The Garden Part 9 -- 6/14/09

Sorry for no post last week, but there really wasn't much going on. Also, I was in NY for a day to see this which really was worth a 4 hour drive in the rain, plus 3+ hours of standing in the rain. But I've been told I'm not too bright, so there you go.

This past week has seen a ton of rain up here, not a lot of sun (meaning, none), and me coming down with a head cold of epic proportions. Normally when I get a cold it's really bad for 24-36 hours, and then my head clears. While I may have a lot of coughing for a week, I don't feel wiped out or in bad shape. This cold hit me Tuesday night, I went home early from work on Wednesday, felt better on Thursday so went in to work, felt bad during the day, had a big lunch of Chinese food which made me feel GREAT (no sarcasm -- it really did), then went to the Sox/Yanks game Thursday night with Sage. We had Standing Room tickets, so had to stand for almost the entire game, but this was Sage's first ever Sox/Yanks game, so I was going to fight through the cold to make sure she saw it.

And what a game it was! The Sox went up 1-0 off Big Papi's 4th homer of the year, and held a 1-0 lead to the 7th when the Yankees put 3 on the board and went up 3-1. The Yankees have a horrible bullpen, which I guess led Joe Girardi to leave CC Sabbathia in to the 8th, even when he was up over 115 pitches. The Sox made a great comeback and ended up winning 4-3, keeping Sage's Sox Streak alive at (at least) 9 games. Here are a few photos from the game.

From our perch, high atop the field, in the Pavilion level. A pretty good viewpoint.

The first pitch was thrown out by Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops...

...And also by Sportscaster Jim Nantz. Um, if someone else has already thrown out the "first" pitch, how can this also be the "first" pitch?

Warmups before the first pitch. As long as no one sat in those seats in front of us, we'd have a great view. Someone did.

Sage's attempt at either a glamour shot of Jason Bay, or an attempt to show the final score of 4-3. Take your pick.

So I didn't feel too bad or tired during the game, but Friday morning I was beat, my ears were clogged with a bunch of marbles, and my equilibrium was way off. Other than that, I felt great. Lazy Friday at work, so I only had to put in 4-5 hours of work. Afterwards I got home, and with the weather still looking iffy, we decided to go out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory at the Natick Mall. (Note: If you ever want to eat at TCF and NOT wait for 60 minutes, go around 3:30 pm on a Friday.) My choice of beef ribs was WAY too optimistic, and spent the rest of the day rueing my decision. I went to bed Friday night feeling out of it again, and was hoping one more night of good sleep would finally break the cold.

I woke up Saturday feeling much better. Since I hit the rack early I had Tivoed the end of the Sox game (as well as Game 7 of the Cup), so I watched the Sox beat the Phil's in 13 (yay!), and the Pens beat the Wings 2-1 (eh). Feeling good, I decided to get some small tasks out of the way in the garden, including some more soil on the potatoes. The heavy rains during the week knocked down the plants, some were snapped, so I'm worried I might lose some of the crop. Everything I read said I was supposed to keep putting 1-2 inches a week of soil around the plants, and I've been doing that, but the stems have been growing about 6 inches/week, so they really had nothing to hold them up. We'll see what happens.

Potatoes. There's so much dirt around them now, I'll be digging all fall to find them all.

The two summer squash plants are doing really well, and hopefully will begin to spread out their vines soon. I'm a bit worried I might not have as much room as I should for them, but I've read about some simple trellises you can build, so that they not only grow up, but the veggies stay off the ground, avoiding rot. Hmmm...I smell project coming up!

Summer squash.

The lettuce has had it. I probably should have picked some last weekend, but then the rains really did a number on it, when I went out Saturday morning, it was either all laying down or washed away. Not a good effort, I guess. The radishes keep going nuts, and we plucked about 8 or so this weekend that Sage loved. The peas keep growing, and I keep adding more twine. Next year I'll have to grow them up a fence instead.

Lettuce (front) is hoed under. Radishes (middle) did great. Peas (back) keep growing.

Showing off part of the crop.

The tomatoes keep getting bigger. I think the cages helped them in the rain storm from getting banged around too much.

Tomatoes.

Finally, the peppers. Nothing much to report here, tho some of the Volcanoes that Roy gave me are almost gone, from the bugs eating the leaves. I think I need to find some natural bug repellent spray.

Peppers.

And that's about it for the garden. As for me, I started feeling bad again yesterday afternoon, and ended up hitting the hay really early again. This morning wasn't much better, and I'm taking it easy, napping, and generally being miserable. (And sorry for the long rants in this post on my health, but I've taken more drugs over the past 5 days that I'm really pretty loopy.) It's raining again, which isn't what my garden needs at this point, but the Sox have won the 1st 2 at Philly, and I guess I'll take my broom out and watch the game this afternoon.