In Between the Drops of Rain

I planted the raised beds yesterday. I had been to Home Depot last week and Spencer's Feed n Seed, buying both seedlings and seeds for the winter crop. But due to life in general, I have only just now gotten around to the actual planting of the stuff. And we are in the middle of what promises to be a protracted rain "event". But that never stops me. I just dodge the drops.


So far, in the 6 new beds John built, I have plunked in: two tomatoes (more on that later), 3 cabbages, 3 brussels, 3 cauliflowers, 9 broccoli, 9 collards, one bed shares carrots and beets, 1 yellow squash, sugar snaps, and kale. The 3 packs have room left to add another set of 3 in a few weeks to stagger the cabbage, brussel and cauliflowers. I don't need 6 of each of those ready to harvest the same weeks.


Still to plant are spinach, lettuce and leeks. I tried to build up the back bed for red potatoes, but the rain was rather severe and the whole plot is muck. Oh, yes AND seedlings emerging!!! I was RIGHT!

Emerging Plucked
Those melons are popping back already! along with green beans and something else I don't recognize! But I will be ever so diligent about yanking it all out once I can walk safely on the surface. I tried but the red ants came swarming out and the crocs I was wearing offers no defence at all. I beat a hasty retreat!

Aside: John noticed deer prints on the bed! And from the size of the hoof, it looks like a big one. I wonder how close to the house it will venture.

As I mentioned, I have planted tomatoes again and it may be a little too late to get anything other than green tomatoes, but what the heck. I have the space and why not experiment? So, I had purchased one plant at HD but have been growing another one that Leslie gave me over the summer (a drought resistant hybrid) and it had gotten leggy and filled with flowers but so far, no tomatoes. So here's what I did:


The beds John built are 12' long, some 3' wide, others 4' wide. I had planted the single squash in one end of a 3' bed and the tomato on the other end. I thought about something I had read in the past about taking a leggy tomato and burying it horizontally, allowing the stem to protrude closer to the top. Well this particular plant has 4 shoots, so I made them stick up from the soil at various intervals and I will wait to see if this plant thrives. If it only stagnates, I'll dig it up altogether but so far, it looks pretty happy.