since we have invested in a $1,000 dollar electric fence but we can easily move it over to the no-longer-rose garden and have it still be aesthetically appealing. I think I have quite a good and sensible argument.
I just finished a short audio book called Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson. Bill Richardson is host of CBC Radio’s afternoon magazine and he lives in Vancouver.
Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast is a story about Hector and Virgil, the twin hosts of a rustic retreat. The story of how the brothers were conceived – romantic yet shocking; their motley inheritance – a big house on a small island in British Columbia; a huge library; an aged, cussing parrot and a dozen musical eggcups.
This was a fun and fast listen while I did a little housework and made dinner. I especially liked the recited poetry in the story.
A few years back Bob built me a couple of raised beds ~ one for various whatever and the other is suppose to be a rose garden.
I worked really hard today in the raised various whatever garden. In the half that is close to my magnificent compost I planted a large beef steak tomatoe, a big Bertha pepper, a sassy red pepper and a few cucumber seeds ~ these are close to the oregano plant ~ hence “Greek Salad” garden. I put the tomatoes and peppers in between assorted chive plants hoping that the deer will not want them since they don’t like chives. I also planted lots of flowers in the various whatever garden: sunflowers (in sunken pots so they don’t rob the soil of nutrients that other plants need) zinnias, pom-pom zinnias, cosmos, calendulas, nasturtium, red rocket snap dragons and marigolds. This was hard work and took a couple of hours but I hope the results will be worth it.
Then I moved onto the rose garden. It looks like most of my roses have died this year as well as some lavender shrubs. I think that it could be a combination of two factors: one is that we had some lovely hot summer like weather a few weeks back then it started frosting again and being chilly. Also in my rose garden I have this weed that I have been battling for years – Blue bells. At least twice a season I take out many wheel barrels full of this obnoxious weed with it’s tubers that grow towards China and I think with the aggressiveness that I battle this weed and the fact that I think it is strangling my roses and lavender has caused the demise of these plants. So again today another battle and to make matters harder it had been raining a lot here for the last couple of days so the soil is very heavey. I shovelled, pulled, tugged, lifted and tossed about in the rose garden for quite a few hours (I am hurting – my back, my bad knee and my hips) but I got it just about done (I had to stop or I was going to pass out). If the weather is nice tomorrow then I will plant lots of different cut flowers in the no-longer-rose garden. I have quite an assortment of bedding out flowers that I think would make Monet want to grab a canvas and paint brush. I have cosmos, zinnias, salvias, asters, snap dragons, nicotina and lobellia ~ should make some lovely bouquets (provided the deer stay clear).
I certainly did enjoy my well deserved bath with a muscle soak of epsom salt stuff that Lindsay and Jeff gave me for my last past birthday. I think that the soak must have of worked as I really do feel better.
I will post some photos when the show starts.
This is quite an interesting book to read. Jodi Picoult really does her research on Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and the law. For some reason I seem to keep reading books about Autism and not purposely ~ I pick up a book, read what it is about and then proceed to read it. This is the third book in a year that I have picked up about Autism. House Rules is a thick book and an intense book so it takes a lot of your time. I read a big portion of the book on the way to Calgary on the long weekend and then the rest on the way home (Bob is a very fast driver so it is best that I read or I would be nagging him to death to slow down). Once I started this book, I had a hard time putting it down ~ I recommend it.
House Rules is about a young man, Jacob Hunt, with Asperger’s syndrome and his fascination of crime shows (like CSI) and crime scenes (and goes to crime scenes that he hears on his radio dispatched through the local police department) and tries to solve then while staying a bit of a distance away from the police. His mother, Emma, has practically given up her life for her love of her son. Jacob has a younger brother, Theo, who doesn’t have very much of a normal life because of his brother.
Jacob gets into trouble and and charged with murder. Read this book and see how this affects the Hunt family. One of the main house rules for the Hunt family is “look after your brother because he is the only one you have”.
IN FULL BLOOM is a very funny mystery. It was an audio book that I listened to in the earlier part of this week. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love audio books and I get a lot done when I am listening to one. I got a good portion of my spring cleaning done last Saturday listening to the book and then did a manicure and pedicure while listening to the rest of the book yesterday morning. I am not going to tell you about the book but google it to see if it interest you enough to read it or listen to it
