4 posts tagged “disability”
My hands hurt. As usual. It's a beautiful day. A good day to catch up on the many tasks needed to ease one's garden from summer to fall but I hurt too much to even contemplate it. I did make myself get out and do an "observation walk". While I was taking pictures, I wondered whether I should just record blog entries. After all, typing hurts too. And when I thought of all the things I wanted to say, I balked at the idea of typing it all.
So, if I figure out the technical side, I'll start audio blogging. I hope that folks will still follow my posts and comment. I love interacting with and learning from other folks.
In the meantime, ways I've tried to "garden" even when I can't dig, hoe or cultivate include reading garden blogs, participating in Dave's Garden, reading my gardening books, harvesting/sorting/labeling seeds, and watching vlogs. Netflix doesn't have gardening videos, to my post-surgery recovery disappointment. YouTube doesn't have a ton of good stuff in this category. The Garden Wise Guys looks promising, though. And I just subscribed to the Wiggly Wigglers podcast.
If I had a videocam, I'd be trying to make something myself. I took video production at BCM but haven't been able to do anything yet. I hate the idea of checking out equipment. I'd rather just have my own.
I resisted the urge to take a siesta because I have so much I need/want to do in the garden. I got tired only a couple hours after I got up because the actions involved in bailing the bathtub of greywater and using it in the garden were too much for my hands. When my hands are bad, I just want to sleep.
So after my bath, I resisted sleep and instead went out to the garden to harvest poppy seedpods. I used a Felco ergonomic pruner. Unfortunately, I don't own a left-handed one so I had to use my right hand - which is the weak one right now. Just 15 or 20 minutes of carefully snipping off seedpod heads and putting them in a Ziploc bag was too much. And I had an icepack on as I was doing it!
Though there are tons more different seeds I need to harvest (Italian parsley, Erigeron glauca, marigold, cornflower, hollyhock, etc.), I have to call it quits. I did too much too early after surgery and this time I'm not recovering as well. It's scary.
My disability has really hindered me from achieving what I'd like to achieve in the garden. Though we have periodically spent boocoo bux hiring landscapers to help with major tasks, loads of things haven't turned out as envisioned. To be fair to me, part of that is because one landscaper didn't do as he was hired to do and I didn't discover it 'til nearly a year later. Preventative measures are SO important in keeping the workload manageable for me. Sheet mulching was a major part of this. The landscaper sheet mulched the back yard but put mulch on plain ground for the front yard and the difference is striking. While the backyard mulching is a year older than the front yard and is only now in need of a re-do (the cardboard underneat is decomposing, letting more weeds up through the bottom), the front yard quickly had issues with Spanish burclover, field bindweed, various grasses, scarlet pimpernel, cleavers (in a big way!), sow thistles and dandelions. I did loads of work trying to nip those in the bud but I can't keep up with nature. That mulch will have to be redone properly. Other problems are due to dormant oiling and fungicide applications not having been made in the winter despite the fact that I asked for it over and over again. Then there are the plant choices that were made in direct contradiction of my expressed wishes...
Despite all that, there are ways I just couldn't keep up myself. I didn't make myself go out in the garden during the gloomy winter. I didn't fully realize all the prep work I could and should have been doing. Then I was out of commission for a number of weeks in February for my surgery. That's a crucial time, too. Though I am about to have the same surgery on my other side, it shouldn't be quite so big a deal that I am going to be less active in August. I hope. Actually, watering will be an issue. For some reason, the installed irrigation isn't working right so I've been doing a lot of watering with greywater by hand.
The oldest parts of my garden are about 2 years old now. It really is a work in progress. I think only the filthy rich can have a garden installed top to bottom in a way that's complete and mature. Well, them and the companies that put on installations for major home & garden shows. Today I went out to transplant a couple of tomatoes that desperately needed to come out of their containers. I wasted a lot of time/money this year by germinating seeds that I then put off transplating when they were old enough. Some didn't cost anything (bell pepper seeds that came from a bell pepper I ate), but others did. And beyond the cost, it's just disappointing that I could have had hefty harvests of watermelon, haricot, snowpeas and other things I like, but I couldn't summon the energy to get my ass into the garden and transplant. Funny thing is, I almost ALWAYS enjoy myself and get energized if I can just get myself out of the house in the first place.
