The Garden "During" File

This is the mess in the back. The weeds were over a foot high before my Big Bro took his gas-powered weed trimmer to it. The electric lawnmower was sort of incorporated in the weeds...but it's worked before after spending the winter outside.



Some of the raspberry canes are up to eight feet tall. They bear fruit the size of the tip of my thumb well into the fall. They aren't doing as well this year due to the rain and cooler weather; last year, even after the 'coons got at them (I could tell by the visible seeds in the poops they dropped on my lawn), I still got enough fruit to make 25 jars of jam.

I plan on building a raised bed for strawberries (I'd like to find a bale of straw somewhere), and moving the asparagus to a sunny location, where I'll also be reminded to fertilize and mulch. I also have rhubarb that I moved and separated this spring.

And the gooseberries are now in a sunny spot, but they didn't like being moved this year and didn't blossom, though they have survived pretty well. I'll have to figure out how far back to prune them.

The cats are in boxhab

This is my new rowing machine. It was half-price at Zellers. It's not quite a real ergometer like you find in fitness clubs (except the one I belong to, which seems to focus on butt-reducing machines), but it's the closest I've seen for a reasonable (meaning cheap) price. It was, in fact, half-price (149.99 CAD). I got help loading it into the car but I needed to drag it into the house myself. (Zeller's personnel motto: "If it's not in the flyer it's not on sale.")

I am over 50 and need a low/no impact workout, for 1) getting regular exercise and regaining lost fitness and muscle mass, which 2) really helps with blood sugar control, 3) helping to increase energy, 4) maybe put on a bit of weight so I actually have to undo my pants before pulling them off (not really, but WTF), and 5) low-impact exercise will keep me away from the physiotherapist, though he's a cute guy and helped a lot earlier this year when I got a stress injury in my right knee from walking 30 minutes a day (!).

So it came in a really big box: gross wt. 37 kg or 82 lbs, about 4' x 2' x 1'. I unpacked it (haven't assembled it yet) and 3 of the 4 cats are already addicted. The cardboard is too thick for Handsome Stranger to really get his tiny teeth into but he's giving it his best shot. Only Bwai (who needs a step stool to get up on a chair) hasn't climbed in. I should fill it with the last of the catnip and let them go wild. I do believe this is Fiasco T. Peabrain after a 'nip session.

I have about 5 lbs of raspberries ready for the jam jars; well, not exactly ready. I need to make the jam first. I use a water-bath canning method, which tends to keep down the botulism.

Garden Update

I have two kinds of raspberries and two blue grape varieties. They bloom and fruit despite my neglect. I think one grapevine grows about a foot a day. If I were diligent I'd be cutting them back.

The grapes go from one end of the dividing fence to the other. These berries are about seven feet off the ground and are the size of the top of my thumb.

Dear Diary: 2:15 pm. Ominous rumblings. I am running out of lemon soda already, and don't know if I can make it to the store...