Things To Do

Today, I am going to use this forum to give myself a pep talk.
All of my pink-eye-purple-hull peas have given up the ghost, and instead of pulling them up and re-planting, I let the heat intimidate me. Good grief! I'm telling you what, I just can't take the heat anymore. I go out into the garden with a wet rag around my neck, use the hose to wet various body parts, strategically place fans all around............. I feel like such a wimp. So, I have let this deter me from doing what I KNOW that I need to be doing.
Here are the things that need to be done; ( and this list is not only for me, but for others that may be first-time gardeners that may wonder what needs to be done next.......)
1. I need to pull all of the spent pea-vines, and throw on compost heap.
2. Need to turn compost heap. ( despite all of my good intentions, this heap has not been turned once this year. )
3. Need to pull all spent corn-stalks, compost the remains. ( Although, let me tell you what I did with some of the last ones that I pulled up. When I pulled them out of the ground, I tossed them into the middle of the rows that were growing , to help provide mulch, because the mulch that I had put into the middle was not thick enough, and weeds were beginning to get large. Worked pretty good!) In any event, it's still time to clean up the garden, so that I can get another crop in before winter.
4. Gonna have to scrape the mulch out of the way, and scrabble up the ground a bit, and throw some more seeds in, along with a little of that un-turned compost, and see if I can get some cool-weather crops growing; carrots, turnip greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, etc.
5. Need to use some of my wonderful fish emulsion to fertilize what is currently growing. BTW, have any of you folks ever used fish emulsion? I have discovered this wonderful stuff recently. I found it at Wal-Mart and Lowes; I had been reading about it in my garden books, and had no experience with using it, didn't know anyone that HAD used it, but in all of the books, it was supposed to be good stuff. (Organic). The problem with everything recommended in these books is, they all give the ingredients of the products, but they don't give brand names, and the sales people look at you like you're crazy when you go in and ask for IGR (insect growth regulator). It has been a dickens of a time trying to find most of the organic items that are recommended. Anyway, back to the fish emulsion, this is a liquid foliar fertilizer, that is mixed and sprayed directly onto the plants, leaves, stems, all of the plant parts. The first time I used it, I sprayed it onto some sad-looking pink-eye-purple-hull peas, and the next day when I went back to the garden, the difference in the appearance of the plants was very noticable. I'm not kidding, them boogers were standing up straighter, looked a lot greener, it was awesome! I like that fish emulsion! ( just a note: it is sold in the garden centers in the spring, once they sell all that they have ordered, they normally don't buy any more, because they don't want to have to put it on the clearance rack in August; note-to-self- buy fish emulsion when you start the garden season, if you wait until later, you probably won't be able to find any. I have sung its praises so much, and it is not available right now, so I have poured a little in quite a few little bottles, and passed it out. Fortunately, I bought extra, so I had some to share. ) Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, look at all the garden center's clearance racks right now; everything seasonal is being marked down, you can get lots of good buys! It's a great way to get some things that you have wanted but haven't had the extra money to buy. ( They say seeds are cheap, and they are, but when you have to buy everything that you absolutely HAVE to have, some things you just have to wait until later on.)
6. I really need to water the garden as well- this is a time-consuming job. It usually takes me about an hour and a half to water. ( Of course, this is a great job for kids to do, THEY don't seem to mind if the hose "just happens" to get them wet as well as the plants!)
7. There are some BIG weeds that have grown around the edges, that the landscape fabric didn't quite cover, ( there is one huge plant that grew in one of my raised beds in the tomato patch, it has little ball-shaped seed pods on it.......... my husband asked me what kind of vegatable was the one growing in the tomato patch. It was kind of embarrasing to tell him that it was a weed that had gone to seed,.....he he he!) Since my weed-eater is not working, I will have to get the grass-shears and shear the weeds by hand. I enjoy this kind of stuff, but it is so hot, that I get wet from head to toe from sweat, how I long to take my clothes off; couldn't do that to the neighbors, though. My, how I do ramble!
Well, just from seeing a partial list, I have revved myself up, ..........I think? In any event, revved up or not , guess I'd better get to it. More later........