22 May 2008

Maps and Gardens

I discovered the coolest weather map a week or so back. It shows me exactly what the conditions are in the Gibson Jack/Scout Mountain area before I decide to hike up. I can't remember if I saw the reporting station near Wild Horse Divide (near the upper turn of the Gibson Jack trail) or not. I have a visual image...that could just as easily come from other weather reporting stations I've seen. The one at the Arco rest area comes to mind.

Still weird weather here. We had a solid week of 80-90° weather, then a cold front moved in and it hasn't gotten above 60° since Tuesday. It's also been raining off and on through most of it. So we had some July followed by April. *shakes head* At any rate, I now have my garden roughly 75% planted. I would like some orange bell pepper plants, but otherwise all the peppers are in. I still need to find a tomato plant. I might buy some herbs that have already been started, especially if most of them don't come up. Last year, only the basil came up. And I suspect that one of the seed packets I had was contaminated with some weed seed. Cutleaf Nightshade, to be precise. I wasn't sure what it was, but then it bloomed. Its flower was quite similar to that of a tomato plant, which told me it was probably in the nightshade family, and then I was able to find it. This has the best picture I was able to find quickly. It produces fruit that looks vaguely like a small, green tomato, but that is poisonous. As soon as I figured out what it was, I pulled it up.

Anyway, I've got the peas, peppers, corn, radishes, carrots and zucchini planted, with a few herbs keeping them company. I hope it stays relatively cool for the next few weeks, as the peas will do better then. I may plant another row of corn, and I'll probably plant a few more herbs. If I get cutleaf nightshade again, I'll know that I have some contaminated seeds. I think it grew where I thought I planted rosemary...

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