Journal of a Gardener

August 12

No visit to the garden today.  Everything is slowed down by the lack of water.  We have had no rain since July 30-31. 

August 11

We had one more cutting of arugula and I dropped some off at Denise’s with some tomatoes and cucumbers.  I stopped at Culpepper Place and found lots of tomatoes in heavy foliage.  There I saw three cucumbers and took some pictures.

August 10

We did not visit the garden today, but ate lunch at Culpepper Place where a resident had sliced some tomatoes and cucumbers from the raised beds and was sharing them with the tables around her.

August 9

We had a good harvest this morning and Patty canned 10 pints of tomatoes in the afternoon.  Patty micro-waved a small spaghetti squash.  She cut it in half, removed the seeds, placed the halves open face down in a small amount of water and heated for several minutes.  A probe with a fork indicated readiness.  We added a little butter.  The texture was crisp and the taste was sweet.  We took an evening walk in our new neighborhood and found a good gardener a quarter mile away who had an honors veggie stand.  We got a small watermelon and a cantaloupe for a dollar each and had a good visit with the grower of this vacant lot garden. 

August 8

No visit to the garden today.

August 7

Because the squash bugs are taking out the spaghetti squash vines, I cut the whole crop this morning.  Some of the squashes are small and immature.  I left as much stem as I could.  We got a total of about 25 fruits from the three hills with 8 or 9 plants.  I pulled up the vines and pilled them in the middle to avoid scattering the bugs.

August 6

No visit to the garden today.