Lil's Garden

  "Cease to dwell on days gone by and to brood over past history. Here and now I will do a new thing; this moment it will break from the bud. Can you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:18, 19 (NEB) I have to admit that I have done my share of brooding about the lack of rain, about the intense heat, about the coronovirus that separates me from my family, about the fires in the west and the hurricanes in the south, about the divisions and unrest in our country. But I am amazed about the resiliency of creation. I cannot perceive it. Just a few weeks ago everything was dead, dying, or struggling to hang on to life. Then we had some rain and cooler temperatures, and this is what happened.     This morning I was greeted by a profusion of purple morning glories on the garden fence, morning glories that I didn't plant...   and a cascade of white morning glories all over the garden gate. These beautiful zinnias planted themselves. They were leftover seeds from the long, hot summer. ...

 I woke up this morning to 59 degrees on the thermometer and 4 inches of rain on the rain gauge. Everyone is happy that the long, hot, dry summer is finally over. I did manage to get the tomato seedlings in the ground before the weather change. They had to endure a bit of wind, but they seem to have fared all right. Maybe we'll have some Novas, Juliets, Sun Golds, Sweet 100s, and Black Cherries in another month or so. I love it when the garden plants itself. I don't think I would have planted zinnias and watermelons together on purpose, but we'll see what happens. The blackeyed peas are blooming again, and there is such a variety of big fat bees and wasps all over them. The deer nibbled on them a bit too, but I think there will be enough to share. I've already put several bags in the freezer. They're tasty. The basil continues to thrive. If you need some basil, don't go to HEB, just stop by and pick some. I try to keep the blooms picked off, so the plants will c...

  Robert and I are breathing a sigh of relief. This week we had 4.49 inches of rain, and the temperature has not ventured over the 100 degree mark for several days. The rain lilies came out in all their glory.   And some others are joining in on the joy. I've planted the last of the sweet potatoes. They're all netted up against the deer. I found another little batch of grasshopper nymphs on one of the leaves this morning. Enough, already. We have enough grasshoppers. The basil is blooming all over the place. I've been trying to snip the blooms off the basil, but I can't keep up. The bees and bugs are loving the blooms, though.    The eggplants are recovering from the heat. These tiny ones are called Fairy Tale Eggplants. I'm not sure how to prepare them. I bet I can find out on the internet somewhere. It even looks like we might have a crop of pecans this year.  In the near future we hope to plant some tomatoes,  and some leafy greens. Now, if onl...

  The 100 degree plus weather has relegated our gardening time to only an hour or so right around dusk. I think we have one more week of this really hot weather before we can get serious about the fall garden. Meanwhile...  We have just broken ground on our new barndorminium. The structure is situated smack in the middle of the prairie with two huge old pecan trees framing the front. It will house a garage, a breezeway, and three small rooms. We hope to use it for education about the prairie, gardening, sustainability, spiritual practice, creation care, and whatever else comes up. For a couple of weeks before the Bobcat moved in, we rescued some of the grasses that would be destroyed by the construction.    We filled up all the pots that we had with grasses, and then just planted the grasses in the little greenhouse that we have out back. I've been watering them every day, and they seem to love the respite from the heat that the shade cloth provides. They are flouris...

I ran across this saying when I was looking on the internet for a descriptive phrase for the heat that didn't contain any cuss words. The operative words are "blister" and  "pepper." That's pretty hot. However, as it turns out, we did have an infestation of blister bugs on our eggplants last week. This heat has stressed all the plants and made them susceptible to infestations by insects. Overnight the blister beetles consumed all the leaves on four plants. An application of diatomaceous earth seemed to take care of those little critters. And the eggplants are making a bit of a comeback.  We have seen an influx of critters looking for a fresh bite of anything the last few weeks. The garden has fed us all summer and now it's feeding the critters.  The deer have been disregarding our magic fishing line fence and having nourishing nibbles of the jalapenos and the peanuts.   So we are trying one more fix. We've put up another short fence of colorful twine...