Well, poor little Hambet was sick on Thursday and Friday. He didn’t even have the energy to be crabby; he just draped himself on the bed or on a chair and just looked at me. It was just too piteous, so I spent a lot of time with him draped on my lap. On Friday evening he started to revive, and it was really funny watching him do it — it was as if he had been reconnected to a generator or something. He started sitting up, then walking around, and in another hour or two he was back to running laps around the sofa.
Saturday I had some time for two of my favorite activities: gardening and scoping yard sales. I cannot believe I have turned into one of these people who look forward to packing a travel mug of coffee and trolling the yard sales. I’m beginning to find preferred neighborhoods, especially in a suburb not far from me favored by young families with money to burn — they have nice kids’ stuff to unload. I struck gold twice when I was able to nab a Big Wheel and a Little Tikes wagon. The wagon is one of those plastic ones, with a long handle (easy on the grown-ups’ back.) It seats two little people and has little doors for them to go in and out. (The doors only unlatch from the outside.) It even has cupholders! If only the cupholders held juice boxes….
After I hauled the swag home, we had lunch and turned our attention to the garden. I am so pleased with my raised beds! They make it so easy to see what’s going on in the bed. I’m also seeing fewer problems with weeds and pests (slugs.)
The rhubarb bed boasts one mighty specimen (from last year) and the three little things I planted this year. The new plants aren’t thriving, but they aren’t dead either. They each have three little leaves. I wish I knew what I could do for them. I took a few stalks from the big plant — my first rhubarb harvest! I will probably bake them into a crisp tomorrow, with some purchased rhubarb.
The peas are coming along nicely and have set some flowers. I made them a little trellis with bamboo and garden twine. The lettuce is also coming along nicely — I cut my first lettuce today (mesclun) for tonight’s supper. I also have good progress on the garlic, carrots, and parsnips I planted this spring. Not all the parsnip seeds germinated — I wonder why? I planted some more seeds and also tried transplanting some of the thinnings — hope that works.
This weekend I planted more garlic and carrots. I also planted nasturtiums (from seed) and planted out some of the plants I started indoors: the marigolds and some of the basil. I’m in a bit of a quandary because I intended to do some succession planting — I planted spinach in the basil spot, with the idea that I’d be harvesting it right when it was time to plant out the basil. In the past I also have had no luck with spinach, so I figured it wouldn’t grow anyway. Well, I was a bit too clever for my own good: the spinach actually grew. Our spring has been cool and cloudy, so the spinach is just maturing now, and the basil’s ready to set out. Not all the spinach came up, so I started tucking some of the basil among the spinach. But now I’ve got baby spinach, and I need to decide what to do with it all. Shall we eat it as baby spinach and give its spot to the basil? Or should I give some lettuce space to the basil and let the spinach grow? Decisions, decisions….