Keeping Things Alive

When I'm not actively trying to kill things, I'm often passively killing my plants. It's only May, but I've almost done in the tomato plants twice. First, I got them sunburned while setting them out to harden them in April sunny days. A simple screen made from left over window screen material worked well as a sunshade, and I've built a reusable frame for the garden for this purpose.

The fledgling tomato plants quickly grew new leaf stems, and I plucked off the damaged leaves. They're doing fine. 

I mentioned in the last post our challenges with pests. Many of the tomato plants were trimmed almost to the nub by birds, and that poor one pepper plant was left merely a green stalk. Well, they've all bounced back -- even the pepper:

Slugs, I forgot to mention, also devoured the tops of the bulbs Christine planted in the side flower bed and took hunks out of the zinnias. All have subsequently recovered.

I think the lesson learned is, fundamentally, as long as one provides the water and sunshine the plants will pretty much do the rest because they've been at it for several billion years.