I won the skirmish again last
night.
But I’m going to lose the battle.
Eventually.
This is the fight we endure
every year. Actually, it’s sort of
the D-Day of the season. And no
matter how valiantly we stand our
ground, the end will be predict
able. And inevitable.
The War of the Garden will
soon end.
We dug the trenches and fox
holes months ago. Into them went
seeds and seedlings, bulbs, rhi
zones and conns. We plowed and
tilled, took aim with fertilizer,
lime qnd manure. We erected tents
in early spring as shelters against
the enemy fire of chilly April
nights. We watered and weeded
and did hand-to-hand combat with
rakes and hoes. We fought with
plastic and laid down mulch. And
weeded some more.
The enemy brought in its big
guns. Groundhogs. We stuffed
fuel-soaked rags down their
trenched burrows and shot giant
rocks against the openings. Val
iant battlers they were, who turned
tail and exited distant, hidden
openings to return in guerilla raids
on August nights in the late string
bean plantings.
For several months, it looked
like wc were winning. We reaped
the spoils of the struggle despite
too much rain, too little rain, too
much humidity, too many bad
bugs, too few good bugs, guineas
taking dust baths in the middle of
the battlefield and heifers with a
penchant for exploring untried
territories.
Strawberries and asparagus,
peas and beans, peppers, tomatoes
and com. We pillaged and plun
dered vines and stalks, taking
what was ripe in its own season.
With victory in strking dis
tance, fresh batallions of squash
bugs hatched out, thrived in heat
stroke conditions and zapped
every vining crop in sight, just as
the fruites ripened to near maturi
ty. Even our oiganic-barbed-wire
against bus, the marigolds scat
tered among the melons, failed to
deter the waves of kamikaze
insect attackers.
Whipped in the melon patch,
we retreated to die unbugged safe
Lancaeter Firming, Saturday, November 4,1M84H1
ty of the jalopeno peppers.
Jalepeno peppers are a garden
land-mine to bugs.
And made our final stand in the
tomato patch!
Not bugs, but weather, is the
ultimate adversity of tomatoes.
Ours thrived and grew thick in the
heavy rainfall of early summer, set
abundant blossoms and brought
forth bushels of delicious, health
ful yields in the baking heat and
humidity that followed.
But now. the enemy is at hand.
After milking and feeding
calves in recent evenings, this foot
soldier plods through die chilling
dark and damp grasses of the back
yard to erect our final defense.
Flimsy and white (“What IS that
white stuff?,” aslis the Farmer II),
the floating row covers offer but a
temporary truce in these waning
days of war.
Already, several light frosts
have gunned down tender plants
not tucked beneath the lightweight
Held tents. Which means those
few lingering orange-shaded
tomatoes on die front lines are
snatched like precious jewels and
hauled to safety on the basement
porch.
And, sadly, as in any war, some
won’t make it, rotting before they
ripen. Which makes the survivors
taste even more delicious.
So all you gardening kindred
spirits, please join me in one last
final attack in defense of our annu
als. Ready, with a rotten tomate in
hand...aim, at the chilly, gray
clouds bringing approaching
20-degree temperatures..and fire!
at the unseeen enemy of Winter.
It won’t change a thing. But
we’ll feel better about it
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