The Walk of Shame

This morning I went to the farmer's market to buy the things that I tried to grow. Yes, this is probably a gardener's greatest walk of shame. However, for $20 I came out with 6 lbs of peaches, 7 ears of silver queen, a pint of blueberries, three squash, two zucchini, and four sweet potatoes. Twenty dollars would not have covered my water bill to grow all of that successfully.

Backing up a bit, I first went to school to drop off my time sheet. I had planned on carrying Matthew and letting Daniel walk, but when I went to unload the boys, neither had shoes. Whoops. So I carried both boys across the parking lot and let Daniel walk barefoot once inside. This was just more evidence that whatever was left of my brain after having Daniel is now fully gone. Fortunately, I had packed a borrowed Moby Wrap, so I was able to push Daniel in the stroller once we got the market.

I'm still deciding if I like the Moby. The benefits are that it is soft, holds the baby close, isn't too hot, and is a very simple design - just one very long piece of stretchy fabric. Matthew seems to have no complaints (see the post-shopper's satisfied look), but I found putting the wrap on in the parking lot to be a chore because the material is so long that it drags on the ground (I tried to let the excess drape into the car). I I think I'm not wearing it right yet, because Matthew started up at my chest and ended up at my bellybutton by the time I was done shopping... and that was with adjusting it once or twice. I saw a really cute carrier at church on Sunday that I would purchase had I the cash, but I might attempt to sew one if I get really brave.

But back to gardening. It seems some people I know grew amazing crops this summer, and some grew not so amazing crops. The former all have very sunny growing conditions, the latter have a decent bit of shade. Next summer the tomatoes will be moved to this year's corn plot, which is the sunniest spot in the yard. Though I may have taken the walk of shame and likely will many times again, I'm not giving up on urban gardening just yet, but a relocation to the countryside might boost my confidence.

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It's a Battlefield

This could be a miscalculation, but I think I've posted more pictures of pests than produce this summer. Since I'm on a roll, here's a few more.

How do you know if your cantaloupes are ripe? Well it seems that the wild critters have an uncanny ability to know, and I'm guessing they don't have to tap the melons to tell. I lost two cantaloupes earlier this week and then put out deer and bird netting on the remaining two.

The next morning, something had attempted to pull back the netting to finish up it's work on the canta-carcus from the night before. The bugs were feasting on the remains the next morning.

Fortunately, one of the remaining two mellons was ripe at the end of yesterday and it now on my kitchen table waiting to be sliced into.

Cucumber beetles have been busy munching on the remaining lettuce stalks.

Finally and most exciting is a yellow jacket nest I discovered after church. I went out in the 127 degree heat to water the charred remains of my two blueberry bushes and saw a hole in the ground. On further inspection I saw a yellow jacket fly into the hole. A smart person would have left it alone, but I shot the nest with a jet of water from about twenty feet away. I wasn't wearing my glasses, but it looked like there was a hot vapor around the hole. Really it was a swarm. Whoops. Joe who is highly allergic to bees decided he needed to take some pictures because at the time we didn't know if they were bees or yellow jackets. Thanks to a 15x optical zoom, he was able to stand six feet away (not far enough in my opinion) and get some great shots in series. He's now researching (googling) all these creative ways to get rid of the nest (dead fish over a bucket of water in a hanging tee-pee, anyone?). While we like that yellow jackets help control mosquitoes, an angry nest in the yard just isn't safe for a toddler.

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Ugly Tomato

If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never make pretty tomatoes your strife. So from my personal point of view, let ugly tomatoes grow for you!


I just ate a really ugly tomato that tasted AMAZING! Based on the flavor and its inside appearance, I think this was a "Red Kiss of Summer" that came from the harvested seeds of a different tomato. Last summer I had labeled one tomato as red and one as pink but suspected they were the same variety - just from different plants. It's fascinating how different individual tomatoes of the same breed can look in size and shape, even those off the same plant.

As for the ugly appearance of this fine fellow, the location of the plant is probably at fault. He was growing at the base of the deck which doesn't get much afternoon sun as it is on east side of the house. The healed over cracking is likely caused by irregular watering early in its growth. I've saved some seeds for next summer!

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Living with Daniel

One of the many joys of living with Daniel is when he interjects himself into conversations I have with Joe. The other morning after another long night of much milk slurping and little sleep, I was perched on Joe's lap... okay, perched makes me sound like a blond waif of a sunny yet restrained 1950's woman and in reality I am tall, broad shouldered brunette who is quite headstrong and "perches" nowhere ... I was goofily sprawled across Joe's lap, chest, arms, etc as he sat in the glider that has become "Daddy's chair" rather than the breastfeeding chair as intended upon purchase, when Joe looked at me and asked, "How is it that you are so perky and have so much energy?" "Don't you know? I'm magic!" to which Daniel chimes in with a big grin, "Daniel is magic!" We both laughed and I replied, "Yes, Daniel is magic!"

