pod's blog: Time off... life is good!

Home for some time off due to the virus and what a wonderful time of year to be off from work. Although the ground has stayed too wet and the temperatures too warm already, I promised myself to find the good in each day ahead.

I have a list of projects for indoors when it rains and another list for outdoors when the sun shines.

I have been laying bricks for the summer shade house floor. It is close to the greenhouse and easy to move plants in or out. I hope to take some time to lay more bricks expanding the floor. I also need to fix more shade cloth covering for the scorching summer evening sun.

In the garden spot I have five 3' x6' raised beds which are making my life easier. I have a sixth one which I will be assembling but am waiting for the summer flowers to develop so I can dig and relocate them. It will probably be too hot by then to finish or plant the last bed.

I have half of one bed dedicated to multiplier onions and the other half is home to the old single clove garlic bulbs which a friend shared with me years ago. These plants will shelter in place year around.

Two beds have winter crops which are winding down. One is snow peas that are wilting from the early heat/humidity. I plan on turning them under this week to make room for tomatoes and cucumbers.

The other winter crop bed is half full of romaine lettuce. Today I pulled up all the red lettuce and promised myself I will not plant them again. I really dislike the texture of red lettuce. It exhibits its' delicacy with this heat by melting.

The green romaine is quite durable. I have two that I really like. Little Gem and Parris Island. To harvest, I pull the whole plant, trim off the roots and toss them in the compost. Amazingly, many plants with new growth have popped up from the roots in the compost bed. Today I transplanted them to a half bed 3" x 3' . They were wilting with the sun/heat so I covered with shade cloth. When I peeked at them an hour later, they had perked right up. Hopefully that will keep the lettuce coming for a few more weeks. I always hate to see the lettuce season wind down.

In the fourth bed, I still have Canary Chard and Cilantro. Today I added 4 Carbon tomato plants, 4 Waltham Butternut squash and 3 Green Fingers cucumbers.

The fifth bed was planted with cover crops that I have cut back and turned it once. I need to turn it again before planting in it. I will not use winter wheat for a cover crop again. The root system was so thick it is difficult to dig in.

I am still working on the logistics as I have 8 more cucumber plants and 19 tomato plants to place in ground. Five of these are the Sleeping Lady tomatoes and will be in large containers. The rest are black tomatoes and will be planted in the raised beds. The peppers are slow to germinate and won't go into ground till later.

Another "to do" will be to mulch these beds early with pine straw. I think it will be imperative with these temps to help keep the roots cooler and to retain moisture as it will surely stop raining some day.

No it won't!

I have been patiently awaiting a driveway installation but it has remained too wet for the past year. They placated me by bringing out a piece of equipment in late summer. It only irritates me to see it sitting there as I wade through the mud. I have inherited a cat with it. This is a male who is diligent about marking our territory. Grrrr… I have not encouraged him to stay. I believe he belongs to the neighbors. He hasn't really fought with my cats but little Nosy Rosie is scared of him. I am not sure why.


My Mom always said when the strays would ramble through that it was "catting season". Guess that is why he hangs with us but all mine are neutered and spayed so no catting around here.

So tomorrow, rain is projected and I will do bookwork, finish the wingback chair which I have been upholstering, dig out the two night stands from storage so I can prep them for painting, catch up on some reading. I have assessed my pantry and shouldn't need more than occasional dairy products and could do without if necessary. Fun to be ordered to stay home for a change.

( No account? Join now! )