Since stupid politics have been a focus on my mind as of late (and sure to be so once more after debate #2 tomorrow...) and retarded politics only seem to make me angry, I'm posting about something that make s me happy. My stupid plot of dirt in the back yard. Shown above is a shot of the overgrown garden after some some serious weeding, but before before me and the sweaty, yet helpful man-monster known as Curren tackled the soil itself in early May. And below is shot of it after a few hours of me ordering Curren around and pointing to where he had missed a spot with his shovel.
It was a good planting year with plenty of tasty Cima di Rape harvested and stuffed into my face. I had to give it away to the old man (not that he minded) I just had too much at times. After my final planting of Cima di Rape ended in failure (massive aphid invasion x1000) about late August, I had but a few things left in the dirt to grow and eat. I was down to raddishes, peppers, and edamame. The radishes eventually came up and were way spicy, the Edamame was awesome since it's such a hardy bastard of a plant, and the peppers still continue to produce. But, I had a huge plot left where the Cima di Rape used to be - mainly because I successively planted the stuff so that I'd have it on a weekly basis, and this takes up some space.
I needed some Fall/Wintery type things to plant. So I shot off an order for some Japanese pumpkins known as Kabocha. I liked the tempura version of the thing, so I planted the stuff in 4 mounds using a variety of 3 different hybrids. One was a small, single serving type thing, the other two were full sized but one was mega-sweet tasting. I tossed in the tiny seeds and left them to their own devices. I had noted their growth over the 1st month. Nothing to write home about, though one mound totally failed. I have one shot of the vines in their youth. It's shown above.
Then a few rainstorms hit, followed by sunny weeks. The Kabocha exploded. It was strangling out the peppers, crawling over my crappy anti-rabbit fence, and expanding way beyond what I planned. I've read
The Ruins and seen the movie, so this disturbed me a bit. The many,many little tendrils that shot off the main vine and wrapped themselves around whatever they could in a rather prehensile manner only added to this unease. I half expected the fucker to start speaking German when I was looking for ripe Red Peppers.
The leaves of the Kabocha form a protective canopy of sorts with a few yellow flowers here and there, as you can see by the top down shot shown above. Keeps the soil underneath moist and also chokes out most of the invasive weeds, which should make next years tilling a wee bit easier. But it makes finding the damn developing Kabocha a bit tricky.
And since the clock is ticking due to the earlier referenced Zebra Mosquito problem, I have like 5 minutes to get what I'm looking for before I become a walking feast for those fucking evil bastard blood sucking fucks. Here's what it looks like under the canopy and you can see one lil' Kabocha.
There's about 12 of the things out there now (that I can spot) so I'm stoked. But, there's one problem. Since I planted them without marking them, like a dumbass, I don't know which of the three types each Kabocha is. The only real problem here is that one type is not supposed to grow past a certain point, since they are of a tiny variety. I 've got to do some booklearnin' to figure that mystery out. Balls. I might do some garlic and fennel for winter. That's it 'till next Summer I guess.
Since stupid politics have been a focus on my mind as of late (and sure to be so once more after debate #2 tomorrow...) and retarded politics only seem to make me angry, I'm posting about something that make s me happy. My stupid plot of dirt in the back yard. Shown above is a shot of the overgrown garden after some some serious weeding, but before before me and the sweaty, yet helpful man-monster known as Curren tackled the soil itself in early May. And below is shot of it after a few hours of me ordering Curren around and pointing to where he had missed a spot with his shovel.
It was a good planting year with plenty of tasty Cima di Rape harvested and stuffed into my face. I had to give it away to the old man (not that he minded) I just had too much at times. After my final planting of Cima di Rape ended in failure (massive aphid invasion x1000) about late August, I had but a few things left in the dirt to grow and eat. I was down to raddishes, peppers, and edamame. The radishes eventually came up and were way spicy, the Edamame was awesome since it's such a hardy bastard of a plant, and the peppers still continue to produce. But, I had a huge plot left where the Cima di Rape used to be - mainly because I successively planted the stuff so that I'd have it on a weekly basis, and this takes up some space.
