Green Things

I can't believe that we're seeing September already. WHERE did the summer go?! In fact, where has this year gone?! Before we even blink we're going to be singing Christmas songs and slogging through the snow (well, some of us will be snow-bound ... the rest of you will probably just be cold!). Several of you know my personal theory (I really believe it's true): I think the world is spinning just a bit faster than it used to and therefore a second isn't as long as a second used to be. I was talking to my brother, Scott yesterday and he gave me another interesting theory: he thinks the earth is tilting a bit too. That could help to explain why the light is changing from summer light (yellow light) to fall light (a bluer light where everything looks a bit sharper) almost a MONTH early these days!!!!!!!!!!!

"Sigh."

Well, in honor of summer I wanted to talk about my "granola months" (I've been doing all sorts of hippie-like things such as sprouting, herbs, etc.) but that'll be next post. Seems like everyone around me is canning, freezing, putting things up, etc. and for the first time in my life I'm feeling just a little envious and a little left out. I never had a canning urge in my life until this year. Isn't that odd? But FIRST I want to talk about Ruth's garden.

I've so enjoyed watching it grow this year. Ruth always grows green peppers and banana peppers every year, and she has a huge strawberry patch she's cultivated in an old swimming pool set up on cinder blocks (darn, I forgot to take a picture of it). I usually don't pay a lot of attention to the garden, either. But this year was different. A good man in our ward helped Ruth build a raised garden space in the middle of our big, dusty, lawn-free backyard where there was good full sun. Ruth decided to try her hand at some new stuff: corn and white bulb onions, PLUS her usual green peppers, banana peppers and one zucchini plant (which is PLENTY - that sucker is producing like crazy!). She even let me plant my one lone tomato bush in the corner of her garden plot. I try one tomato plant each year, to see if I can actually do it. I haven't had much success but I keep trying. Most years Ruth takes over because I just flat-out forget about it. Last year I was too diligent and over-watered the poor baby (and all the little tomatoes got bottom rot). This year I decided to try a Roma tomato plant and I'm only watering once a week, deeply, at the excellent suggestion of a good friend.

But I digress (to myself, wouldn't you know it?). Here's the crazy part: Ruth also ended up planting a bunch of potatoes! She said she was cutting off a bunch of potato eyes one evening and she thought, "Hmm, I wonder if these would grow? Awwww, I don't want to deal with all that work." But before she could even stop herself she had propelled herself out the door and found herself planting all those eyes in a little plot right next to her garden. It's so funny -- she said one minute she was thinking "No way" and the next minute she found herself on her knees, digging in the dirt! Hahahaha. Well shock and of all shocks - ALL those eyes grew into potato plants. She hasn't dug any up to see if there are actual potato roots, but that's coming. I hope there are!

So ... everyone got such a late start here this year because winter lasted so long, and many of us have wondered if our gardens would grow. Last year we didn't get to grow food-stuff at all in our area because the city sprayed a powerful poison to eradicate the Japanese beetle bug. This year (bless them!) they used a pesticide that allowed us to eat our fruits and veggies. But then the weather stayed cold longer than usual. Still ... we're seeing rewards at last and it's soooo satisfying. Here's my picture chronicle -- enjoy!

RUTH BEGINS ... new dirt, new space ...

Notice Brizzy ... he (and Cowboy) have to "help" with anything we're doing:

All those little plant babies just waiting to stretch their root-toes ...

Do you see the dots of yellow? Those are marigold plants ... they're supposed to keep away some of the pesky bugs (not to mention mosquitoes). I LOVE marigolds. I've decided they're my favorite flower. They are so bright and colorful and happy-looking AND hearty.

There were some anxious weeks when I kept wondering if anything would really grow (I don't think Ruth ever doubted, though), and then ... like a miracle ... everything just started to expand in a very short time:


The following picture should show you Ruth's potato patch. It's right in front in its own little box. Just LOOK at how high the potato plants have grown! All from eyes. Amazing. You also notice the spiky wooden posts and the big white vinyl siding? That's to keep Cowboy and Briz out, if you can believe it. Ruth was afraid the Boyz would tromp through the middle of the dirt (they would) and maybe even lie down among the greenery (again, they would). But one thing we didn't expect: Cowboy kept eating the corn stalks. He had a bad bout of "I-think-I'm-sick-and-I-MUST-eat anything-green-so-I-can-fix-it". Sheesh. He even ate all the green leaves off one of Ruth's plants in the house (but again I digress -- that's a story for another day).

Everything continues to grow ...

And just look at how high the corn is getting! MAN it was exciting to see those puppies shoot up. So pretty and so ... REAL! Real corn!!!!!!! Wow.

Here's my tomato plant ... it's not easy to see - just looks like a big bush. It sure is thick but it has a LOT of green tomatoes (still ... they keep ripening one or two at a time, which is very odd but a relief):

And HERE is Ruth and her successful garden (well, you get a good view of the corn anyway. It was so pretty with the late afternoon sun shining through the leaves and a storm-darkening sky in the background, I ended up going for an artsy picture rather than a "see this," like I was supposed to be doing):


At last - some of the bounty! I couldn't decide which picture I liked better so you get them both:

We just have the zucchini and corn pictured because the peppers are still growing and just getting ready to be picked. Every time I look at these pictures I laugh, because that one zucchini looks like a big honkin' worm crawling up Ruth's shoulder! Hahahahahaha. But let me show you MY bounty (hah):
Not quite as impressive as Ruth's foods but still I'm proud of myself. I added a green tomato in there because they are just staying green for the longest time!!!!! Longer than is usual.

And lastly, just for fun I've thrown in a picture of Ruth's mimosa tree, which is actually growing:

She has one in the front yard too but it's nothing but a stick. She's going to have to admit defeat with that one and take it down before winter sets in. I want to tell you about this mimosa tree though ... these are special to Ruth because when she was a little girl growing up in southern Louisiana, her dad decided to bring in mimosa trees to sell. All the mimosa trees you see growing in her area are directly connected to her dad. So when we saw one at the Water Conservation Garden in Riverton a few years ago she freaked. She had no idea they could grow here in this desert climate. But they do! She found two and planted one in our backyard, one in the front. This lovely little guy has survived ... and each year he's getting bigger and stronger and bushier. Really wonderful, yes?

So there you have it: Ruth's garden. I have promised Debbie that the next time Ruth eats one of her corns I will take a little movie with my camera of the Boyz eating her corn (they eat it just like we humans do, with our front teeth). The corn she grew is very sweet, by the way. YUM!