The peppers are pathetic, there are too many mosquitoes and a working machine

It seems 2015 will not be the year of the pepper. My pepper plants are not the robust fruit-bearing plants I had hoped they would be when I planted them in May.In fact, they’re pathetic. A lot can happen between now and the first frost, but the pepper plants, I’m afraid, are not going to be very impressive.Peppers are tropical plants so I figured with the heat and rain we’ve had so far this summer they’d be doing very well. Peppers, both sweet and hot, like high heat, an inch or two of water a week, soil rich in organic material, a layer of straw to hold in moisture and full sun. A little afternoon shade typically is welcome and will prevent fruit from getting sunburned. My garden has all of these, and still the pepper plants are small with few fruits. Fortunately I know plenty of other pepper growers.Between spells of high heat and humidity and historic storms, I‘ve managed to spend very little time in the garden. While mosquitoes may be the primary diet for some creatures, the world would be a better place without them. Mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animals.Sharks kill 10 people a year. The mighty elephant tramples 200 people a year. Even humans only murder 475,000 other humans each year. The mosquito, however, kills about 750,000 to 1 million people a year by spreading malaria, according to various sources. When my daughter returned from summer camp she was covered in mosquito bites. We stopped counting at 68. If mosquitoes killed large numbers of white people, more would be done to eliminate them.My mom recently shared a recipe for mosquito repellent she found on the Internet that included ingredients like blue mouthwash, stale, cheap beer, Epsom salts and yeast. I would have to do further research to see if it might harm beneficial insects, birds or Missy Bunny. I will add that the writer of the recipe said he was successfully able to sit on his deck in his underpants. Somehow that lessens the credibility of the recipe for me.We can thank our colonial ancestors for introducing the white mulberry tree to the U.S. for the purpose of establishing a silkworm industry. Tobacco proved to be a better and obviously easier cash crop, so while most silk today comes from China, we’re stuck with the annoying invasive non-native white mulberry tree that pops up all over our property. This is one of the many joys of home ownership.We have finally broken the great lawn and garden curse,.Specifically, we’ve discovered a weed trimmer that is made well, works well and can be restrung by an average human without a degree in engineering actually exists. If you have ever battled with weed trimmers like my family has, I can now, without a doubt, recommend you buy a Stihl. It’s an amazing machine that has improved the look of our somewhat wild property while increasing the mental health of everyone in the household, including the pets who no longer have to hear us screaming at machines made by the likes of companies like Craftsman and Black and Decker, that, by the way, makes the worst weed trimmer ever.