Don't count your chickens, but don't give up...

The Earthly Gardener by Bobbi A. Chukran
March 12, 2007

Dear friends,

I was annoyed to find that some of the seedlings I’m growing here in my office succumbed to some kind of withering disease. Maybe damping off, which is a sort of fungus. A good cure for that is to water them with chamomile tea. Also, two of the tomato plants I bought at a nearby garden center withered and fell over practically overnight. I suspect that the plants might have been carriers of some sort of virus that spread to the seedlings.

Lesson learned. I had already thought about all the salsas, homemade sauces and sundried tomatoes I would make from the fruit of those seedlings. In other words, I was “counting my chickens before they hatched”, as we say down here.

But, as we also say, never give up. I seem to have a stubborn Gardener Gene passed along to me from my paternal grandmother, and her parents who were farmers and share croppers, and my maternal AND paternal great-grandparents, who were avid gardeners. So I suppose I couldn’t give up on gardening if I even wanted to!

I’ll replant more tomato seeds, make a trip to the garden center with withered plants in hand and demand that they exchange them for something else.

We had a violent storm last night with almost 4-inches of rainfall. Many areas around here are flooded, but we’re up on a hill so that’s not a problem for us. The house shook with the thunder, and the lightning was fierce and so bright I could have read from the front porch if I’d wanted to. We needed the rain, but we didn’t need it all at once! On the bright side, our rainwater collection tanks are full. Since we are frugal with our water, that will last us for quite some time.

I was reluctant to peek outside this morning, fearing storm damage, but everything seems to be intact…even the nectarine and peach blossoms. Man, I’m already tasting the jelly I’ll make from those! LOL

dig it!

bobbi c.

copyright©2007 by bobbi a. chukran. all rights reserved.