More gardening, more writing
OMG two posts in less than a week! Wax up your skis, hell-bound people.
Writing:
Been getting a lot done, at least a couple hundred words almost every day for months now. I don't write when I go out of town, and I've had a couple of days where I couldn't do more than 50 words (usually like 3 days in row, which says something is sorting itself out during those phases). But it's been nigh-continuous progress, which explains both the lack of blogging and the lack of adulting (not that anyone else sees that, but I do).
I feel as if I've been in the home stretch of this book for a long while, but there were a lot of scenes to add (mostly to replace existing scenes that weren't right). I think I'm down to three scenes plus the denouement, but of course one can never be entire sure until it's written.
Also, I wrote a scene that made me cry. Touching interaction between grandmother and grandson facing a crisis. I fret when a scene makes me cry because I don't think it will do the same to the reader and that bugs. But I enjoy writing it, so that's the important thing at this stage.
Gardening:
SO MANY PLANTS. The corn is huge. I drove past cornfields yesterday and theirs were only a foot or two high. I planted mine earlier than one should for safety, but I don't have my livelihood on the line so I could take risks like that.
The green beans are really crowded. Next year I'll plant them spaced further. That doesn't seem to have stopped them, though, and they put up a zillion flowers and now are covered with a zillion little nascent green beans. I expect I'll pick them at the end of the week.
Frisee has gone dormant with the heat. I really missed an opportunity with the cool May earlier. Lettuce also doesn't like the heat, but I'm giving it a shot anyway and put a bunch of seedlings in a giant pot today. I rigged a shade from an old T-shirt and bamboo stakes which might help them, at least until the first wind- or rainstorm. Put a brussel sprout seedling in there too, because why not.
The sweet pepper plants just sat there for a while with flower buds tightly closed up, but one finally deigned to open up some blossoms, so I'm hopeful there will be peppers soon. I also have a bunch of carrots in that pot, and they seem quite happy, putting up their frilly little leaves. I put some carrot transplants into one of the Earthboxes, but I don't know how they'll do. I worry that the tiny leaves will fry on the black plastic.
There were a whole bunch of "weeds" in with my parsley so I duitifully plucked them all out before I remembered that they're basil seedlings. LABEL YOUR BEDS, PEOPLE. Fortunately, I had more basil seedlings in starter trays, so I put them out there.
The watermelon is just sitting. I think the vines are a little longer now than they were a week ago. I hope they've just been waiting for the heat and they'll take off now. I started a couple more seedlings so I might have more later.
The dill is out of control, probably because I don't use it much. The thyme is growing well. The parsley I started from seed and which was on the verge of death for weeks has rebounded with enthusiasm! (Meanwhile I've been harvesting from a pre-started parsley plant I bought at the garden center. I think the from-seed plant was determined to prove its superiority.) Chives have slowed in their growth, but still plenty of stalks for every omelet. I have no idea how the garlic is progressing since that's underground, but they still have green stalks, so I expect they're bulbing out under there. The catnip looks kind of sad; dunno what to do. Maybe that box needs fertilizer.
Two tomato plants spontaneously appeared in the brand-new bed I dug this year. I mean, this was a bed of pachysandra last year, so I'm not entirely certain how tomato seeds got into it after I ripped out everything, but I had fortified it with cow manure in anticipation of planting tomato seedlings in it, so they found the right spot, I guess? Anyway, I look forward to finding out what sort of tomatoes they are. For all I know they're not even from my last year's crop--they might be the gift of birds from a neighbor's plants. We shall see, because they're quite robust! Far happier than my seedlings.
I'm closing in on "shit or get off the pot" territory with the tomato seedlings. I think I'll have to put a couple out and just hope they survive. This is why I have so many extras.