Deirdre's Garden Diary: 2006 June-July

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:: 07.26.06 ::

Local Gardener Grows Giant Cabbages

I saw this photo and an article in the newspaper a few weeks ago about a woman and her garden...her name is Eljo Garza and she is now known locally as the woman that grew a 16-pound cabbage.

I was excited to read this story, not because the cabbage was so big...which is of course amazing...but because I noticed in the article that she lived very close to me and was probably dealing with the same weather conditions and seasonal problems that I was facing in my own garden.

I don't know what got into me but I called the reporter that did the story and asked if she could put me in contact with Ms Garza. She did and today I had a wonderful discussion with Elja over the phone about gardening, cattle and cats. I felt a little weird contacting someone I had read about in the paper, but I really wanted to learn more about how she maintains her garden. From talking to her on the phone it is obvious she has a wealth of information to share.

It would be great to meet Elja and see her garden space. Hopefully I will have more info about her here in the garden diary in the future. I look forward to talking with her again. She was a very sweet and entertaining woman.

Thanks Elja for the wonderful chat!

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:: 07.25.06 ::

Garden Helpers

I haven't done much in the garden this summer...uuhm, let me correct that...I haven't done ANYTHING in the garden this summer. I have just let it all go. It's too hot and the drought has pretty much killed everything off. I feel bad about it and I have been trying to keep it moderatly watered, especially the flower beds, but what little I have done hasn't really made much of a difference. It just clarifys that we really need to get the water well's pump up and running again; that will be expensive to repair but worth it in the long run since it will save money watering in summer...which will save the plants and what is left of the grass.

Tommy and brother Shawn with their pup "Oreo"
scavenge the yard for fallen tree limbs.

Despite my lack of interest in getting out in this heat wave, the neighborhood kids have been keeping an eye on the yard and its neglect. They see the potential to earn some cash. After turning them away more than a few times, (they wanted to mow the yard, but all the grass is dead!) I finally gave them the option of doing a few other chores. I figured they would poop out after about 20 minutes in this 100 degree heat and call it quits, but they did pretty good...they lasted about an hour.

Tommy puts some muscle into yanking out dried up asters!

They gathered the fallen limbs and sticks from the yard. They raked up some old leaves for the compost pile and yanked out the dried up asters and some other weeds that were taking over the front flower bed. They got more accomplished in an hour than I have done all summer! They say they will come back tomorrow to do more, earlier in the morning when it's cooler...ok, well see how that goes? *wink

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