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i went to the garden in the late morning to do some watering and diatomaceous dust spraying. i chatted with lynn and anne. the DE i sprayed last time were still on the plants, which is evidence we haven't gotten any rain since last weekend. i was surprised to see my striped mallow plants near the grow bags already blooming, some white and magenta varieties. i didn't get back home until about noontime.

while getting ready to leave, i watched a jogger loitering around outside for nearly half an hour. i think she was waiting for her running partner who never showed up. she finally eventually left.

arriving in belmont, two more gardenia buds have blossomed, while a third blossomed but then later aborted, and my mother was keeping in a shot glass with some water. aphids continue to feed on the tender new leaves even though i sprayed on monday, so i brought the gardenia back outside for another round of handheld spraying. as proof just have temperamental gardenias can be, it dropped a flower bud during the course of the move. i put it on the shady eastern side of the house to dry before moving it back indoors. once all the flower buds have blossomed (or fallen off, as the case may be), we'll grow the gardenia outside the rest of the season, pruning it to a smaller more compact shape.

my father and i finally moved the the last of our remaining houseplants outside. the 4 potted dragonfruit cactuses have actually been outside since may 17th, in the basement stairwell under the clear plastic tarp. temperatures haven't been hot enough to allow them to be completely exposed to the elements until now. the only thing still growing in our basement grow room was the reed plant, with a single plurple grow light keeping it alive. we yanked it out of the porcelain pot by grabbing handfuls of stalks, then moved the plant and the pot. i scrubbed clean the interior of the pot before returning the reed and filling it up with water. it lives in its usual spot, behind the garage next to the barbecue grill.

my mother called us inside to have some wonton soup for lunch. afterwards i was out in the backyard for the rest of the day, only coming back inside around 5pm. they said the temperature hit the 90's today. it was warm outside, but i didn't feel that hot. this is day 1 of a potential 5-day heatwave, so i have to pace myself.

my father discovered that aphids have been feeding underneath some nasturtium leaves, so i sprayed with a combination of neem oil and insecticidal soap, whatever i had on hand. afterwards i also sprayed the lupines. later i discovered there were some aphids underneath the squash leaves as well. i dusted those with diatomaceous earth, just to try it out, but if they're still around tomorrow, i'll spray them with insecticidal soap, which is a quicker death.

i made another round of the perimeter, checking to see if there were any new rabbit holes. there must be an obvious hole that i seem to be missing. i had the same problem during the winter, rabbits were somehow getting into the backyard, but i couldn't figure out how. it was easier to track them in the snow, now it's impossible. i'm just hoping they'll go elsewhere, finding easier pickings in some other backyard. there's also a neighbor's cat that wanders into our backyard occasionally, maybe it acts as a deterrent to keep the rabbits away.

i layered salt marsh grass around the squash plants (i still have nearly a full trash bin of SMG from whenever the last time i bought them). this is both to keep the weeds down to a minimum and also prevent the soil from drying up after watering. afterwards i mixed up several buckets-full of miracle-gro all purpose water soluble fertilizer and fed all our plants: squashes, tomatoes, eggplants, ground cherries, hot pepper, monkshood, chinese asters. i also fed the hydrangeas and raspberries with an acidic fertilizer.

i noticed it on thursday but really smelled it today: the honeysuckles have blossomed. they perfume the air, especially on the western side of the house.

my father kept two free tomato seedlings to replace the two that were eaten by rabbits. this time we put a plastic cup barrier around them to protect them. it won't stop a hungry rabbit from eating the leaves, but it will keep a rabbit from completely severing the main stem.

my mother marinated some drumsticks but they were still slightly frozen so she said we'll barbecue them tomorrow instead. she whipped up some tofu dish using the leftover spicy chicken feet sauce, and some cauliflower pork dish. we had watermelon afterwards. i left by around 7:30pm.

typically i like to take a shower when i get home, but the bucks-nets game was on so i started watching that instead. i took my shower during halftime, and turned it back on in the fourth quarter, when brooklyn was well ahead and victory ensured. i thought milkwaukee would be the team to beat the nets, but seems like the only good player they have on their team is giannis, i don't know anybody else on the bucks. it's only game 1 though, hopefully milwaukee will make the necessary adjustments. other than brooklyn, i bet a lot of NBA fans are rooting against the nets, just because they seem too dominant.