...which makes me depressed to look at them, which makes me not go out there as much, which results in me neglecting my plants somewhat, which just worsens the whole situation. It's a vicious cycle.
I've told you before about my habit of rapidly cycling through hobbies. My husband who likes to make overly confident statements predicting my actions has said both that my garden "looks like it's in its dying cycle again" and that he thinks I will likely be "moving on soon from gardening." ...thanks for the vote of confidence.
While I admit that my garden has looked somewhat ragged recently and I have eyed other interests I am planning on getting into with my new-found free time (namely cooking: I just bought "Cooking for Geeks" and am very excited about it as it approaches cooking from a scientific point of view), I am not intending on neglecting my garden, it's in my blood, people! I've got a little bit longer, I've got a ways to go! (what a great song!) So yes, here's some updates...
1. I am pronouncing the heirloom tomato project over, with an overall grade of D (not F because at least it did not die immediately). This is what the tomato looks like today:
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| *sigh* |
I plan to pull it down later this afternoon (when it cools down a bit, my goodness!). I really wanted to hold out hope. My parents were here last weekend and helped me prune it and taught me about tapping on the stems with flowers to help stimulate pollination. But this problem child has looked persistently out of control, Evan has complained persistently about what an eyesore it is, and despite being over 6 feet tall with many chances to have grown tomatoes by now, it has remained barren.
Today, Evan also received a big bag of home grown tomatoes from someone lovely at work (thanks, Janice!).
Upon seeing how prolific other people's tomatoes are, I'm saying, better luck next time and fare thee well in tomato heaven, Great White.
2. Not all things are terrible. Here is a photo from today of the thriller filler spiller pot that I talked about in a recent post. It looks great! I will say the filler and spiller look somewhat more distinguishable in real life, but next time I may choose slightly more obviously different plants. The Muehlenbeckia in particular has grown into a spectacular tangle of delicate little round leaves and the Fuchia has a number of beautiful flowers blooming constantly.
3. Our succulent science experiment is growing well. Even the Crassula stem that I just tossed in there has sprouted roots and curved upward at the tip. For comparison, here is the link to that first post.
4. Actually, all my succulents are growing well. I love succulents. Pictured below is my gift succulent I've talked about before. It's grown!
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| Also from Janice... thank you! |
5. And lastly, to overcome this mid-summer gardening death depression, I went shopping today and-- surprise, surprise-- bought a number of new plants which I intend to plant tomorrow. My sister is also coming to visit the day after tomorrow and her new man is joining next week, and naturally, I want to look like the green-thumbed gardener that I sometimes think that I am. So, lots of new and interesting plants (all heat and drought resistant!). More later, but here's a preview of an exciting plant I had never seen before:
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| Ptilotus Joey (with Maidenhair Fern behind it) |
And that is all for today. Stay tuned and stay cool!
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