Happy Independence Day, USA. We have no official fireworks celebration this year due to physical distancing. I am thankful, just the same, living in this country, with its wealth and freedom. Of course, no country is perfect. The USA still has a lot of promise, and I want to contribute to its fulfillment and the peaceful fix, however small.
Here's my gratitude list.
- Toddler, Josiah, and Alayna are sporting their red and blue outfit on the 4th of July. For them, it's another day of play, enjoying the outdoors.
- I continue to enjoy my patio garden, small and manageable for me. I haven't bought a bouquet of flowers for weeks.
- I am thankful for the bees and butterflies in my new home. I didn't know that these insects play an active role in pollinating. Maybe I will have pumpkins this year and not just pumpkin flowers.
- My vegetable scraps are growing tall, at least, a centimeter a day. The picture is a 5-day old picture with goldfish in the bottom-feeding the plants continuously with organic fertilizer. :) They're fun to watch while I'm doing the dishes.
- I continue to have new tomato and eggplant flowers.
- My herbs are happily producing many leaves. I just picked some cucumber, parsley, sage, mint, basil, and cilantro.
- I have some netting around my vegetables. So far, I don't have uninvited creatures feasting on my patio garden leaves. I see squirrels and birds, but they don't go near my plants.
- Spin wheels and scare-owls seem to do the trick on keeping some creatures away.
- Paul's and my energy to work morning and afternoon yesterday, pruning and weeding. We filled ten lawn bags.
- Garbage day today!
- My new workspace with less clutter where I blog, do homework, and bills :(
- Paul and I frequently eat out in the backyard. It's several "steps" away from eating from restaurants. We redefined the meaning of eating out.
- The mature trees around the backyard replace camping for now.
- Debriefing at work post-busy-COVID times. It feels good talking about our past struggles as front liners, our feelings, what we liked about the workflow, what worked, and how we can improve.
- COVID census in the hospital continues to shrink.
Your garden sounds like it is doing great! I put some netting around my strawberries, but my vegetables aren't netted. So far, so good.
ReplyDeleteGlad the numbers of COVID patients is shrinking at your hospital.
That looks like an orchid plant on your desk. For some reason my didn't bloom again this year. I'm not sure what it is I am not doing right.
ReplyDeleteAs for your pumpkin, here is a link that might be helpful. https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pumpkin/hand-pollinate-pumpkins.htm#:~:text=Pumpkin%20Plant%20Pollination,-Before%20you%20panic&text=First%20off%2C%20pumpkins%2C%20like%20other,day%20and%20then%20fall%20off.
If you do not have bees around doing their job, it seems I remember reading that you can take a Q-Tip and pollinate the blossoms. Some blossoms are male and the others are female, both on the same plant.
It sounds like you got a lot of weeding done. Glad you both had the energy to do all that work!
So glad the COVID numbers are going down in your area.
Thank you for the tips!
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