(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Street Prophets Friday: In a Werelynx's Garden [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-02

Salutations! my crunchy critters, and welcome to another open-threaded bit of Friday-flavored fluff. This week, I'm sticking closer to home and worried about the effects of this dry spell on my poor garden in my absence. So many seeds planted last weekend, so many tiny, delicate plants just withering away out in the country. Far from my trusty watering can, I'm hoping you won't mind me posting some photos of how things were— so full of promise, a youthful glow of naive hope ...

I suppose it’s just part of the whole lycanthropy thing, living in two worlds. The workaday week is usually spent in a relatively small apartment in the big city, while the weekends are spent out in the country at a 200-ish year-old Czech farmhouse called a “chalupa” (with the ch being the throaty ch of words like chutzpah). I've been doing what I can to maintain a little garden there for the last 30 years.

The Chalupa, with the stump of an old ash tree that Mrs the Werelynx grows a collection of little plants on and around.

Fairly early in my reign, I planted four lilacs, each of a different color. Only the pale purple has survived and was in full bloom last weekend.

The rhododendrons were also in full bloom. Planted at the same time, the deeper red/pink one had been damaged by hard frosts and wind. I moved it to a more sheltered spot where it seems pretty stunted next to the pale pink one.

A vase of wildflowers collected from the yard

The garden, hidden behind the main building, it is partially in shade for much of the morning.

#1 Son and I set up this little box of fencing which encloses a small mound of compost and clay that I've planted a few pumpkins on.

View of the garden from an upper window.

The annotated version. Is that legible?

Well, I had fun putting that image together. I just had to indicate where the strawberries are. A few more may pop up. There's a lot of empty space— I'm anticipating a big trellis of cucumbers to slot in there, basically off stage to the right, but perhaps alongside the currants. Any room not occupied by cucumbers would of course be packed with spreading squash vines and the transplanted seedling bush tomatoes and fennel. Sigh, a hairy lad can dream, can’t he? Between droughts and slugs, who knows what'll be left to harvest in the Autumn.

There are a couple patches of mulch that I didn't bother to label. One of them is just under the butternut squash. And off to the right of the long butternut squash mound there are a few potatoes just beginning to show. I trimmed the hairy bits off the last of the potatoes we'd stored over the winter in the cellar, let the bits dry for a day or two, hardening you know, spread them out on a small patch of dirt and covered them with an ankle-deep pile of leaves and grass clippings. I think the voles got them last year, but most years I'll get a basket of essentially free potatoes from a handful of hairy bits.

That butternut squash represents great changes in my little garden. Not only is it the first time I've grown that particular squash, but it's parked in the old asparagus bed. The asparagus has finally petered out. I managed to find three spindly, little plants struggling up this Spring— a far cry from the asparagus patch that once offered a dozen nice meals over the season. I dug them out and popped them in the triangular raised bed in the back. With a bit of luck, there'll be a raised bed of asparagus in a couple of years.

On the balcony here at home, I've got some potential cucumbers attempting to sprout, a pretty little thing called “Vietnamese Coriander” and a yellow zucchini plant. Not sure where to put the coriander thing, it likes boggy, soggy soil. The yellow zucchini is a gift from #2 Son's girlfriend's mother. Hmm, need to find a corner to tuck that into somewhere.

I may not have the green thumb gene inherited from my grandfather, but the struggle continues to entertain and occasionally nourish.

Thanks for stopping by.

This is an open thread.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/6/2/2172838/-Street-Prophets-Friday-In-a-Werelynx-s-Garden

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/