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Monday, August 29th, 2005 09:27 am
For some reason, this was undertaken, not as a protest against the Border PAtrol, but as an outreach project for the mentally ill.

On other fronts, I have made my first apple pie and my first batch of applesauce a full minth before I usually do, and we all know why that is.

This time of year is traditionally when I fade out and fall down on maintaining the garden. The flowers are pretty much done, the first fruits are done, and traditionally I have a month to go before apples and two or three months before pomegranates. I get discouraged because the yard is so dry. But this year, possibly because of the earliness of the apples and the tantalizing not-quite-thereness of the grapes (this being the first year I've had too many coming on) and also possibly because of being underemployed but not depressed over unemployment anymore, I'm prety busy in there. I guess also because of helping Gloria in her garden which is the opposite of mine: rural, sandy, sunny, while mine is urban, clayey, and shady.

Another disheartening thing about this time of year is rose fungus. ALthough it hasn't rained for about three months and it won't rain for about two more, we get these heavy overcast mornings and afternoons and half the time a dew that will wet the ground -- a "high fog" and sometimes even a fog that nadinelet will admit is a fog(she of the Valley origins where a fog is by dog a tule fog, a pea soup fog you can't see past the length of a car in. THis means wet, cool air -- no cold, just cool to lukewarm, and fungus just loves it.

So this year I made up the famous sure-fire home remedy for rose fungus and I have pruned the roses way back and I have sprayed them with the home remedy, which is roughly this:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 gallon unchlorinated water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Listerine (yes, the famous mouthwash, not mint flavour, just regular)
1 tbsp liquid soap
1 ½ tbsp baking soda
Pump sprayer (large)

I used a different brand of antibacterial mouthwash and I didn't measure.

I just did this so I don't have anything to report: but I originally heard of it from a woman who has perfect roses in a gorgeous garden around and behind the stained glass supply store where we sometime go looking for textured glass for the many eccentric little window things the nice fellow puts into the interior walls and cabinets. I have also been feeding the garden with "Elinor's VF-11," a locally-made product that all the ladies in the dentist office rave about (though I haven't seen incredible lushness yet) and I used a box of Sul-Po-Mag, which usually makes a difference.

And I have pulled a muscle from reaching up high for summer pruning and apple picking. As usual.
Thursday, September 15th, 2005 06:57 pm (UTC)
and sometimes even a fog that nadinelet will admit is a fog(she of the Valley origins where a fog is by dog a tule fog...

I apologize for the very belated comment here. I'm not from the Valley, I think that was Cynthia; I'm from the Midwest. Fog doesn't have to be pea soup for me to think it's fog, but it does have to be less than, say, five stories high or so.