The Wasp and the Luffa

The luffa: where did I leave off? The story of the luffa in a few sentences for those of you who do not remember. Surprise-- a luffa is a squash! I bought some seeds from Target and planted them several months ago. Two big leaves popped out right away. Then, nothing. The two seemingly enormous leaves just sat there for weeks. Very boring. Finally, a third leave (very different shape) shot out from the center of the two leaves. Then, again, nothing for several weeks. The leaves began to look scraggly and tattered. It seemed that the experiment to grow a luffa would be unsuccessful.

Expecting failure at this point, I was shocked when, in what seemed like two weeks, the plant experienced a sudden growth spurt. It climbed its way up and past the 2' thin bamboo sticks tee-peed around it. Every morning there were at least two new perfect yellow flowers, the color of butter. The vines teemed with baby (about 1/2 a centimeter long) squashes in the shape of male genitalia (not joking). It seemed like we were in for a very bountiful harvest of luffas. Sadly, all but one of the babies turned yellow, shriveled, and fell off the plant. The luffa retained only one pollinated squash. As it turns out, squash have both female and male flowers and require a visit from bees and insects in order to grow. All those sad shriveled yellow mini squashes died because they were never properly pollinated.

But all was not lost; one luffa remained. For several weeks it just got bigger and bigger. The plant looked quite humorous-- a pretty large green squash hanging from a pitiful looking vine with no other squash to keep it company. What must the neighbors think?

I thought it would look cool if I could train the vines around a hula hoop. The luffa is not too keen on the hoop and it is hardly snaking around the thing. Rather, its tendrils are wrapping around other vines. There is hope, however, since the luffa seems to sit around for weeks before deciding its next course of action. So, I imagine, I will wake up one morning to find the luffa has wrapped itself around the hula hoop. Won't that be a sight? A circle with giant gourds hanging all around it! A neighbor even complimented my hula hoop, though it could have been one of those, "that-girl-is-insane-but-I-don't-know-what-else-to-say-so-I-will-just-tell-her-I-like-her-hula-hoop compliments."

Last week, for several days, a clan of wasps settled into Pacific Beach. Maybe they were taking a mini vacation from Tuesday to Friday. Perhaps there was a wasp convention or something. The wasps seemed to adore the luffa. Always one or two crawling all around the vines. I am sensitive to bee stings (I am not sure about wasps, but I did not feel like finding out) so watering was scary-- who wants to piss off a vacationing wasp?

It might be just a coincidence, but this week, there are four more pollinated luffas growing at a lively pace. I might get a bath sponge after all!

So, thank you wasps for refraining from stinging me and for pollinating my luffas. (If only you also pollinated my summer squash! Those plants refuse to give me anything- Where is Demeter when you need her?). And thank you mother earth.

A Brief Aside

I am going to take a moment to discuss something other than plants. I want to share with you all an experience I had last night and give you a little warning should you ever go through what I did. Because of the problems with my hearing and ear, my doctor ordered me to have a MRI done of my head. The order said that I would be getting an MRI both with and without contrast.

I arrived at my appointment yesterday and all was seemingly well. I laid down and the technician placed a helmet type thing over my head and cushioned me in there with towels so my head wouldn't move during the procedure. I was given a panic button and had ear plugs in. The first part was fine. I mean, there were very loud noises and the MRI capsule was tight, but nothing so bad.

Then I was slid out of the machine and was to get an injection of contrast. This is where the problems began. I remained in the prone position with my head in the helmet. The technician told me that I would feel a little pinch when he put the needle in. I did, and it was fine. However, something went wrong. The contrast was not going into my arm. He started moving the needle and re-tying the band on my bicep. It was very uncomfortable. Burning even. Eventually, I took the needle out and said enough got in. I bent my arm to squeeze it and was slid right back in the MRI machine for another 12 minutes.

That is when the agonizing, stinging and burning pain began in my arm. I was fully crying because of the pain in my arm. The longest 12 minutes ever. I could have pressed the panic button, but I didn't want to start the whole process over. When I was finally slid out of the machine (still crying) the technician asked me if he got a little contrast outside. Was that what that was? A little contrast in the wrong spot in my arm? He went to get me an ice pack and another man came over and explained that it happened to him once and would wear off in 10 minutes or so.

He was right, it did wear off in 10 minutes. At least the burning and agonizing pain wore off. However, my arm is still extremely sore and tender. It hurts to extend my arm and feel like someone beat on me.

If you are having an MRI with contrast and you start to feel a burn where the needle was, ask for an ice pack right away!! Don't be like me because the burning will only get worse once you are slid into the machine, then you can't move. Serious pain.

Now I have to wait 7 days for results. GRRRRR.

So HOT!

It has been hot these last several days; the kind of hot where you realize life is going by in slow motion. I have about a hour left in my apartment before the temps reach the upper 80s in here. Needless to say, my garden is not happy with this dry soaring heat. I pulled up the tomatoes I planted in the spring. They were only producing small tomatoes and the plant just looked sickly. I repotted my pomegranate to a larger pot, but it seems the heat is taking a toll on it as well. Where it was lush and green with dozens of buds a month ago, now it is scraggly with loads of yellowing leaves.