Anyway, I'm lucky to have a large yard. As I learn more about gardening and learn more from experience, it is entirely possible that I could provide all my produce from the yard. (I don't eat as many veggies as some people do. If I were a serious veggie person, I might provide 3/4 of my intake.) One thing I really hated when I gardened as a kid is that I would spend my hard-earned chore money buying plants, spend my time nurturing them to harvest, and then my brothers would steal the fruit. Being in a large family has made me very territorial about my stuff and that really turns some people off. I worried about how I would feel about housemates who might constantly graze in the back yard. I guess my attitude now is to try to grow more than I can eat anyway. Then it won't bother me as much if someone takes something they haven't contributed to. I worried about how it would be if I got a couple gardeners as housemates. I'd want to give them access to the garden since the rent here can't be as cheap as I'd like and I view the garden as one of the big "value-added" appeals of the household. I've realized now that although the major bones of the garden are still something I will be controlling, I haven't got enough energy to intensively cultivate all four raised beds. So if some gardening folks move in I'm more able to let go now. In fact, I'd welcome the help. It could be great.
So, no pictures today, but I need to note things I've noticed. The Malacothamnus fasciculatus is twice as tall as when I took a picture of it in March and it has FINALLY come into bloom. It is a nice choice for next to the Rose Mallow. I'm worried about the size and spread of these plants. While the landscaper made some nice choices for the front yard (an area over which I had less control because my mom cares a lot about how the front looks), he chose some plants that are going to get really big and bushy. And they're too close together. I found out some of that when I finally nagged him into identifying the plants for me (he has a nasty habit of tossing the plant tags) and I looked the plants up. Some of the native grasses that were planted are HYUGE.
I harvested my first spaghetti squash today. I had *thought* was planting Moon & Stars watermelon but I must have mixed my seedlings up. Which means my Moon & Stars seedlings died the death because I didn't get to transplant them in time. The first heatwave we had killed them in their little 6-packs. I was watering and saw a plum underneath the plum stand. I thought I'd inspected them carefully to see if any of the blooms had set fruit and had seen nothing. However, it looks like the Elephant Heart plum managed one solitary fruit. Honestly, it's not any better than anything I could get at the supermarket. I'm really looking forward to when the Blue Damson is mature enough to bear, though.
The Charentais melon has set fruit and they're waxing larger. I first harvested some Stupice tomatoes last week, I think. Today I went to harvest a few more and noticed they have blossom end rot, which is supposed to be from a deficiency from calcium. It can also be caused by drought conditions. There have definitely been days when I've been tardy watering it during a heatwave so I think that's it. At least it's not a contagious thing like verticillium wilt. The Black Krim tomato, which is planted in the ground (the Stupice is in an EarthBox), is slowly coming along. It has set a couple fruit. The first one has got some splits or long scars in it. The Sungold I planted in the ground is a runt compared to the amazing Sungold I had last year. That thing bore like gangbusters and grew and grew. This one is about 2 feet high and just not very robust. There are loads of volunteer tomatoes in that raised bed and I've let them grow. I've let most of the volunteer tomatoes grow but most of them are also very slow growers. Looks like one of the volunteers is a Roma and others are Sungolds.
I think the problem with the tomatoes is that the raised bed irrigation system hasn't been working. And of course there are other areas where it wasn't installed because there weren't plants there at the time. While I've worked hard to be regular about my greywater watering, there have been days at a time when I was too exhausted and unfortunately that corresponded with some hot weather. Oh well. It's a good thing I let the volunteers grow. That way if there are only 3 tomatoes per plant, I'm still coming out okay.
Come to think of it, I have quite a few "failures" that were due to inconsistent watering. The loganberry set fruit for nearly every blossom. But it didn't get enough water when it was crucial so the resulting berries were barely more than a little flesh stretched over the seeds and were thus very bitter. Inedible, really. The mulberry tree didn't get enough water at the right time and thus the berries were smaller than they were in their first year. Unlike the loganberry, it was possible to salvage some of the berries by subsequent waterings. Missing *a* crucial time didn't mean you'd missed all of them.
The lavender holllyhock has come into full bloom and this is after the black hollyhock has completely shot its wad. A frilly pinkish-white hollyhock is also in bloom right now, though it's much smaller and weaker. The artichokes are in bloom. I only harvested two this year and they weren't very good. Not only do I think the landscaper picked bad varieties (he didn't tell me the varieties so I can't learn any lessons), but the ants love them. They're visiting aphids, I guess. And there are other insect grubs that love them. Given that I don't actually like artichokes that much, it's not a good use of my garden space. I think I'm going to rip them out and use the space for more fruit trees. I do like artichoke flowers, however. They're lovely and I'm surprised more florists don't use them in really big arrangements.
