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Miscellaneous Rambling

Ceiling. Trastevere

Gardening season is obviously in full swing. I have grown from seeds all the tomatoes I'll need. I should have extra for my neighbor. My sweet pepper sprouting, as always, has been far less successful, but I think I have about a dozen seedlings that will make it, possibly two dozen. I've also planted my first wave of pole beans, zucchini, and cucumber. The rest will go in a one-week intervals over the next three weeks, in hopes of providing a continuous harvest of those items for six weeks or so. We'll see. The best laid plans . . .

Ceiling. Trastevere

I rented two extra garden plots at my local Kiwanis food garden, in hopes of growing food for the poor that would be distributed by my Church's food pantry. But wouldn't you know it: it's not allowed. I don't know if it's a government regulation or maybe a prohibition by the state-wide cooperative through which we get good prices on our food, but it's prohibited. I was going to grow the food and simply leave notes at the food pantry, telling people they could come out and pick it themselves, but that raised concerns that the patrons would simply help themselves to (i.e., steal under color of right) produce from other plots. It is, of course, a possibility. In the words of Dorothy Day (who was, of course, a champion of the poor): “There are two things you should know about the poor: they tend to smell, and they are ungrateful.” Being ungrateful, they tend to think they can take whatever they want (I believe our government has enshrined it as an "entitlement"). So I simply shrugged my shoulders and scrapped the idea. The best laid plans . . .

Ceiling. Trastevere

On laying no plans: I was exchanging emails with a TDE reader about "accidental gardening": when good things happen in the garden without you trying or planning. There are few things more enjoyable than seeing volunteers of desired plants crop up. This year, I have a lot of green wave mustard popping up throughout the garden, which is probably happening because I let my last wave go to seed last year, then chopped it down and carried it to my compost pile, scattering seeds everywhere. Over the past few years, I've had volunteer pumpkin, tomato, and parsley plants. I've also had various other greens, borage, and nasturtiums pop up. I've also had the expected spread of strawberries, raspberries, and asparagus. My tentative position on accidental gardening: If a person uses heirloom seeds and keeps the weeds at bay, all sorts of good things happen without trying.

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