6.16.24
Here we are in the middle of June. A time when we look forward to warm, albeit sometimes hot, sunny days and cool but not cold nights. A time when the vegetable garden begins to flourish. The seeds that were sown directly into the warm soil have sprouted and stretch their new leaves upwards toward the sky. The more tender plants that were lovingly protected at the side of the house for ages before being transplanted into their new home in the garden plot, were robust and healthy with some of the tomato plants bursting with blossoms and little green tomatoes! I say “were” instead of “are” because last night Mother Nature had a tizzy fit and swept our area with a frost. Yes, when I got up this morning it was a rather chilly 31 degrees outside and there was frost on the windshields of the trucks!
The weatherman had warned of “patches of frost” for our area and thankfully we heeded the warning. Before we ate our dinner last night, Darrell and I headed out to the garden and started covering all the tender plants we could with buckets, boxes and anything else we could lay our hands on. The tomatoes, watermelon, pickling cucumbers and squash – we have lots of squash! – all were covered up first. With any box we could find the peppers and pumpkins were shrouded. Finding old plant pots, the beans which were coming along so nicely, had little plant pot hats set on top of them. The potatoes were well mounded with soil and of course the spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, onions and cabbages were left to fend for themselves as they do not mind a touch of frost. What is forefront on our minds, however, is the corn.
Darrell’s corn is quite spectacular this year, coming up in tidy rows and thriving! Now sometimes, a wee touch of cold weather will not harm the tender green shoots, other times if the temperature drops to the freezing mark, a day later you see the telltale signs of frost damage by the evidence of yellow-brown leaves and stunted growth. Let us keep our fingers crossed we dodged too much damage.
There is always a challenge when gardening. Be it the weather, the insects, the weeds, the pocket gophers and moles and of course, the Red-Wing blackbirds who always time their visit to when the corn is ripe and ready for harvesting. They make sure they fill up their bellies before migrating southward. When one gardens one must accept these things, maybe try to ward some of them off but ultimately reach a common ground and accept with grace that what will be will be. Oh, we do attack the weeds frequently with the rototiller and hand weeding. Traps are set for those pesky pocket gophers who love to tunnel down the rows of potatoes taking a nibble on one tuber before moving on to the next. It would not be so bad if they just filled up on one whole potato, but no, they just like to take a wee sample before moving on, leaving tooth marks on what otherwise would be a perfect potato. However, there is nothing we can do about the weather. That, my friends, is out of our control.
So today we will sit and sip another cup of tea and coffee, taking our time before heading outside to uncover the vegetable plants and see what has survived and what has been touched with frost. Whatever the outcome we will accept it and move onwards, being grateful for those plants that thrive.
As I glance out the window the clouds are moving in over what just a few minutes ago was lovely blue sky. One of our resident turkey vultures, one of the boys as we call them, circles lazily over the tall pine trees, searching for a morning thermal to sweep it higher into the sky. The hummingbirds are active at the feeders, feathers fluffed up on this cool morning. We are supposed to get some rain showers today which are very much needed and will be greatly appreciated. Like so much in life, there are many things that come along we cannot control. It is what it is and what will be will be. I believe we are given challenges to make us stronger and sometimes, as hard as is, we must accept and be thankful. Yes, some of our vegetable plants may have been taken from us, but that will only serve to make us appreciate what ones have survived that much more.