Today I collected some seeds from the marigolds, Erigeron glauca, and "Drama Queen" poppy. Seed collecting is something that is very time-consuming and that I haven't been able to do as well as I'd like. Not only would it save me money on annuals, but it would give me some stuff to trade with. Plus I hope to be brave enough to make some approaches to the youth in the neighborhood and get them interested in gardening. Having free seeds for people helps. I may also make some guerilla seedballs to toss into vacant lots in Berkeley. For that project, though, I should really stick to native plants.
I stink at keeping a diary. Yet I write reams online every day. So when I want to know what was going on during a certain period in my life, I look at posts in some of my online communities. To learn from what I observe in my garden, I have to remember it. Since I have difficulty doing that, I've started looking up posts about my garden. this is likely to be shorter post because my right wrist is killing me this weekend, but I'm going to try to make a garden blog.
Today I weeded one half of one of four long raised beds. They are overrun with weeds because I couldn't get the help I needed this winter when I needed it. Luckily I had just purchased an ergonomic v-hoe, and it made things go faster. It was still exhausting work. Since my right wrist has been hurting me I didn't want to do it but I just took delivery of some seed potatoes and they really couldn't be saved too much longer. I adore potatoes but if I'm good about going low-glycemic, I can't have them. I selected La Ratte fingerling and Peruvian Purple, both of which have less starch.
I consulted my "Great Garden Companions" book to see what would go well with potatoes as well as how to plant potatoes in the first place. I dug long deep rows, piling the dirt in-between. The idea is that as the potatoes grow, you'll pile more dirt over them. Presumably this is so they can develop more roots, and thus more tubers. Peas and bush beans are recommended companion plants. I'd already started some Taichung snow peas and they were large enough that I could transplant them. Since I have no bush beans yet, I planted the snow peas along the northern edge of the raised bed so their height wouldn't shade anything important. I have some Montpelier beans in the seed starter and we'll see if they last long enough to make it to the bed.
Last year I had a All-Season Burpless cucumber in that bed. The bed had been partially filled with compost from my bin, including some raw redwood dust. The cucumber was eventually hit by a fungus. Digging today I could see bits of white fungus in the soil. I think I've learned why compost is supposed to be fully composted before being put in your garden - it will attract the fungus/bacteria/insects that help decompose it and those things might not be so great for your plants.
Because all my importuning of the landscaper fell on deaf ears, the fruit trees were not treated with dormant oil nor ant-fungal copper spray when it was critical for them to get it. The new Eva's Pride peach has a bad peach leaf curl infection as does the unknown peach variety that came with the house. Luckily none of the other peach family trees have gotten it so far.
The roses that came with the house died because the landscaper didn't replant them elsewhere. They just died in their containers. I'm hoping the two mulberry trees I have in containers do okay. There was a period where we had that freak heat wave and I forgot to water them. The Morus alba "Pakistan" has set a nice amount of fruit given how few limbs it has. The Morus nigra is only just now budding. Speaking of setting fruit, I'm excited that the Royal apricot (not sure whether it's really Royal or Blenheim because so many nurseries mix them up) has set a a lot of fruit. I don't see as many pollinators as I'd like despite the fact that I have a more diverse wildlife community in my backyard since converting it from the dead lawn that was here when we moved in. The "Flavor Delight" aprium hasn't got any flowers so either it is a late season thing or more likely it's too young.
I'm seeing a decent amount of ladybugs (twice-stabbed and the Chinese variety...I never see our native orange ladybugs). They like the artichokes just like they did last year. Otherwise I see them a lot in the undergrowth of weeds. Which sucks because where I need them are on the roses, rhubarb and other plants that the aphids love. When I dug the raised bed today I saw a couple earthworms (I always feel horribly when I cut one by accident while doing something invasive with a shovel) and a couple Jerusalem crickets.
I'm having to learn the difference between annuals, biannuals, and perennials. (EIther that or which things die easily.) Many of the herbs planted are dead this year: Basil, stevia, lemongrass... Some things come back after being cut back but others don't. I've also had the weirdness of seed that I spread from the "Drama Queen" poppy coming up and making tall poppy plants that so far show no signs of flowers.
