Journal 4-08-08

Wx 553a: Partly cloudy, 67 degrees, NE 3 MPH

This afternoon I spent about an hour digging around in the dirt behind the stump. I think that the roots there belong to the stump. When I got it weeded out a little I planted poppies, columbine, and thyme in sort of a sprinkling way--hoping to get an untamed wildflower effect. We'll see.

The Goji berry plant is sick. I don't know if it is shock from being transplanted, or too much rain (it's been pouring all night and part of the day since Saturday). It has bcome rather pale green--almost yellow--and has some white stuff on the leaves that looks like dust but doesn't rub off. I added some fertilizer to the soil in that bed and hope that it will help. Everything else is doing very well--the little tomato is coming along nicely. The eggplant lost its flower again--I think that something ate it this time. It looks like a few snails have been at it. I am going to research natural ways of fending off snails (besides my current method--picking them up and turning them around so that they'll wander off somewhere else).

I received my first seed catalog today--Burpee. I am planning to curl up with it and dream about what I want to order (and can't because the Department of Agriculture won't let me ;->).

Later: I read the Burpee catalog. It is quite wonderful, with every flower and vegetable I can imagine planting. Unfortunately it contains this little paragraph:
"State regulations prevent us from shipping the following products to these states:
AK, HI: Garlic, Fruits, Potatoes, Annual Flower plants, bulbs, Perennial Plants, All Herb and Vegetable Plants."
That about covers it, I think. Perhaps they should just say "Forget it, you pathetic island dweller." I've never actually NOT lived in either Alaska or Hawaii, so I can only imagine the wonderous joy of being able to order ANYTHING and having it arrive in a relatively inexpensive and timely manner ;->. Ah well, back to KMart.