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| Soaker hoses leak methodically but are most efficient at the faucet and any joints. |
I was skeptical about rain coming today, because the radar showed nothing coming over from Oklahoma or up from Texas and the Gulf. I decided to plant some more seeds in the hot, humid, sunny morning.
I planted hollyhocks against the house in the sunny garden, where sunflowers and tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins were growing.
We started the future corn patch last night, so I had a row to fill in the backyard. I added to the digging of our helper and planted a row of mammoth aka striped aka Russian sunflowers.
Real spinach, Malabar spinach, radish, and lettuce seeds will soon arrive. Radish germinates, pops up, and grows fast. Some use radish as markers when they plant other crops, doubtless to quell planter's panic when the gardener thinks, "Nothing will come up. All is lost."
Lettuce can be sown, it is so easy to grow. Loosen some soil with a rake and fling the seed. "A sower went out to sow..."
The sun was bright, and I felt no cool breeze suggesting an upcoming storm. Coming inside, I saw sunlight dimming in the house as the sky darkened. Soon a loud thunderstorm broke so hard that turning off the water on the front gardens seemed unwise.
The thunderstorm was impressive, bringing hail in another part of the area. The sky was very dark as the rain beat down on the roof.
Outside I could watch the rose garden in the heavy rain, with water already pooling the the backyard. It was pooling in the well drained front yard too, because the hose had been on for some time.
Mulch holds the soil in place during a powerful thunderstorm, and keeps soil from dispersing in the wind when the weather is dry.
Once the plants germinate I can sprinkle cypress mulch in the rows to suppress weed growth from then on.
Some weeds will still grow through mulch. Ruth Stout, the mulch pioneer, said, "Pull the weeds and place them on top, as mulch to keep the rest of the weeds from growing." Doubtless she saw that as making the punishment fit the crime.
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| Baby radishes say, "Your name is not Agent Orange. You can grow green things." |
Radish Fun
Radishes come in many varieties and shapes, all tasting about the same to me. I have grown the odd ones, only to have people say, "What is that?"
Like carrots, we eat the roots of the plant. We can let radishes bold and form their seed pods. The pods are radishy in flavor but taste milder.
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| Radish seed pods will fool most people. "I can eat that? Really?" |
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| Mangel wurzel - not catching on in the States. |
I like Atlantic Giant pumpkins because even the small ones are large and homely. The leaves are more like umbrellas. Our helper is worried about some weeds in the sunny garden. The pumpkins will shade them out as soon as they get their growth.
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| The robin was working in a driving rain today, enjoying no competition for the worms. |