Twiggybet1's Blog

Between yesterday and today, hubby and I managed to almost finish planting the garden.  Yesterday we planted the potatoes, and readied the row for the sweet potatoes.  The sweet potato starts probably wont come for a couple of weeks yet, but that will give the black plastic mulch time to warm the soil.  If it weren't for that, we probably couldn't grow them this far north. 

This picture shows the potato trench between the sweet potato row and the peppers.  Looks kind of messy yet. 

Yeah, I know the rows aren't all that straight.  But once the veggies fill in, it won't be as noticeable.  I put down the black plastic and put the bricks around to hold it in place today while hubby was at work.

Yesterday, while hubby planted the potatoes and made the sweet potato hill, I dug up all my Irises in the back of the rain garden.  They were already planted by the fence before I put in the rain garden, so they haven't been disturbed since I planted them about 3 years ago.  The soil was compacted way too hard, and they hadn't bloomed.  So I dug them up, put them in a pail of water and loosened all the dirt in the area.  I mixed in a couple of buckets of compost and shreddings of twigs and leaves, and replanted them a bit further apart:

Today, after finishing up the sweet potato area,  (you would not believe how long it took to put all those brick pieces around, and try to keep the plastic from flapping in the breeze) I got the next row ready, and planted zucchini that I started from seeds indoors.  The rest of the row I filled in with cucumbers (I think) from the wintersown plants:

 I put milk jug tops over the zucchini for the night, because the temps are supposed to get down pretty chilly, and I'm not sure they hardened off enough for the night temps yet.  Finally, when hubby got home, we had a quick supper and then we planted two rows of tomatoes.  The row to the right next to the zucchini are all determinate except for the last two plants.  These ones are Juliet grape tomatoes and Sungold cherry tomatoes.  The row to the right and the last two plants in the first row are all indeterminate.  These are Better boy (slicing) Bonny Best (salad and canning) and Jet Star (canning)

Tomorrow, we are planning to finish up planting the garden with sweet corn.  This will be the first time we tried to grow it.  I think we have just enough room to squeeze in 4 or 5 rows.  We still have to put together the trellis for the winter squash, and install it next to the fence.  I have some pots ready for the squash, I will probably try to get the plants in the pots tomorrow before hubby gets home.  I really would like to get all the planting done before the weekend.  We plan to go up north to visit family for the holiday weekend, and see the new baby nephew who was born in April.  We haven't been  up north since January, and we have birthdays and celebrations to catch up on!