Reading instead of practising because of other commitments and the weather, corn odyssey
The tomatoes were quite tasty, look forward to pick the others – this weekend I did not manage to go to the allotment: too much to do at home and miserable weather. Not a day goes by – however – that I do not at least think of the allotment: yesterday while I was out shopping I got some ericaceous compost for the blueberry bush I planted before going back to work.
I am quite happy that we had some proper rain, this week: I will be on the lookout for seedlings of spinach and corn salad when I drop in after work one of these coming evenings, time and weather permitting.
Too much to do, time permitting… this year I have spent most of the time “fire-fighting” as they say, trying to catch up on things I had to do. Even taking some time off work, I did not manage to do everything I planned!
So I am still catching up, on pretty much everything, including reading my favourite “Magazine” (The Time’s). Yesterday I was browsing last week’s issue, and – unlike the usual – I read the gardening article. “Vegging out” by Alice Miles, it was.
On the one hand, it was good to read that I am not the only newbie with problems labelling in a decent way. I mentioned my labels at the foot of the French beans that have been lost in the intricacy of the growth on wobbly sticks. Also, my potatoes are officially unnamed. I did label them. However, I used the labels that came on the net bag: with sun, rain and slimy creatures sliding over them, the writing got wiped out completely, so I was left with white tags!
On the other hand, it was not that good to read that corn might go bad: that possibility had not really occurred to me – the plants being so beautiful and the cobs seemingly not ready. A couple of weeks ago I had unfolded the layers of skin on a cob whose tassel had gone brown, as per instructions I found somewhere. I should have tried and squeezed a grain with my nail to see if any whitish juice came out of it. But my corn is supposed to be black (Black Aztec corn, Zea Mais), and what I saw were very tiny, light yellow grains, so I folded it back. I will be feeling a bit restless now until I manage to pick a couple of cobs and try them.
