Hey, local people
Mar. 12th, 2005 13:13![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillUm. Help...?
I'm waaay behind on the garden this year, and since I was too depressed last fall to prep for winter, the weeds are everywhere and reaching shoulder-height. It's a 35x45 plot, and I already have the front part cleared... but as I clear more of it, I'm realizing that between the late start, school, and more toxic exposures that sap a lot of my energy, I'm going to have real problems clearing the whole thing in time.
It's not difficult, it's a little bit of a workout (depending on how energetically you attack things; it can be pretty lazy), and no one person has to do the whole thing. If you can spare me an hour or two for weeding or tool-using, I'd be exceedingly grateful.
Even if you can't spare the time and energy, pretty much everyone within driving distance will get some windfall -- I really hope you like sugar snap peas.
I just finished picking the peas (it takes about forty minutes, mainly because green vines + green pods... well, you get the idea). They've hit their stride -- they gave me 1.415 kg today (that's 3.12 pounds) and they're going to continue giving me that much every two to three days. That's almost three gallon bags of pods a week, people. For those of you who are unfamiliar with vegetables: that does indeed qualify as a metric buttload of sugar snap peas. It would allow us to feed four people a full serving of peas every day, with some left over for snacking. (My mother calls them "zucchini in disguise" for a reason.)
Why did I plant this many? I like having too many rather than not enough. I like being able to give friends a bag of crunchy sweet peas without feeling deprived myself. Besides -- this is only a fourteen-foot-long row. Shorter than the short dimension of many bedrooms.
So everyone can have some, I expect. If you really particularly want them, tell me and I'll go out of my way to get them to you. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
emmett_the_sane can testify to their "you can't eat just one" qualities.) The bacterial spot started early this year with the warm weather, so this set may not last too long, five weeks tops... then I rip them out, and I may replant another set this summer depending on the weather.
Oh, which brings us to the "good news, bad news" portion of our program...
Good news: I spotted a colony of paper wasps. I know -- wasps? -- but unlike many people, I really like these guys. They're some of the least aggressive of the stinging insects, up there with honeybees, and they do a damn good job of pest control around here. I didn't have any tomato worms last year until very late in the season, and they're a real scourge in this area... I appreciate not having gigantic green caterpillars eating my tomato plants to stubs overnight. So I let the paper wasps be, they patrol vigilantly three times a day, they get nice juicy caterpillar feasts, I get my tomatoes, everyone's happy. They don't bug me unless I come within a foot or so of their nest, otherwise I am totally ignored.
Bad news:The nest -- about a half-inch in size so far, quite small -- is in my peas.
Even if this weren't an issue when I need to go pick peas every couple of days, I'm going to be tearing down the trellis in less than a month and a half. The peas will go crispy, I'll rip them out... but not if there's a palm-sized paper wasp nest there. Sigh. So I'll have to move them. That means nighttime, when they're sluggish... hopefully this evening will be pretty cold. It did strike me, however, that this means I can't tie up the sagging vines today, as I can't do that while someone is literally hovering over my shoulder as I work around the precious nest; it can be very hard to convince insects of one's benign intentions. Double sigh.
Such is life in the garden. Anyone want to come over? :)
I'm waaay behind on the garden this year, and since I was too depressed last fall to prep for winter, the weeds are everywhere and reaching shoulder-height. It's a 35x45 plot, and I already have the front part cleared... but as I clear more of it, I'm realizing that between the late start, school, and more toxic exposures that sap a lot of my energy, I'm going to have real problems clearing the whole thing in time.
It's not difficult, it's a little bit of a workout (depending on how energetically you attack things; it can be pretty lazy), and no one person has to do the whole thing. If you can spare me an hour or two for weeding or tool-using, I'd be exceedingly grateful.
Even if you can't spare the time and energy, pretty much everyone within driving distance will get some windfall -- I really hope you like sugar snap peas.
I just finished picking the peas (it takes about forty minutes, mainly because green vines + green pods... well, you get the idea). They've hit their stride -- they gave me 1.415 kg today (that's 3.12 pounds) and they're going to continue giving me that much every two to three days. That's almost three gallon bags of pods a week, people. For those of you who are unfamiliar with vegetables: that does indeed qualify as a metric buttload of sugar snap peas. It would allow us to feed four people a full serving of peas every day, with some left over for snacking. (My mother calls them "zucchini in disguise" for a reason.)
Why did I plant this many? I like having too many rather than not enough. I like being able to give friends a bag of crunchy sweet peas without feeling deprived myself. Besides -- this is only a fourteen-foot-long row. Shorter than the short dimension of many bedrooms.
So everyone can have some, I expect. If you really particularly want them, tell me and I'll go out of my way to get them to you. (
emmett_the_sane can testify to their "you can't eat just one" qualities.) The bacterial spot started early this year with the warm weather, so this set may not last too long, five weeks tops... then I rip them out, and I may replant another set this summer depending on the weather.Oh, which brings us to the "good news, bad news" portion of our program...
Good news: I spotted a colony of paper wasps. I know -- wasps? -- but unlike many people, I really like these guys. They're some of the least aggressive of the stinging insects, up there with honeybees, and they do a damn good job of pest control around here. I didn't have any tomato worms last year until very late in the season, and they're a real scourge in this area... I appreciate not having gigantic green caterpillars eating my tomato plants to stubs overnight. So I let the paper wasps be, they patrol vigilantly three times a day, they get nice juicy caterpillar feasts, I get my tomatoes, everyone's happy. They don't bug me unless I come within a foot or so of their nest, otherwise I am totally ignored.
Bad news:The nest -- about a half-inch in size so far, quite small -- is in my peas.
Even if this weren't an issue when I need to go pick peas every couple of days, I'm going to be tearing down the trellis in less than a month and a half. The peas will go crispy, I'll rip them out... but not if there's a palm-sized paper wasp nest there. Sigh. So I'll have to move them. That means nighttime, when they're sluggish... hopefully this evening will be pretty cold. It did strike me, however, that this means I can't tie up the sagging vines today, as I can't do that while someone is literally hovering over my shoulder as I work around the precious nest; it can be very hard to convince insects of one's benign intentions. Double sigh.
Such is life in the garden. Anyone want to come over? :)
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no subject
Date: 2005-03-13 08:02 (UTC)Of course, I'm also phobic of wasps, having had one too many run-ins with agressive ones.
Maybe it's not so bad that I'm on the other side of the continent...