A Deadline, is a Deadline, is a Deadline

EDITOR'S NOTE: This column was slated to run in the July 21 edition, but was held due to lack of space.

In case anyone who isn’t advertising in or writing columns for The Glasgow Courier hasn’t noticed yet, the deadline for each week’s issue has been moved up from noon on Monday to 5 p.m. the previous Friday.

That means, for those of who live outside Glasgow and depend on the U.S. mail service, our weekly Courier arrives on Thursday, not Wednesday, so that what we submit is almost a week old before we see it in print.

Dawdling (or procrastinating) through the weekend is no longer an option.

That is making life tougher for me: Fridays are more fraught, but Monday mornings aren’t as dreaded.

Life is full of pluses and minuses, isn’t it? And just because I know life is change, doesn’t mean I have to like it when it smacks me in my comfort.

So, that little rant over, let’s move on to current gardening issues.

The peas are producing enough for a meal here and there, both the regular ones that need podding, as well as the Chinese version that doesn’t.

The beans are starting to bloom. And again this year, the bush-type kidney ones are not fully aware they’re not supposed to form vines and reach out for support from surrounding plants.

The carrots are spotty, although that helps with thinning so that those that did start have plenty of room to fully develop.

The corn is getting to be as tall as me, but not yet tasseling. The squash, cukes, and lone pumpkin are merrily vining all over the place.

The onions are getting fat under the ground. The tomatoes and peppers are blooming and setting fruit.

Speaking of fruit, the raspberries are heavily laden and showing lots of color.

So far I’ve just grazed on those that were ripe enough to easily pluck from the canes. But soon, I’ll be spending my early morning hours picking them.

I need to have my arms and legs fully covered to avoid the thorns.

The continuing heat will not be my ally.

I'm sure the gooseberry bushes will also be ripening quickly, but I think I’ll let the birds have those. The thorns on those bushes are longer and sharper, although easier to see to remove should I get stuck with them.

The deer are still totally ignoring the solar electric fence, and entering my garden space at will.

Not only do I find their hoofprints in the mud going directly down those drip lines that were recently running, but I’ll occasionally startle them when I go out to grab onions or lettuce and they not so gracefully leap out and away.

Even when I don’t see them, the noise of their escape gives them away.

I’m sure the wet as well as the green in there draws them in.

The few volunteer sunflowers are being denuded of their leaves so they look pretty pathetic.

A few zinnias have had their tops gnawed off.

The frost cloth over the leaf lettuce still has them stymied, though.

A friend suggested that wrapping fishing line around the garden might help. She’d read that deer don’t like banging into what they can’t see.

So, I’ve added strings of fishing line all around the garden, in between the strands of wire carrying the shock factor that isn’t working.

I also added unused copiable cds, hanging from the top line. They twist and sparkle nicely in the wind and sunlight. I have solar lights above the pea fence.

And yet, there was a doe inside the garden this morning!

Hunger and desperation for water trumps my meager defenses.

Maybe, since the deer were so enjoying drinking from and playing in the sprinkler last week, just leaving buckets filled with water about the yard would help?

It’s worth a try — at least until mosquitoes carry me away when I forget to freshen that water often enough.