Yeesh, almost a month since the last post…good thing you’re not paying for this, eh?
Well, it’s hot, as I may have mentioned, and with the kids not here for the summer our routine is shot all to hell. We did take off for a week in Sanibel right after the 4th holiday, and while we greatly enjoyed each other’s company, Florida beaches in July are not the most pleasant places to be…something to remember.
After our return Husband’s shoulder bone spur went from ‘ow’ to ‘jesuschristonadonkeythathurtsOW’ which has now prevented him from working for going a week, despite a cortisone shot, so it looks like surgery is in his future, hopefully arthroscopic to reduce recovery time.
So combine the “hot/nasty” with “hurt” and you’re getting a whole lot of “ignoring the garden” going on around here. Husband steps out from time to time to vent his frustration on the grasshoppers that have suddenly taken an interest in our key lime tree, and coo over his nearly-a-foot tall tobacco plants, but everything else has slipped into benign neglect…which I am making a note to myself in the journal, remember for next year.
It’s not all bad, though. The jalapenos, padron and whitney peppers are all still producing like mad. The fig tree has grown two feet and is covered with fruit. The peanuts are blooming. The red rice beans, good golly the red rice beans…let’s just say don’t stand too close to them or they’ll climb your ass, too.
So next year we’re going to adjust our plan a little. Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bush beans and corn are the first things to be started, (in January inside & March outside) and will be removed the first of June no matter how productive they still might be, because it is just going to be all downhill from there. Then in June we’ll be doing all peppers, soybeans, peanuts and red rice beans. In September we’ll remove all those things and start second rounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bush beans and corn.
That’s the plan and we’re sticking to it. Yep.