Water, germination, stealing, raspberries

Fred says my watering over the weekend brought on the rain of yesterday and the day before. I think he is overly complimentary, but he helps me from kicking myself about all that unnecessary work. Yesterday I even used the watering can on the newly planted places in the evening, and then... What wind and rain! It even knocked over a tomato cage I thought was stable. I have tied them together now, so they are less likely to lose their moorings in the next wild wind.

The beets I sowed on Saturday have germinated abundantly! That's a surprise. The arugula, turnips, and lettuce are more leisurely, as I expected.

A lot of thievery has been going on in the garden, and yesterday I actually saw a woodchuck in the back of the yard. (A neighbor did the day before.) Then today as I was working around carefully, I'm sure I touched the electric fence. Nothing! Oops. Maybe that's my problem. Stephane had warned me that plants could short the fence, and Fred assures me that wet plants are fine electricity conductors. The weeds on the neighbor's side of the garden had gotten out of hand, and may be the troublemaker. It's not easy to weed between our fence and theirs, but today the weeds are so big that I was able to pull out most from the top. I have some more to remove, but I think I can... I think I can... I think I can.

Yesterday's promising raspberries were mostly gone this morning. The plant had bent low, and I suspect the woodchuck. Last year I saw one nibbling on raspberries, but that was when I had lots on top and didn't mind.

I haven't seen any catbirds since I came home, so here's hoping there will be good raspberry picking on Sept. 17, the next open garden. Trina and Una still plan to have a butterfly tent in the front yard, although the monarchs are having a bad year. They have friends who may help them have enough for folks to enjoy in the tent. My garden will be open only from 2-4 PM with nobody allowed in the back yard after that, but the
butterfly tent MAY still be around in the front yard if they haven't opened the door to allow the inhabitants to fly south.

Happy summer eating! I hope you are harvesting some yummies despite the competition.

Pat