I have a leaf-hopper problem. They are not usually a big enough issue for the “insects of the garden” book to give more than a nod to dealing with them. But they ruined last year’s grape crop. Instead of the hundred pounds I expected, I got about twenty-five, if that. Read more…
The roof of wooden lattice suspended on three long pieces of metal pipe supported by aging wooden trellis on one end and a rusting archway on the other finally gave up the ghost! I planted the Thompson seedless grape vines the first spring we lived in this house (over fifteen Read more…
It all started with some bad housekeeping… I had bought some sweet potatoes that somehow never made it to the table. Instead they languished in the cupboard, waiting to be used, enjoyed for the purpose for which they were grown. The days grew longer, and the sweet orange roots began Read more…
Moses had led the nation of Israel through forty summers of blistering heat and brutal thunderstorms. He longed for his last words to them to be like the gentle rains of winter and the trickling dews of spring. Oh, how we love the tender sprouts of spring here in the Read more…
I am more like Jonah than I often recognize. He sat under a volunteer vine, glad of its shade and God’s apparent favor, waiting for God to “keep His word” and destroy the city of his enemies. How quickly he had forgotten his own experience of God’s rescue of him Read more…
Most of what we have eaten from the garden in the last few months came from things I did not plant! Little orange bell peppers, butternut squash, tiny tomatoes, mint for garnish and upset tummies, and everywhere-you-look succulent superfood purslane! All volunteer! I have watered and tended them, picked or Read more…
I have been under the pruning shears for my whole life, but the last year and a half have been pretty severe. This morning I have a little more insight into what Jesus was saying when He said the Father prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it may Read more…
The rat that was taken down (see last week’s post) had been doing more damage than I realized. Only three days after its demise, I began to see fruit in the garden again. Tiny cucumbers, little melons, dozens of the foot-long Asian green beans appeared where there had been none Read more…
We have had a rat… for several months…in the house and in the yard.I have been attempting defensive and deterrent maneuvers: placing chicken-wire frames over young seedlings, harvesting the late fruit from the orange tree, encouraging our dog to hunt the thing, moving the potatoes to another cupboard, all the Read more…
Not long ago I was working in the garden. I had planted my summer squash and zucchini too close together and the crowding was resulting in not enough zucchini production. (When has that ever happened?) The thinning was long overdue and the plants were a tangle of living and dead Read more…