I needed some Fall/Wintery type things to plant. So I shot off an order for some Japanese pumpkins known as Kabocha. I liked the tempura version of the thing, so I planted the stuff in 4 mounds using a variety of 3 different hybrids. One was a small, single serving type thing, the other two were full sized but one was mega-sweet tasting. I tossed in the tiny seeds and left them to their own devices. I had noted their growth over the 1st month. Nothing to write home about, though one mound totally failed. I have one shot of the vines in their youth. It's shown above.
Then a few rainstorms hit, followed by sunny weeks. The Kabocha exploded. It was strangling out the peppers, crawling over my crappy anti-rabbit fence, and expanding way beyond what I planned. I've read The Ruins and seen the movie, so this disturbed me a bit. The many,many little tendrils that shot off the main vine and wrapped themselves around whatever they could in a rather prehensile manner only added to this unease. I half expected the fucker to start speaking German when I was looking for ripe Red Peppers.
The leaves of the Kabocha form a protective canopy of sorts with a few yellow flowers here and there, as you can see by the top down shot shown above. Keeps the soil underneath moist and also chokes out most of the invasive weeds, which should make next years tilling a wee bit easier. But it makes finding the damn developing Kabocha a bit tricky.
And since the clock is ticking due to the earlier referenced Zebra Mosquito problem, I have like 5 minutes to get what I'm looking for before I become a walking feast for those fucking evil bastard blood sucking fucks. Here's what it looks like under the canopy and you can see one lil' Kabocha.
There's about 12 of the things out there now (that I can spot) so I'm stoked. But, there's one problem. Since I planted them without marking them, like a dumbass, I don't know which of the three types each Kabocha is. The only real problem here is that one type is not supposed to grow past a certain point, since they are of a tiny variety. I 've got to do some booklearnin' to figure that mystery out. Balls. I might do some garlic and fennel for winter. That's it 'till next Summer I guess.
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12 comments:
You're quite a trouper - if one of those mosquitoes chased me into my car I'd probably never venture into the garden again. Forget about 'The Ruins', that's a horror story right there, even without the monstrous photo of the blood-sucking bastard. That's scary stuff. That and this rape plant you're so fond of growing/eating/sharing with your dad.
Ty, you should come out and frolic in our vegetable garden. We can swap stories and advice.
Ty. Are those rubber snakes in your green things plot?
If so, demi-rad. Want real ones? Come to florida town, it's herp o' plenty. Pygmy rattlers are daily visitors and cottonmouths convene at the neighborhood pool almost ritually. Snakes are only second to the fucking coolness of birds.
I likes your green bushes. The rabbit proof fence makes me sad though : (
That was a fine time. I am built for such work and it brings me a very visceral pleasure to "rip and tear Bruno" on things in, on, and around the ground. I am convinced that there is rock digger in my blood or as my pops likes to say (over my peals of laughter) "Make big ones into little ones." My garden also wore the bear shirt this summer but I did not apply the fine, stinky organic soil that you did. I do have similar mosquito woes though. I swear they're the size of crows. Makes me think of The Mist.
I tried to grow stuff this summer, but to no avail. Maybe next year I'll try the ground instead of my apartment's wall-to-wall.
(Or I can just beg for scraps, that usually seems to work out well.)
Kid, grow me some garlic, basil and parsley. I need that shit.
Oh, and Bottled Violence asked how the money tree was doing. Are you giving it enough sunlight and water?
I never had a money tree damn it. I was "The Jobless Wonder", remember? Jeeze.
It looks like it was good practice for the long hours you will be putting into Shaffer's Wyoming Fun Kamp®.
Hey, what's up with you taking our workforce? Curren is our man in the dirt! He's good, isn't he? Like a Mexican migrant worker! Nice garden. I am jealous. Just wait til we get back. Maybe wee can swap stuff.
Going to your homeland tomorrow. We'll send pics when we're back.
If you would hurry up and get back here I wouldn't be tempted by his offers of booze and olive oil coated dishes. Then I could be taken advantage for my dirt-pushing skills by our entire little community. Don't worry Beez, I'll always be your stump killer. There's enough har and sweat to go around.
Why don't you come back to Chicago, and have a go and the abomination of a garden my old man has out back? You won't get bitten to death by blood sucking fuckers, but there is a skunk that wanders around.
Now get over here and tend to my crops!!!
Rich. My backyard is cement. Wanna rip it up?
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