Since I’ve shared all the good news, it’s only fair to share the bad news, especially since it is due to my own knuckle-headed move. Yes, I’ll admit it to the carnage– I accidentally massacred a whole bunch of big, healthy cucumber plants! A gardening guru friend recommended that I move them out of the raised box because they really need to spread all over the place and the box was already overflowing. That sure made sense. She looked around and recommended a patch in our yard that gets great sun, so I forged ahead. Bernie had put mulch over the area because the weeds proliferate there like crazy. He also mentioned that he had previously put some rocks in there, too. Well, it turns out there were TONS of rocks in there as well as some sort of layer to prevent weeds from popping up. So no sweat, I decided to clear out some of the volcanic rocks, cut thru the protective layer, add in some top-quality dirt, and transplant. Easy enough, huh? Well, after a total sweat-athon, I had moved them to their new digs. Done. Next chore?
By the next morning they were all but dead with little shriveled up leaves looking like an old lady’s hand. I’m not sure what did exactly did them in — the weird rocks, the protective layer, not enough good soil, etc. Another factor was that, unbeknownst to me, Daddy Mac had sprayed poison over the area a year or so back. That certainly could not have helped matters. Oy vey. I’m a cucumber wrecker. It looked like Atlanta after Sherman marched through to the sea.
Switching into EMT mode, I did an emergency removal of the lethargic plants, putting them into random pots while I tried to figure out what the heck to do with them. Where is the nearest plant ER by the way? Trauma center? Daddy Mac gallantly offered to build another box, and I gladly took him up on it. He went to Lowes and put it together in a jiffy. I moved the cucumber plants AGAIN and am waiting to see if they ever do perk up. If they do survive, I think they’ll be paraplegics. Those poor defenseless plants!
On Sunday we set off for Monticello, not realizing that so many other people had the same banner idea. When we arrived a the ticket window, the wait for the house tour was three-and-a-half hours. No way, Jose! So we went to the gift shop, usually my favorite place anyway. It turned out to be a stellar find. They had seeds that Jefferson used to plant at Monticello back in the day. (Not the same exact seeds, of course, but descendants.) I had recently read an article about these humungous cucumbers that he used to grow, and they happened to have some of those in stock. Hope springs eternal, so I planted some when we got back. Hopefully TJ’s seeds can work some quick magic and grow some mighty fine cukes to absolve my guilty conscience.
On a much brighter note, some of the plants have little flowers on them, like this broccoli and tomato plant.
And the sugar snap pea plants are actually growing some real peas! Dang! I never thought it would really happen!
So this is how people subsisted before Walmart came to town. I am quite thankful for our handy-dandy grocery stores, though. It’s stressful enough when you are doing it for fun, let alone relying upon its success for your livelihood and downright survival. Let’s hear it for the pioneers! It’s hard to imagine how devastated they must have been when they lost their crops to drought, locust, or something else way beyond their control. We’ve got it good.
LibbY