I know I talk about my love/hate relationship with the weather a lot.
But, I have to say that the temperatures for the past two weeks feel a lot like Mother Nature is just throwing out lottery numbers while hoping to win several million dollars.
Well, that seems to go hand-in-hand with the most random forecasting I’ve heard of in a long while.
It’s also confusing the heck out of mom’s flowers and other plants.
On one hand, the succulents and drought-tolerant greenery hate it, but on the other hand, it’s making her rose bushes happy and in full bloom.
Don’t even get me started on the banana pepper and bell pepper plants in the garden that were still producing until the first freeze snap last week.
We were actually discussing burning the weeds out of the old garden and tilling the dirt for the spring garden.
And that only worked so well until the day we wanted to start said fire and the winds were just gusting too high.
Sure, it made being outside relatively relaxing, but totally ruined my mood for pyrotechnics.
However, I’m leery to venture out there and find more peppers instead – or surprise tomatoes or something.
After all, there’s only so many quart-sized Ziploc bags that I can fill with chopped peppers to freeze and use at a later date
without having them get freezer
burnt.
Plus, I’m not too keen on mom’s plans for making several dozen more jars of salsa already.
We’ll have to look into canning our own pasta sauce, too.
Outside of that, I’m hoping she plans her garden out better this year so we don’t run into cross-pollinated and disgusting varieties of cucumbers and squash.
I don’t care that they’re in the same general food category or family – the bitterness is disgusting when they comingle and cultivate together.
I’m also a little salty since none of my watermelon and pumpkin plants grew.
I suppose that means the seeds were bad or got overwatered or hated the weather.
I’m not exactly sure why certain seeds and plants don’t take in the garden over others.
But, I can safely say that will leave that bit of planning up to mom since she’ll be more hands-on in that arena than me.
I’m just not as handy when it comes to growing things or having any sort of green thumb.
Sure, I can water plants and handle the basic needs, but I’m better at just moving heavy pots and equipment than I am at delicate things.
After all, it’s one thing to write and take photos and another entirely to make perfect rows for seeds and seedlings to grow.
I’m pretty sure that just folds into how terrible I am at math somehow.
Or, it’s some mental landscape gene that skipped me and was given to my sister.
Either way, I’m reminding mom to wait and see how the weather acts for another month before we make any concrete plans for a spring garden.
The real test is to see if my advice holds or we end up making a mess this weekend when my sister comes to visit – only time will tell!
