Gardening exploits. Mighty mites might mollify. Attitude on purgatory.

I call them red cement bugs. These arachnids are quite harmless if they don’t get into the house. If they do, just make sure they have no food (live plants) or any water source (like from your watering the same plants) and you’ll be fine within a few days. They also calm down in serious heat. I’ve not seen any inside, but a zazillion outside on the very top of the experimental rocket stove. They invaded the tomatoes last year as there’s not much grass near that western edge of the house’s cement foundation.

Meanwhile, the garden is now fully planted with Potatoes, Spaghetti Squarrrsh, October Beans, Corn, Green Beans, Lettuce (two kinds), Spinach, Asparagus. The bulb-flowers are done already, so I planted some milkweed seeds that I got from the car dealership years ago. We’ll see if they catch on. I’m wondering about Marigolds to keep the varmints and various kinds of bugs away. Is there any kind of marigold that’s best for this?

So far, squirrels have eaten most all of one kind of lettuce, with the other kind not doing well. I’ll have to use cages next year. That was the plan for this year but it all got away from me. The one row of corn… well… I’ve never seen a single row grow well waaay back in the day. Remember the old days of non-engineered corn when the border rows would be quite short? My level of gardening still puts me waaay back in the day. It’s an experiment. That’s all part of it.

But who has time for gardening? Certainly not me. So, it’s just a little every day or a couple times a week with the major projects only once every month or so, starting in late winter. On a daily basis it’s just a matter of few minutes of watering and harvesting a half dozen tall-enough asparagi. But harvesting is part of food prep, replacing that time otherwise spent on grocery shopping, and so doesn’t count for gardening time.

And anyway, walking the perimeter is exercise for old geezers like me and one can fit in Hail Marys for the souls in purgatory. Just to be clear, praying for the souls in purgatory is also working in the vineyard of the Lord. Praying for the souls in purgatory is not an exercise in condescension. For me it’s more like an apology: “Sorry for not having prayed more for you during my own sojourn upon earth. Please, forgive me. Hail Mary…” Something like that. Otherwise, gardening is like being a mere red cement bug arachnid.