Trip Ready?

The last day before we’re gone 6 weeks, visiting Betsy in New Zealand. I am so close to ready. My anxiety is peaking.

I’ve worked like the devil in the yard, trimming back and putting down mulch to have it look good while we are gone. CC is coming 3 times to keep it pretty. I fear her spending too much time deadheading salvia and picking little weeds rather than yanking out torpedo grass. C’èst la vie. Note to self: print sign to remind yard guys to leave the cypress needles on the boathouse deck. Last year they blew it all in the canal before I could sweep it up for mulch. Also need to print sign reminding pool guy to keep the screen door closed so Gracie doesn’t leave. That one I’ll do in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

I planted eggplant and southern pea (aka black eye or cow peas) in the vegetable garden. I hope the peas twine up the string I tied to the trellis on the side. My plan is to get them above bunny height. Might work. The rabbits are keeping the sweet potatoes trimmed right to the fencing, but they haven’t gotten inside the bed. The okra seeds I’d germinated didn’t make it. I’ll plant more today. In the middle of that bed, I have pots of tomatoes and pumpkins sitting on cloth so their roots don’t grow into the ground. If they survive, we can transplant when we get back. The giant zinnias are pretty and provide some shade. 

I bought another tomato support and wrapped the ube vines around it. I have one in the big pot, one directly in the ground, and one behind bunny fencing. An experiment.

We’ve moved the tomato ring over to the northwest for more sun. Not particularly attractive, but I think it will prove to be a good place for this year. When we get back, I am seriously considering* having the magnolia taken down, since it doesn’t bloom and shades out where I’d like to grow tomatoes.  At the same time, I think* I’ll have a couple of limbs taken off the camphor to get more sun on the north fence. 

*Hard for me to trim/cut down trees.

Grant transplanted oregano, a native onion and his chives (regular and garlic) to the tower. The bush beans and tomatoes from Mary in it are growing. Today I am planting bell and hot pepper seeds in it. I tried germinating pepper seeds but to no avail, so I threw out them and all the seed left in their packages. Turns out peppers, unlike their nightshade cousins, take weeks to germinate. Who knew. Maybe we will have plants by the time we return.

There will be bunches of bananas ripening while we are gone. I hate to miss them. I’ve offered them to our neighbor Vanessa who may also dig up some more of the plants that have sprouted too close to the boathouse. Grant transplanted 3 yesterday over to the south fence. I wan them to block our view of the neighbor’s house now that we’ve cut the Japanese blueberry back to a shrub. I planted the 2 red and 3 other pineapples in the canal side banana area. When we get back, I’ll gather up the pineapples planted hither and yon to make 1 big mass.

My carnivorous plants are lovely. Crossing my fingers they survive. I’d collected 2 5-gallon buckets of rain via the lanai gutter. Since it was raining every day and more predicted, I dumped one out. Not another drop since. I’ll have to get some from Nancy’s rain barrel. If that runs out before we can collect more, Steph can bring some reversed osmosis water from Kyle’s fish tank setup. The plants need to be watered every day in this heat.

Now to pack.