Daniel interjects himself into conversation so often that we occasionally have to request that he cease and desist. He is nothing if not persistent, as I assume most two-year-olds are, and often he will yell something like "APPLESAUCE!" at the top of his lungs in the middle of dinner conversation until one of us finally jumps up to get it for him - even if he has been asked to wait. We're working on manners with him, but patience and "not now but later" or "in just a minute" are concepts he seems to get but doesn't approve of... such as when we went to Lowes and he wanted to play on the riding mowers on the sidewalk but it was raining and I suggested we go to the indoor display.

Last night I awoke at 2:40 am to Daniel yelling, "Toothbrush! Hammer!" Daniel rarely ever gets up in the middle of the night, or at least he stays quiet if he does. I then had to go dig in his bed sheets for his foam, promotional "Home Depot" hammer and fetch one of his five toothbrushes from the sink. Yes, Daniel has five toothbrushes. When your kid likes to sleep with a toothbrush, you need several backups. Fortunately, Matthew was up soon after to nurse, so my small window of sleep wasn't totally blown to pieces. However, Daniel thought it was time to sing, so I had Matthew sleep in the bassinet in my room and put in earplugs. It is now 8:00 am and both boys are sleeping. Daniel must have worn himself out with his middle of the night tooth-brushing, singing and only God knows what he was hammering.

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Fall Gardening

Remember how last year I made a big hoopla about fall gardening? Well I missed the planting dates for most things other than broccoli and garlic, my spinach refused to sprout, and then bugs ate up all my broccoli. I am determined that this fall will be better, but first I must go ahead and clear some space!

Here are some fall planting dates for North Carolina, taken straight from this leaflet provided by NC Cooperative Extension Services. I've highlighted those I am considering planting (garlic should be included on that list). I am giving broccoli another go, but I will be applying Sevin®. Surprisingly pumpkins and winter squash were not included on this list. I believe the cutoff date was July 15, but at the risk of disease from cooler weather, you can stretch that out later.

Vegetables	Suggested Planting1	Suggested Cultivars
Asparagus (crowns)	Nov. 15–Mar. 15	Mary Washington, Jersey Giant, Jersey Gem
Beets	July 15–Aug. 15	Ruby Queen, Early Wonder, Red Ace, Pacemaker II
Broccoli	July 15–Aug. 15	DeCicco, Packman, Premium Crop, Green Duke, Emperor
Brussels sprouts	July 1–15	Long Island Improved, Jade Cross Hybrid
Cabbage (plants)	Aug 1–15	Round Dutch, Early Jersey Wakefield, Red Express, Red Rookie, Sweetbase
Cabbage, Chinese	Aug. 1–15	Pak Choi, Mei Ching, Jade Pagoda, China Pride
Carrots	July 1–15	Danvers Half Long, Spartan Bonus, Little Finger, Thumbelina, Scarlet Nantes
Cauliflower	Aug 1–15	Early Snowball “A”, Violet Queen, Snowcrown
Collards	July 15–Aug. 15	Vates, Morris’ Improved Heading, Carolina, Blue Max
Cucumbers, pickling	Aug. 1–15	Carolina, Calypso, Liberty (mtns.), County Fair ’83
Cucumbers, slicing	Aug. 1–15	Poinsett 76, Sweet Slice, County Fair ’83, Salad Bush, Fanfare
Kale	Aug. 15–Sept. 1	Green Curled Scotch, Early Siberian, Vates, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Blue Knight
Kohlrabi	Aug. 1–Sept. 1	White Vienna, Grand Duke Hybrid
Lettuce (leaf)	Aug. 1–Sept. 1	Grand Rapids, Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Red Sails, Romulus
Lettuce (head)	Aug. 15–31	Great Lakes, Ithaca
Mustard	Aug. 1–Sept. 15	Southern Giant Curled, Tendergreen, Savannah
Onions (seeds)	Sept. 1–30	Texas 1015, Granex 33, Candy
Onions (sets or plants)	Sept. 1–15	Ebenezer, Excell, Early Grano
Radishes	Aug. 15–Sept. 15	Early Scarlet Globe, Cherry Belle, Snowbells, White Icicle
Radish, Diakon	Aug. 15–Sept. 15	April Cross, H. N. Cross
Rutabagas	July 1–Aug. 1	American Purple Top, Laurentian
Spinach	Aug. 1–15	Hybrid 7, Dark Green Bloomsdale, Tyee Hybrid
Turnips	Aug. 1–31	Purple Top White Globe, Just Right, Tokyo Cross Hybrid, White Egg, All Top

1 Dates shown are for the upper coastal plain and lower piedmont. In western North Carolina plant 7 to 10 days earlier. In eastern North Carolina plant 7 to 10 days later.

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