--one more hurdle crossed, my first-ever baseline mammogram. Whew. Like when the tech said I had to hold my breath while she took the film, I wanted to say (had I had breath to do so), how could I not hold my breath when she has just squished me into this vise? But really it was far faster and far less painful than I'd been led to believe. And it's over and from what they said this may well be the most painful one (given that boobs tend to get smooshier over time, I suppose?). [Note: I am a bit on the young side for a mammogram, but I've recently learned that women who had my type of cancer and treatment have a much higher risk of breast cancer]
--drove to Long Beach and back in record time to get GameBoy's cello repaired in the nick of time before his grande concert. Jacarandas were everywhere along the way. How can that not make me smile?
--had some QT in the garden yesterday. Planted more basil (for 14 plants total this year! pesto, anyone?), marigolds, asters, peppers, one more tomato (squeezed in just so), and a new-to-me type of lavender (that makes four so far). I have the most amazing new garden neighbors who are planting cucumber vines all along our shared fence (yum). And did I tell you that blackberry season just began--I nibbled my first 2 last Wednesday and expect to have a few cupfuls by mid-week? I didn't get the corn in this weekend as I'd hoped, but fortunately I can plant it until late July if need be. As I was telling a friend yesterday, I refuse to feel garden guilt if I can't get everything in as early as possible. I'm taking things one step at a time this year....
:)
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C'est moi
I was raised Mormon, but now I'm a hippie Quaker living in the OC with my two teenage kids: CatGirl & GameBoy.
Twenty-six years ago I lost my right leg to bone cancer. Awhile ago I had an antibiotic-resistant infection in my lower left leg, and now I'm healing from surgery and feeling better every day.
I like gardening, making history, outrigger canoeing, trying new things, and my afternoon cup of tea.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
~Christopher Robin, Pooh's Grand Adventure
Contact: remyjATucidotedu
Twenty-six years ago I lost my right leg to bone cancer. Awhile ago I had an antibiotic-resistant infection in my lower left leg, and now I'm healing from surgery and feeling better every day.
I like gardening, making history, outrigger canoeing, trying new things, and my afternoon cup of tea.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
~Christopher Robin, Pooh's Grand Adventure
Contact: remyjATucidotedu
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7 comments:
Um, so 14 basils, huh? I keep trying to decide if my 3 are too much, so I keep planting more seeds (so much cheaper, but so slow!) and I have a lush pot of basil in my kitchen that's ready for pesto tonight.
How do you do tomatoes? Do you stake them? And how many tomatoes is too many? I mean, how many is enough?
Many years I've had 20+ tomato plants. This year I decided to go with fewer given that I still have frozen tomatoes left from last year. So I have 7 plants--2 brandywine, one cherry, one yellow pear, 2 roma, and one better boy. They are amazingly healthy looking plants and I suspect I'll have my first 'maters within a week or two.
Every year I do a little something different as far as staking/caging. This year I am back to the cages because they seem to work best for me once the plants get really large. I also stake when/if necessary and/or build some structure around the cages. I fertilize with the castings from my worm bins.
We do pesto and I put basil in nearly eveything with tomatoes (caprese salad, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, etc). We also make an amazing basil dessert sauce that I'll post the recipe for sometime soon. Seriously, for us 14 plants is probably just barely enough. I did learn that I'd been pinching them back incorrectly (too high on the stem) so I'm hoping that if I do better with that this time that my basils might even be more productive than last year!
I certainly appreciated the abundance of basil last year. I could cull a bag full of leaves from multiple plants without the danger of defrocking any. They also seemed to recover from week to week.
I had a baseline mammogram at 35 and was really glad I'd already had and nursed a baby, since it made my boobs more easily squishable. My midwife's anxious for me to go in for another one, but since I am currently breastfeeding I am not. I hear conflicting advice on what to do in this situation, so I am procrastinating.
Ah, CA gardening when you can plant as late as you want and still get a great harvest. :)
Do you have raised beds? I'm trying to figure out what to do with my tomatoes that won't damage the weed-cloth under the beds. I guess staking is out. I've only ever done cages, though.
With basil, I've had really good results if I pinch them at the lowest buds. They get really bushy, really fast, since they grow two new stems where there was only one before.
I'd love your dessert recipe. My mom makes a stunning basil-orange sorbet that is so basily that you can't identify it, but it's amazingly intoxicating.
I do have raised beds. They are wood frames with chicken wire lining underneath the soil (because we have nasty gophers). I did weed cloth under one of my beds a few years ago and it has driven me batty because the plants can't send down deep roots with that barrier there. My beds are 6-8" deep. Perhaps yours are deeper?
I would suggest building a trellis for staking the tomatoes that's set in the ground just outside the bed. You can then train your tomatoes along the trellis in a sor of espaliere fashion. The guy from the Square Foot Gardening books explains just how to use that method.
good luck!
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