Despite all this death in the garden, I am a bit comforted since I took a walk to the local community garden last week. Normally, I am incredible envious of all those plots filled with lush dense veggies three times the size of my container varieties. But the dog days of summer have had their way with the community garden. The plants look like pure weeds and decay. Tomatoes rotting on the ground and still attached to their withered brown stems. Straggly herbs, dead flowers. It was like a horror movie. So, naturally, I felt better about my situation.

I am greatly looking forward to the new cooler season. I have been pondering which fall crops to plant. I am toying with the idea of growing some chard or kale but I am not even sure that I like the taste of those two plants. Has anyone grown either of these two plants in a container?

Though I love growing from seed, I think for the fall I will buy some already established plants (like oregano- that darn thing will not grow from seeds!!!). I read in the Sunset Magazine that nurseries have sales in September, so I will wait until then to do some shopping.

Until then, I would love to hear how any of my readers summer planting went.

First Figs of the Season!

Well, here they are: Figs. There were only about 15 on the tree, so there are not too many to go around. They are pretty tasty, though, I wish they were a tad sweeter. I figure, next year the tree with be teeming and the tree will be 2.5 years old.

So, after I eat the rest of the figs, I will prune the tree(!) and hope to encourage a bushier tree next year. I have read some posts about how to prune, but it seems a bit crazy to me. However, since there are only 5 branches, I suppose I can't screw it up too bad...

Has anyone ever pruned a fig, dwarf fig, or any other dwarf tree varietal. Should I do it after I pick all the fruit, or next spring?

New Ginger Plant

My Orchid Flowers Died, And a Few More

Ginger

That lovely orchid that I posted a while back is no longer looking beautiful. The petals began to get brown and wilty along the edges, then the flowers came off. After a brief inquiry, I have learned that it is likely my fault. Duh, right.

I thought that my apartment was just too hot for the delicate flowers. Not the case. Rather, I probably misted it too late in the day and water remained on the petals overnight. Apparently, something as basic as that can cause the flowers to fall. Don't fret, I will not give up on orchids quite yet.

I trimmed it back and placed the foliage in the bathroom. I hope I can keep it nice and see if it will bloom again.

To compensate, I picked up a 6 dollar ginger plant from Home Depot. It looks beautiful. I will post a picture after this post. I would like to do a complete post on all that is ginger, but for now I will just give a few thoughts.

One website said that you could just buy a knob of ginger at the store. Soak it over night and then plant it in potting soil (mix it with peat moss if it is heavy-- you want to make sure there is plenty of drainage). Other people have reported sticking toothpicks in the side and immersing one part in water and letting it sit until roots develop. This sounds a lot like what I remember doing with an avocado seed. You should start this process indoors so you will be ready to plant outside in the spring. The plant needs a lot of humidity, so give her a mist. Then you can dig it up and eat it! Or just stealthily cut off pieces of root as needed.

Note, I have not tried any of this, it is all hearsay. I will just try to keep my plant alive! But if the flower dies, you know I will be digging up that root!

On a side note, I have been a bit delayed with blog postings since I have been pretty preoccupied with my current medical mystery. Sorry for all of you checking to see if I have updated! As soon as the weather cools down and I figure out what the heck is going on, I will get back posting several times a week.

peace,

Melissa

When to Harvest Carrots

Image courtesy of cafe-ole on freeimages.com

My favorite Seattle gardener wondered when she will know when her carrots are ready.   When do you know that root veggies are ready?
1.  You really won’t know until you pull out a trial carrot.  BUT, there are some signs that are indicative of grown carrots.  More on that in a minute.
2.  Carrots will not go bad underground if you don’t harvest them right away.  Some say that a light frost will make carrots even sweeter.  So, if your carrots were ready last week, or a month ago, they are still good to eat (maybe even better). 

Go find your seed packet.  -- What, you threw it out? No, you bought the starts from a nursery and can't remember the name? You need to find out the average length and diameter of the carrot varietal you planted.  When the carrots are ready or near ready to harvest, you will see a bit of the carrot poking up from the ground. You can then measure the diameter of the carrot top.  Compare that measurement to what the seed packet says the diameter should be.
It is likely that the carrot length will be appropriate if the diameter is appropriate.  But, when in doubt, just pull one of them up and see.

In May, I wrote a post about carrots and focused a bit on the lore and scientific evidence about using carrot seeds as a birth control.  Whether you believe it or not, if you are trying to get preggers, I would be careful to not eat a bunch of carrot seeds—just in case!

August is the time to start planting your fall garden.  Carrots are perfect cool weather plants.  Several varietals are great for all areas of the west: Purple Haze, Yellowstone, and White Satin.  Sunset Magazine has a great article about what to plant in your garden in August. Check it out here.