Wear Those Gardening Gloves Every Time!

I have a great pair of gardening gloves that I've only been wearing when I'm picking tomatoes.  I can't stand to pick a mushy tomato and have it goosh all over my hand, nor did I was to encounter any of those disgusting tomato worms.  I did wear them the other day when I picked beets and they kept my hands clean while brushing off the soil from the roots.

Decided to pick the rest of the strawberry popcorn today and since the stalks were no longer needed I would pull them up, then remove the ears and toss the stalks into a pile for my husband to run over with the lawnmower later.  I'd picked at least 30 stalks then had my kids come help me a little, and my daughter noticed a weird looking caterpillar and was ready to call it quits.  I picked that one and tossed it aside, and then she noticed another one on another stalk.  She did call it quits then and would only shuck the ears, not pull the stalks.  So I went to get that one and my hand just barely brushed that caterpillar and it instantly felt like I'd been zapped by fire.

 Needless to say, we were done picking corn for the day.  I came inside and washed my hands well and inspected it to see if there was anything leftover from the encounter.  No spines that I could see, and it wasn't even red, but it still stung quite a bit.

Not knowing what it was, I turned to the internet to help me.  I asked on my Facebook page and on a group's page that often answer people's garden bug questions.  I was able to find out that this is a Saddleback caterpillar and the spines on it are venomous.  Luckily, I did not have a bad reaction to it.  If you are allergic to it, you could go into anaphylactic shock.

I followed some suggestions on the site that was recommended and pressed some clear tape over the area several times to make sure any spines were removed, and applied a paste of baking soda and water.  I also wrapped it in a little plastic to keep it in place.  I then wrapped an ice pack around my hand.  I also took an allergy pill as soon as I came in the house as an extra precaution.

My hand stung and burned for about an hour and then eased completely.  The spot where I made contact is tender if I touch it but otherwise I feel just fine.  Luckily, I barely brushed it, I can only imagine the pain if I'd grabbed onto it with my whole hand.

Gardening, and How "Not Dead" It Is

The way I rate my gardening projects is by how "not dead" they are.  I cannot keep a plant alive if it is in the house, and I've not had a lot of luck with trees, but I can usually do pretty well with a garden.  I think it helps that once the plant or seed is in the ground I pretty much leave it alone. 

Unfortunately, where I put the garden this year is nothing but very poor soil.  I'd planned on adding a truckload of really good soil and compost to it, but didn't seem to get it done this year.  I'm hoping to be able to do it this fall so in the spring it's ready to go with just a little tilling.

I was also rather late getting things planted and the first round of tomatoes I started from seed inside never survived transplanting into bigger containers, so I started more seeds around the time other people were putting the plants into their gardens. 

Here are some pics of a few of the things in my gardens from the last couple of days, almost the end of June.

These are the two types of beans I'm growing.  In the front are bush beans called Greasy Grits and the ones in the back are pole beans called Dragon's Tongue.  Both can be eaten when green and can also be left on the plant to dry.  I plan on trying them both ways.

 This little corner gets little sun and a lot of water runoff from the porch roof when it rains.  I'm actually surprised anything grows  in it.  I have sunflowers along the walls and mixed dwarf cockscomb in the middle.  Oddly I planted the cockscomb all over the whole area but it's only growing in that little section in the middle.

I don't know if you can see, but it's a couple of tiny baby carrots.  I'd planted them in the garden forever ago, it seems, and had given up on them ever coming up, but a couple of them are giving it a go.

The stems on this have a purplish tint to them, that's because they are Purple Peacock Broccoli.  I don't have a lot of them coming up either, but at this point, I'm pretty happy with any that make the attempt.

This is some of my Strawberry Popcorn and it's around knee high and if I remember my little sayings then it's about right on schedule.  "Corn should be knee high by the fourth of July."  Oh, look over the weeds, too, I really need to get them pulled before they get out of hand, it's just been too darn hot!