I think
that
if you really want to know
what a person loves,
what they value,
you should look
at what they
photograph.
Baby figs.
They smell of earth.
Like clean dirt.
Random simile pairing.
But true.
When the wind blows
if you’re just in the right spot
you can catch a whiff of it,
and WHAM!
you’re in heaven.
I was getting WHAMMED and WHIFFED when the breeze hit,
and I started taking pictures,
and look what I discovered. . .
the craziest lady bud.
No.
Seriously.
He was crazy.
Aren’t lady bugs normally laid back?
Ho hum?
On an average day, when I play with lady bugs, they stay for a while,
Not Polka Dotty.
He wanted back on the fig tree.
Who could blame him?
It did smell quite lovely.
I planted Nasturtiums about a month ago from seed. It’s the only way to grow them.
They are fast growers, so says the back of the seed packet.
We shall see.
We shall see.
They have a plethora of orange, yellow and red flowers.
And leaves and the flowers are edible.
Tasting kinda like arugula.
Which of course, is my main reason for planting them.
That, and they attract aphids.
So they are good to plant next to tomatoes.
And my lettuce,
is finally filling in.
Though. . .
if you look closely, it looks as if some of the seeds
have run away.
My pot is 1/2 empty.
That’s okay.
Because my life is full, full, full.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“This YEAR,” I told my self.
I am going to cage my tomatoes like a normal person.
Maybe I’ll build a trellis
and let them climb.
Or I’ll buy wire cages
and let them just plop their long leggy limbs all over the rings.
But I couldn’t do it.
I have 10 or so tomato plants
and cages cost like $4 a pop,
and it just seems silly to me to spend all that money.
For FREE tomatoes.
So, to finish my own sentence,
The cheapest way to cage a tomato is not to cage it all.
STAKE IT.
Stakes can be bought for $1 a piece (Walmart garden nursery – 98 cents), and re-used year after year.
These stakes are 4 years old.
I use them to stake my tomatoes And cukes.
Who, by the way, are looking as if they temporarily want to suck again this year.
Don’t fret, I haven’t given up yet.
I’m sure they are going to produce millions and millions of cucumbers for me.
Positive thinking!
Anyway, back to the task at hand.
Just ram the stakes into the ground with a mallet, about 2 inches from the base of the tomato plant.
Tie center trunk loosely with twisty tie to the stake.
Voila.
Caged tomatoes.
Without the cage.
And without the expense.
