Yesterday I had time to shear a sheep
or start planting our garden, and food won over fleece. But I spun my wheels for awhile, dithering about what to plant where; Rick and I usually confer on that and he wasn't home. Finally, clarity. Watering is always my biggest challenge, so why not lay out the available soaker hoses and drip lines and plant around them? I laid out the soaker hoses, planted a double row of bush beans (Blue Lake type) and a double row of sugar pod peas around them while giving the neglected strawberries and good soaking, and then watered the seeds. I had to work at the office job today, so this evening I laid out the drip lines and got all my starts in the ground, as well as planting a hill each of zucchini and yellow straightneck squash, and got all of that watered. There's room and drip nozzles for a few more plants – I want parsley, basil, one more tomato, and another trio of sweet peppers – and I need one more soaker hose to plant a row of beets, but I'm feeling good about having the majority of our little garden in. I 'celebrated' by pulling enough rhubarb (from the other side of the berries) to make a crisp for potluck Sabbath! Here's a panorama of our annual bed, with a numbered legend so I can remember what varieties I planted where . . . I've learned my memory can't be trusted. 😒
1) "Meatball" eggplant
2) "Gretel White" eggplant
3) "Sweet Million" cherry tomato
4) "Better Boy VFN" tomato
5) "First Lady" tomato
6) "Super Fantastic VF" tomato
7) "Willamette" tomato
8) two of my four rhubarb plants, looking tough after tilling
9) a trio of sweet peppers from my MiL
10) yellow crookneck squash start
11) several looseleaf lettuce plants
12) double row of "Melting Sugar" peas
13) double row of "Bush Blue Lake 274" beans
14) our strawberry patch
15) a hill of "Early Prolific Straightneck" squash
16) a hill of "Black Beauty" zucchini
17) two hills of "Bush Crop" cucumbers
And as I finished, this sky:
That's it for now from . . .
4 comments:
What a brilliant idea to plant with the soaker hos already in place! Dragging and positioning hoses can be a time-consuming chore, especially when there is so much else to do. Love how black your soil looks! I grew up with black soil and the south's browns and reds just aren't as rich and pretty looking.
I agree with Leigh . . . your soil looks lovely! Must feel good to have so much of your garden in place now. For some reason, I've always assumed you got plenty of summer rain in your area. Enough for the garden and all those gorgeous blooms you treat us to. Until the rains started here a few days ago, I had to do watering every day (with hand-held hose) which took me about an hour each time. Now, of course, it's so wet out there I'm slip-sliding around in the field garden trying to keep the weeds under control and hoping it dries enough (soon, please) to get the rest of it planted! Where's that balance???
I'm adding my voice to the chorus about your fabulous soil! I have yet to put my squash in but have the balance of the limited plants all in. Of course, I'm also going to reap the benefits of my friend's organic garden in my labor-for-vegetables efforts!
Well, well, well. One of you mentioned that Blogger isn't emailing comments to you anymore, and it made ME wonder since I hadn't gotten any emailed comments lately, either. You ARE commenting! Yay!
The time factor and getting things watered consistently were the very reason I decided to to it that way this year, Leigh. We'll see how it works, but I have high hopes. We have "red jory" soil here, but our garden has been amended many times in past years with our composted manure, making it darker.
Oh, no, Mama Pea; we get VERY little rain during the summer. And May 2018 has been the second hottest and second driest on record.
I can't believe how much you're getting done while battling Lyme Disease, Susan! You're just confirming your Superwoman status.
Post a Comment