Curse you, global warming! It appears G.W. may be to blame for my ever-increasing battles with my arch nemesis - POISON IVY! I just finished my second bout, albeit a mild one. I mean only having three or four half-dollar-sized blotches on my legs and arms is mild - (look ma, no boobs!)Just when I'm trying to get the ruminants to eat us clean, I find out it's coming back stronger, with more urethiol, and can even be airborn. yeah.
VOLUNTEERS
Once, an old gardener told me that the name for plants that re-seed themselves, or come up a following year unplanned is "volunteer". I kind of like that name. And we've gots lots of them this year. It started with the curly parsley that over-wintered. Then it was the discovery of the cilantro that seeded. And the potato that has sprung up. (See below)
The obvious explanation for this volunteer was that I failed to dig up all the taters last year. So one "got away". But then I found volunteer potato #2, #3, and #4. It's a whole tater corp!
We love the volunteers. Not only are they pleasant surprises, but they represent a fighting spirit I find inspiring. How about this little tomato? It survived the Pruning Attack of the 10-year-old gardener. (An attempt to pinch off the botom leaves turned ugly) and it's coming back! (Yeah, I know - so are the weeds...sigh) 
And then there's the tomato seedling that's making it's home amidst the basil. How appropriate. But you gotta love this one the most:
Yep, that's a cosmos hiding out amoungs the brussel sprouts. It's a deserter from the DH's flower garden. Normally, I don't do flowers at all, but I figure if it fought this hard to exist, we'll let it go.CSA: Week One baskets this week featured mostly herbs and the early "spicy" veggies(radishes and jalepenos) Next week we'll take pictures...
3 comments:
Yep, I heard that report about the rampant spread of more noxious poison ivy and other allergens thanks to slightly higher average temps. Scary, huh? We're "blessed" with poison oak here, but I haven't yet been affected....
I had volunteer violas come up everywhere in my small raspberry patch and I just love them. Then, I noticed that some pansies had self-sown. It's too bad our temps are getting too hot for these guys as I have really been enjoying seeing their friendly faces.
Between where I am and the eastern border of AZ/NM, there was a huge fire a few years ago. Thousands of acres of Ponderosa Pine were burned. Just this week I saw a program that trees other than pine were "filling in" the open spaces now. Gambel Oak and Manzanitas were moving in. Around here, Manznaita only grows in lower desert regions, not up at our higher elevations. That is, until Global Warming.
Years ago, at a Master Gardener Conference I attended, a representative of NOAA came, talked of global warming, and happened to mention that once the pines dies out, we would have plants more the likes of the Sedona area.
His words ring in my ears as I see evidence all around of this very thing happening.
The kicker was that he said this would happen years down the road...and it's happening before my eyes. Scarey!
It amazes me what a small difference in temperature can do for which plants can grow where...I agree - G.W. is very scary!
And I love the violas - we have what we call "Johnny Jump-ups" (violas) that suprise me all over the place, never enough to make a patch of them, and I just can't seem to get to transplant them before they are gone again...
Post a Comment