Drought, Pollusion, Food Prep and Fashion

source: www.gardeninggirlusa.com

As I mentioned on my writing blog, I love spending time in the garden, but I’m not in love with the way I feel like a frump while I do it.

So, in lieu of Christmas shopping, I spent some time online looking for fashionable gardening wear.

I liked the look and feel of the clothes by  Gardeninggirlusa. Unfortunately, they have Autumn fashion, and summer is just starting here. Shorts and vests in dark colours would work best for me. The pants on the left look great, but so not practical! Their boots rock though. For any season:-)

I also checked out Land Girl . I really liked their clothes: simple and practical. Definitely the kind of clothing I'd wear in the garden.

And now that we're done with my frivolous views on gardening and fashion...



Drought

Despite the rain and constant clouds, we still have a drought problem. Some of my spinach was damaged by heat. Some days the heat is so bad it wilts the vegetable leaves.

Some of the leaves ended up yellow.  We're trimming as much of the damaged leaves as we can, and putting a lot of manure, compost and mulch (hay) onto the beds. Hopefully, this will help, until I can find a better solution.

The drought issue also means we're not watering the garden as much as it needs. Huh! Gardening in Phokeng this year is a challenge, and I'll have to make a plan to prevent these problems next year. If I can.

Pollution

I hired a digger to come make a big hole for me in the yard. Turned out the spot I chose used to be my family's garbage dump when I was little ( I have a vague memory of it). The good news is that the soil we excavated is due to all the biodegradable things that cooked in the soil for over 30 years.

The bad news is that there is a huge amount of plastic and tin in the soil too. We don't mind sorting through the soil to take out the plastic and tins, but it was only then, seeing the amount of plastic that's been hiding under our yard, that I could actually appreciate how serious the problem of pollution is locally.

Back in the day, we didn't have garbage disposal. But the people of Phokeng tend to have OCD when it comes to cleanliness. So most people dug holes to dispose of their garbage. That's where they burnt what they could and buried what they couldn't burn.

I think my family has more than five such holes, created when I was young. That's a lot of plastic resting under our soil. Definitely not good.

Food Prep

We did a lot of end-of-Spring harvesting, with the result that I spent Saturday cleaning vegetables, chopping and freezing food, and cooking what I needed to and then freezing it too. We have enough food to last us through February and we're not done with the harvesting yet.

We're also preparing for another batch of plantings, and preparing the soil for transplanting new seedlings. Which is all the more reason treat the soil too. I am however worried about the heat and its potential impact on the seedlings.

Anyhoo, how is your gardening going? Are you getting enough rain? Or are you, like me, experiencing serious drought? And if you've experienced drought, do you have any suggestions on how I can protect my vegetables from strong direct sunlight (temperatures go as high as mid-late 30s degrees Celcius). I'd really appreciate your input.