The Cook wrote:

Yesterday I set out 44 tomato plants. DH dug the holes with a post
hole digger and I set out the plants. Later we went back out and put
cages around all of them.

wow, that's a long day.

we aren't planning as much tomato gardening this
season. i would like to get a few roma in a smaller
patch to try them this year.


Thankfully the ground is moist. and today it is cool and misting. Hope
to get some grass clippings on them soon and then on the whole area.

As soon as I have recovered I will start on the squashes, melons,
cukes and zukes. I need to make sure that the area I choose for the
watermelons, cantaloupe and pumpkins have plenty of room to expand. My
okra is about ready to be set out and as soon as it is warm enough I
will plant some beans. I will plant a limited number of Roma 2 and
French green beans for eating fresh. We already have plenty canned. I
am thinking about soy beans and some lentils.

edamame soybeans?


The last time I tried
lentils it got so wet that I could not even get into the plot to weed.
This year they will probably die from lack of water.

i planted lentils late when i tried them last year, they
didn't do much until the cooler weather returned in the
fall and they were big enough to get more light. this
year i've decided to let them go and plant adzuki beans
instead (which have a similar texture and flavor to me).
we'll see how they do.


I guess all any of us can do is sow the seed and hope for good
gardening weather.

so many factors can influence the results. i think
a lot of people set their sights a little too high
and then suffer from disappointment. to me a good part
of gardening is learning -- listening to the soil,
plants, bugs, critters...

a few years ago i took a bunch of seeds from
some plants out front and scattered them in the
back to cover an area of bare ground i'd cleared
of things i didn't want. nothing happened for two
years. last year a few showed up and i laughed.
this spring they are flowering in a nice patch off
to the side in a more sunny location. which is
good as that tells me they needed more sun than
where i put the seeds down. rain splash, critters,
weeding, or random brownian motion got them where
they needed to be and it worked out in the end.
the patch out front only has one remaining plant.


songbird