Spiffy

Getting up in the morning is almost tolerable when you grow fruit and vegetables.

Got up today and made the rounds. The results?

1. The beans are 5-6" high and have leaves the size of poker chips, after one week in the ground. I am overjoyed, and I plan to plant so many beans the Code Nazis come after me.
2. I have two Cherokee Chocolate tomato sprouts.
3. I have a Jamaican hot chocolate pepper sprout.
4. My day-old Caribbean red habanero sprouts are looking good.
5. The Beefmasters I planted in the tomato bed are still okay, in spite of the bed's record. But the new one is not looking as good as the one I planted last week.
6. My bell pepper looks dark and strong, and it's starting to grow fast.
7. My basil is really shooting up, after a crappy start.
8. The Mortgage Lifter sprouts I grew in the bed are looking shaky after another hammering, torrential rain.

Oh, well. I have backups for the Mortgage Lifters.

I can see why no one else is trying to grow plants here at this time of year. The stuff I put in containers is doing great, and so are the beans, which seem unstoppable, but the tomato bed is like a gulag for dissident plants. It's where they get sent to die.

I've started watching the weather more closely. Ordinarily, I only care about the weather when I'm planning to barbecue or fish, but now that I have to worry about my plants being crushed by golf-ball-size raindrops, I have another reason to go to Weather Underground and Google News. And it's usually disappointing. We have two more days of heavy rain to get through before we drop to the 30% level, and the monsoons we've been having have had no positive effect on Lake Okeechobee.

Generally, this county gets its water from wells that are close by, but Okeechobee serves as a backup. We we would all like it if the lake's level rose. But Providence has been sending soaking rains to areas close to the lake, while scrupulously avoiding the lake itself.

Maybe God is still punishing Palm Beach County voters for their stupidity. Wouldn't a flood be appropriate?

I managed to quit buying seed, so that's nice. Let's see how many things I have here or on order.

First, tomatoes. With some redundant info, because I am lazy.

1. Mortgage Lifter. Two okay plants, two shaky sprouts.
2. Santa Sweets. Two okay plants, one which needs to be transplanted.
3. Dr. Wyche's yellow. Waiting for sprouts.
4. Better Boy. Recovered from blight. Blossoming.
5. Beefmaster. Some okay, some not.
6. Kentucky Beefsteak. Waiting for sprouts.
7. Cherokee Chocolate. Sprouted.
8. Marianne's Peace (freebie from seed company). Sprouted.

Second, peppers.

1. Bell from Home Depot. Looking good.
2. Quadrato d'Asti Ross, red bell - may have some yellow Quadrato d'Asti Giallo due to a mixup at the seed plant. Just planted.
3. Orange Scotch bonnet from grocery store seed. Several thriving plants.
4. Classic lumpy Scotch bonnet from grocery store seed. Just planted. To excess.
5. Caribbean red habanero. Just sprouted.
6. White habanero. Sprouted a few days ago.
7. Thai ornamental, ordered by mistake. Two thriving plants, for which I have no use.
8. Prig ki nu. Two thriving plants.
9. Indian PC-1, also known as naga jolokia. Just planted.
10. Jamaican hot chocolate pepper. Several nice sprouts.
11. Tepin pepper. Waiting for sprouts.
12. Jamaican red Scotch bonnet. Waiting for sprouts.

Finally, I have papayas and beans and basil, and I am waiting for my culantro seeds to arrive.

Here are the trees I want to put in.

1. Key lime - 2
2. Meyer lemon
3. Tangelo - 2
4. Mamey
5. Papaya - 6
6. Mango
7. Plantain - 2
8. Grapefruit
9. Sugar apple
10. Soursop
11. Cocoa
12. Cinnamon
13. Allspice

Sounds like a lot, but a lot of those are small. A plantain tree is like a big celery stalk. It's barely a tree.

I still think it would be fun to put up a hot pepper hedge. Some variety that looks really sweet and cherry-like. Right by the road. Heh heh.

One of the seed companies sent me some free sunflower seeds. I'm not sure if that's a joke or what. I can see ten pounds of sunflower seeds from this chair. I'm sure it would make Marv happy if I planted them. He probably wonders why I grow anything other than sunflower seeds and peanuts. He probably wonders why I haven't planted a bird toy tree.

This sure beats the old days, when I got up in the morning and all I had to look forward to was a diet breakfast and 47 enlargement emails.