Watering from the faucet

When I went out to water this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the plants that I had transplanted last week are still living, except for an okra that became detached from its roots when I planted it.  I had quickly covered it with dirt and hoped for the best.  Really, for someone who didn't grow up gardening, and who claims to have a black thumb, one casualty is an accomplishment.

But, the most exciting thing happening in the garden this morning is that I have corn sprouts!  I was so excited to discover nine howling mob shoots so far.  Woo hoo!  Does country gentleman take longer to sprout?

I transplanted the cabbage seedlings to a larger container, and added one marigold seedling to the container that the cabbages didn't quite fill out.  For good measure, yes?

Water from the sky

I was going to have to get up early this morning to water plants, but we had a brief shower around 5:30 this morning.  We're on a limited watering schedule: for thirty minutes from midnight until 10:00 AM on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for odd-numbered homes, and on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday for even-numbered homes.  Maybe we'll keep on getting steady rains, so I don't have to refer back to this too often.

New Daddy tilled up my front plot again on Saturday, plus most of the strip of grass that was in between the two plots.  So, that means that I've got something to do on the next good planting day... which would be... (opens a new tab to look at "best days" for planting) the 14th for my beets and radishes.  And then the 24th for everything else.  Hmmm.  Looks like I'm going to need to transfer my rattlesnake beans into something.  They have overtaken their peat pellets and will probably die if I don't do something with them.  But, they are a vine crop, so I can plant them on the 19th, a little earlier than other things.

Are tomatoes a vine crop, too?  That means they can go in on the 19th.  I picked up my tomato supports from the old house today, so I'm ready when they are.

More stuff in the ground

You can check the farmer's almanac "Gardening by the Moon" for good planting days through the rss feed on the right side of the blog.

Today was another good planting day for above ground crops, so this morning I put in the Great Northern beans and the okra.  I sowed one row of beans next to the howling mob corn, and then two rows of okra next to the beans.  The Great Northern bush beans like a little shade, so hopefully, putting them between corn and okra will give them just that.

It was a gorgeous, gray day, perfect for working outside.  Maybe the gray will promise some rain to water in what I've planted so far.

My rattlesnake beans are more than ready to get in the ground, but I'm waiting on New Daddy to get some stakes and help me string up a trellis for them.  The trellis I bought is huge (5 foot by 30 foot netting), so we'll have to cut it down some.  Tomorrow is a good day for root crops, but my beets aren't ready to be transplanted yet.  Maybe I'll try the radishes?  New Daddy is also going to till my front plot for me, even though it's not exactly a barren day.

I'm realizing that I should have started my Marigold earlier, so I'd have plants to intersperse around the garden as I plant other crops.  Right now, my little seedlings are nowhere near being ready!  Maybe I'll read this next year and give them an earlier start.  Really, I should give everything an earlier start, but I'm always scared of a late frost.  I don't want to invest effort into something, and then have it fail.  So, I wait until it's almost too late, and risk not having anything mature at all.  Hmmm... doesn't make much sense, does it?

In the beginning

You know if I'm going to do something, I must fully enjoy it by writing about it.  Here goes...

New Daddy tilled up a couple of plots for me two weeks ago.  I went to put corn in today, and discovered that grass has already taken over some of the area.  He said he didn't mind retilling, and Uncle B can live without his tiller for another week or so.

Today, I planted four rows of Howling Mob sweet white corn, only three rows of Country Gentleman sweet white corn, thanks to the grass.  I gave up on extracting grass mounds out of the garden with a trowel after the first 10 or so.  The last row of Country Gentleman can wait until New Daddy has tilled a little more.

Currently, I have seedlings/small plants planted for the following:

• beets- bull's blood
• cabbage- late flat dutch
• eggplant
• okra- clemson spineless
• radishes
  
• squash- summer crookneck
• tomatoes- brandywine and better boy
• marigold- harlequin (for pest control- bugs think they stink)
• beans- rattlesnake pole, black eyed peas sprouted from organic ones at the store, great northern
• herbs: borage, chives, going to buy a few from the garden store
• and this shot in the dark: I planted three Pink Lady apple seeds that were already sprouting inside the fruit.  Will I get apples in several years?

The kids played outside while I worked, and Cutie fell asleep in her carrier, in the shade.