venerdì, aprile 10, 2009

The Requisite Recession Container Gardening Blog Entry

The tomatoes and tomatilloes my daddy got going during his visit a few weeks ago have, now that I've taken a bunch of sick days, successfully (I think) got transplanted. I thought they were just tomatilloes, but now I see the Roma package is open too, even though Dad said they weren't likely to do well in a container. Well, we'll see how it all goes, and if any of them even reach fruit, because I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing. While my aunt was here, I wished aloud that I'd paid more attention to Dad's garden when I was little - and she pointed out that there had been no way either I, my brothers, or my cousins would ever have been allowed into our guinea daddies' gardens for fear we'd fuck something up (ethnic slurs and cuss words are mine, not hers). Which is a good point. I guess I'll just have to struggle blind for awhile. Thank god for the internet, let's put it like that.

Also today seperated our giant mummy aloe from her pups - an operation the internet told me would be easy but which I continue to find nerve-wracking, and will until I see the mummy keep growing again and the pups getting going on their own.

Also nerve-wracking is that the F-word and I are now two gardeners on one balcony. He had been the only one until Dad got the tomatoes going and I started feeling proprietary, just as he got into a major painting jag that has taken up time he might have previously spent on toying with plants. Fine so far, except since I started I've noticed half our plants are infested with fungus gnats, which I understand are from over-watering, and now every time the F-word goes to water the plants I get all pained. No doubt unfairly since, as I pointed out, I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing. Anyways. I'm using cinnamon, a very weak hydrogen peroxide solution, and nagging about checking to see if the soil is damp to get rid of the gnats. I'll let you know how it goes. I've wanted a garden for awhile now, but now I want one for territoriality issues if nothing else.

Last nerve-wracking thing is that I've noticed some little patchinesses on our Madagascar dragon tree. It's still growing gangbusters and probably needs to get stuck into a yet bigger pot before long, but it's been such an unfussy duck of a plant that any sign of ill health on it disturbs me, as it deserves better. Isn't that a great name? Madagascar dragon tree. For such a wee little unassuming thing that comes in the most basic imaginable gift baskets next to African violets, too.

Nessun commento: