Tomatoes Begin to Ripen

Cherry tomatoes by bucklava

I had planned to write at least two blogs on the garden between the last garden post and now.  Some minor crises, one hard fall, and an interesting interlude on Facebook when my blog giving my view that Christianity is not the only way to God and heaven was posted by a Facebook friend.  Falls are always dangerous for me for three reasons: (1) my bones die (cause unknown, but injury can't help)  (2) I have an artificial hip (doctor's instructions: don't fall) and (3) I have no health insurance (pre-existing condition).  In this case, I fell outdoors on nice, hard dirt. still, not concrete, while carrying plants to the backyard.  I avoided landing on the artificial hip side and I did not have any permanent injury.  I ripped a nice hole in my thumb on something and my good knee (the other has the knee cap out of place, but it works, much to my orthopedist's dismay) was skinned and badly bruise but functions with only minor complaints mostly when I bend it.  Oh, one of my elderly cats is sick and I am administering nebulizer treatments two to three times a day..   Good excuses, but the reality is I just didn't feel like blogging about the garden.

The garden is progressing but not as I had planned.  I planted sweet pepper and eggplant seed in two beds and not one seed sprouted.  I have never had this happen.  By the time I realized that the only thing going to sprout were weeds, it was too late to reseed.  I bought susbstitute plants at my local nursery( the plants I was carrying went I fell).  They had no eggplant.  I have planted two sweet peppers, two squash plants,  two kinds of basil and two kinds of parsley.    I have purple sage, lavender and mint in my side garden, in the ground among pots of cereus, pencil plant, and sanseveria.  My lavender always dies: I think from too much water.  The side garden drains well and is dry.  I put the mint near the bird bath on the ground so it will get more water.

My garden May 1

My tomatoes are growing well and all have now set fruit.  This is the last year I grow Celebrity. because it does not perform well for me. Celebrity was the last to set fruit.  We are already sampling the Sungold tomatoes and the Sweet 100's.  Ojo Bonito is loaded with green tomatoes.  The plants have been attacked by small, black worms that eat the leaves.  I have instituted a daily search and destroy ( actually, look and squish).  So far, I am winning.  The Brandywine was the first tomato attacked by these nefarious critters.


My main concern now is the ferocity of our spring storms.  I lost my car windshield to hail in 2008.  We had our first storm last week; this was also our first rain since I put in my tomatoes in early March.  Hail warnings were abundant, but the storm that came through my area had no hail and lots of rain., over two inches.  That really was a miracle.  This part of Texas is in a severe drought which continues.  One line of storms is not enough., but at least I will not need to water for a while.

Sungold tomatoes by tvol

I purchased my okra seed yesterday.   I need to prepare a bed for it this week.  Okra loves the heat.  I want to track down a nursery that has some eggplant plants.  I will sow some radish seed on the edges of the four beds I have now.   If all goes well, I will plant some red sunflowers at the bottom edge of the garden.

The garden is my escape from reality.  Whether I harvest much or not, I will reap peace and renewal.

Christian blogs

I have been reading so-called Christian blogs this week. I find too many of them terribly depressing as they try to prove their view of Christianity correct. Many are all too eager to prove that another's beliefs are false. Very few would reach out to those that are not Christian. Many I believe would turn-off a non-believer.

Christ told us to love our neighbor as ourself, then gave the parable of the Good Samaritan. Do we forget that Jews of Christ's day did not believe that Samaritans were true believers? I believe that Christ was telling us that the fine points of theology are less important than how we treat others.

Jesus' command was simple: love God and love our neighbor as yourself. In the parable of the Good Samaritan(Luke 10:30-37), he told us who our neighbor is. Why don't we understand? Piety does our neighbor no good unless we turn it into action.

For me, the saddest blogs are by women who apologize to any man who might read their blogs and think that these women presume to teach men. Christ treated women as equals. The first to see the risen Christ was a woman. Only as the church hierarchy formed were women excluded from leadership roles. I believe God speaks to the hearts of men and women equally. Our duty is to heed that call.

Now, I am putting down the real beliefs of others. I am just as wrong. All I need say is that I believe in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. I will try to follow his command.