This morning I got up and I thought to myself . . yesterday I spent almost the entire day in the bed or in the chair alternating with heat and ice on my back and it was still hurting. I had asked the doctor . . if I go out and work in the garden, am I making the “injury” worse? He said no . . I would probably be in more pain but I wasn’t going to hurt anything so long as I wasn’t lifting or twisting too much.
The garden is planted and without me being out there weeding and watering, and picking what needed picking, it’s all going to be wasted. Last year was such a bad year for the garden and everything is looking so good this year, I couldn’t stand the thought of letting it all go to waste so . . I put on my boots and headed out to the garden. The entire time I was out there, I kept thinking . . get it done while you can because if you stop, you won’t be back out here so I worked as long as I could, came in and yes, I was hurting but the garden looks good.
Snow Peas
That’s a lot of snow peas! About half of them need to be shelled and the rest need to be “stringed” and I’ll blanch and freeze them all. The vines are starting to die and there are no more blooms so I may get about half this many again but by next weekend, these vines will probably all need to be pulled out. We have a high this week of 94º and that will be the end of most of my cool weather plants.
Carrots
These carrots are almost like chomping on a piece of candy. They are so sweet and so crunchy. I’m going to miss them when they’re gone. Starting towards the end of August or the first of September, depending on the grasshopper situation, I can start planting them again.
Peas
I will never have a totally weed free garden and you can see weeds in this picture. I did manage to finish hoeing between the rows of peas/beans (after this picture was taken) but that row of weeds along the right side of the picture . . still there. That’s a water line Vince just covered and I need to get those weeds out and maybe plant something there! Why waste space?
The beans and peas are doing great. Some of them are about to start blooming. We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow and that would help tremendously. I was trying to water today but it was so windy, I’m not sure I ever had the sprinklers going in the directions they needed to go. This year, only the tomatoes are set up on the irrigation lines, along with a few squash plants that I stuck in with the tomatoes where I had openings. That’s Vince’s department and at this point, I’ll just take what I can get.
Raised Beds
These are the new raised beds. The one on the left (mostly not seen in the picture) has the yacon that’s all just coming back out. The one shown above is mostly herbs with pie pumpkins growing around the outsides. Darn . . . I was mulching today and I should have mulched that bed and didn’t.
Horseradish
The horseradish looks like it’s happy in the pots. Three pots of horseradish should give us enough to use for the year and some to save for planting next year.
Lemon Squash
If it rains tomorrow as predicted and if the rest of the week is as warm and sunny as predicted, we should be picking lemon squash by the end of next week. It’s just plain yellow squash, though it’s supposed to be bug resistant, and it’s shaped like a lemon. Squash bugs totally destroyed my squash last year so I’m hopeful this squash will work well. It has great ratings at Baker Creek/Rare Seeds. There was even a review from someone in Brownwood! How weird is that? Someone else trying to garden in this hostile environment.
Berry Patch
A couple of weeks ago Vince tilled up a spot for me to plant my berries so I got those planted and mulched. Four goji berries. Three elder berries. Two Hanson bush cherries and one lonely gooseberry . . that will probably dislike the Texas heat and wither and die but unless I try it, I will never know, right?
The elder berries were blooming in their little pots and the goji berries were some I bought and planted in pots last year and they made berries last year. They get a bit of shade so I’m hoping they’ll be happy and not shrivel and die in the heat.
It was a busy day and though it felt good to be out working in the garden, I’m paying the price now.
Joyce says
I’ll have to look for that kind of squash around here. I had a fabulous crop of butternut squash going last year, and I had to fight the squash bugs to the bitter end to get any. I bought a different kind of insecticide last week that is supposed to kill squash bugs. They just laughed at the Sevin last year. Hate those squash bugs…
Diannesmith04@gmail.com says
We love those lemon squash!!
Teresa says
We have elderberries that grow wild in our tree grove. They are so beautiful in bloom and the berries are such a pretty purple. I have lots of recipes to make with them, but timing of the blooms and the fruit is difficult with my schedule. I did make elderberry flower water once. It was a bit odd. What are you going to do with them?
Carol says
never heard of lemon squash but I’m certainly going to look for it. love anything lemon and squash as well so it’s bound to be delicious. sorry you are still having sciatic pain. it’s going to take a while and my experience was after living (?) with it for a few months and almost being unable to do much of anything–and I did the icing/heat/pain meds, I did 6 weeks of physical therapy (usually twice a week) and it made ALL the difference in the world. not only did the therapist relieve the pain, but taught me so much with things to do at home should it ever happen again. I am pain free now and it’s unbelievable. She had me do specific exercises at home between my appointments. Yes, it’s also a PAIN to have to go into town for those appointments but what a difference they made. Well worth the time and dollars. When your back hurts (and my pain went down the back of my leg to my foot) it just about cripples you.
wanda j says
Judy,
I’m not saying your doctor is wrong but here is what I’ve found out over the years. I’ve had 3 major back surgeries myself.
I was told in the beginning that our disc in our backs are like jelly filled donuts. When we hurt it a piece ( bite) on the outside breaks off and the jelly spills out and causing the pain. Then you rest and it scabs over. It will be ok for awhile if you take care and rest it . Then next time that you hurt your back the scab comes off with a wee be more jelly coming out. Then finally it whole donut gets empty of jelly or cushion . Then surgery is the only answer.
So be careful right now let your back heal before doing to much. Bending, racking, vacumning and any bending movement. That all takes it tole on your back. Let it rest from all of this. I know your garden won’t stop but what happens if you get down and can’t do a thing for 6 weeks.
Just a thought for you to ponder on.