The horrible haze situation we had last week made me feel like we were enclosed in a huge machine that was slowly smoking the moisture out of everything, including us. Now, after a few days of respite, the plants are still showing the effects of the smoky conditions, shedding lots and lots of leaves and generally looking rather miserable.

White corn seedlings all lined up when they first germinated. They don’t look as pretty now. The layer of mulch wasn’t very effective…

I tried my best to keep the more important plants watered throughout that period. There were several new plants that had been planted out the week before, and they were struggling. One is a newcomer to our garden – white corn from the Weed family. I had a nice long row of plants when they started out, but there are now spaces in the ranks as the young ‘uns couldn’t tolerate the harsh dryness of the air. Mind you, I did my best to soak the bed and keep it moist all day – I even had a layer of mulch! The haze, however, effectively sucked the moisture out of everything.

Other plants are struggling, too. The kangkong jungle is still shedding leaves in response to the haze, and the angled loofah vine is rather sparse. I’m worried it may not stay around much longer. Even the belimbing fruits are small and unhealthy-looking.

Note that there will be no photos of the suffering plants here today. I’d rather show the good stuff here since the not-so-good things are too blatant right now.

Some of our new seedlings – Thai pumpkin on the left and winged beans on the right.

I have been in the process of starting new generations of plants for a few weeks now. There are new plants of Thai pumpkin, winged beans, long beans and okra. For some reason, brinjal refuses to get started – but I’ll keep trying. I have other seeds lined up for sowing – not literally, yet – but I intend to build up the veggie garden again. I just hope the weather clears up in the region so that we can all enjoy our gardens in good, clean air. Thank goodness it has started raining again!

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