Yesterday my boss turned me loose from work a little early. I came straight home, changed clothes, grabbed my hat, gloves, and a jug of iced water, and went to the garden. A combination of bad weather and a case of bronchitis had kept me from doing all but the most necessary maintenance. (Heck, I still hadn't (haven't) even planted everything I intended to grow!) The garden was a grassy mess. I dragged Mr. Easy from the shed and went to work.
It was HOT yesterday, probably still close to 90 degrees when I started. Pop-Pop's big fan was running full blast in his workshop. I'd till a while, and then go drink a glass of water in front of the fan. During my first break, Nanny came out to look for me. "I heard the tiller quit," she said, "but couldn't see you from the kitchen window. I was scared you'd fell out!"
"Not yet," I told her.
A few minutes after I went back to work, I looked up to find Nanny in the garden, hoeing the grass that I hadn't been able to reach with the tiller. Bless her! While she did the weeding, I finished the tilling and planted two rows of green beans. A little while later, my daughter-in-law and grandson showed up. They helped us plant more tomatoes. Still later, The Husband arrived on his bicycle, and he helped by watering the tomatoes and dusting the squash plants with insecticide powder. It was just about to get dark by the time we finished putting the tools away.
All this time, I'd seen nothing of Pop-Pop. Just as we were preparing to quit for the day, he and The Nephew drove up, towing a lawnmower on a trailer. Pop-Pop went straight into the house. Nanny explained that they'd gone to mow the yard of a friend who has been under the weather. "He must be in pain," I told Nanny, "else he'd be out here supervising."
"Well, you've made remarkable progress this evening, despite the lack of supervision," she said.
A few minutes later, he came rolling out to the garden on his electric scooter. "I came to see if you've done it right," he said.
I high-tailed it out of there before he had a chance to inspect the work and point out to me the error of my ways. ;)
But the garden does, indeed, look 200% better, even if I didn't do everything 100% correctly.
On the agenda for tonight: more tilling, and the planting of the purple hull peas.
Speaking of peas....
Last month, when I went to see our family doctor about my bronchitis, I explained that I'd woke up sick the day after I'd worked hard in the garden. At the mention of the word "garden," his ears perked up. "You garden?" I nodded. "I try." After the examination, he brought up the subject of gardening again. "How do you put up your black-eyed peas?" he asked me. I told him that I just blanch them and put them in freezer bags. He said that one of his elderly patients had recommended putting the shelled, un-washed peas in a pillow case, tying it shut, and stuffing it in the freezer. He said he had tried it, and it had worked beautifully. "You just dip out what you need for a meal, rinse them off, and cook them," he said, "and they taste just like fresh peas."
"No freezer taste?"
"Nope."
Might try that this year, myself.
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Note to self: sprayed the second dose of blight fungicide on the tomatoes yesterday. Do it again next week.
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