LESTER HAS A GIRLFRIEND

Soooo I am busy in the the umpteenth tomato row today when Michael decided he needed something from the house.   Within minutes he is walking toward me in the row with a weird look on his face and proceeds to tell me that Lester is by the back door of the house.  "Ahh what do you mean, by the back door."  "He's hiding behind the shelving unit under the deck."  Well that is way too close to where I sleep at night for my comfort level.  I don't care if I sleep on the second floor, the fact that Lester was invading the perimeter of the house was too much for me.

Michael went to get his gloves and I went to grab the camera.  As soon as I saw him hiding behind the shelving unit under the back steps, I knew it wasn't Lester.  Way too small for Lester, had to be a girlfriend and she wasn't happy!

Her tail was just a rattling and when Michael reached into pick her up she went for him.  Of course that pushed her out of her hiding place and I couldn't back up fast enough to get out of her way.  I'm glad my husband is fast, cuz he had her by the tail before she got to me.  Whew!!!  Erma.

We made an executive decision to take her far, far away.

A final glimpse of Erma before Michael takes her across the river.

Now I don't know if Erma is really a girl, or if Lester is really a boy and I am probably never going to know.  But I sure hope that is the last of the snake sitings for the summer. 

MORNING HELPER - LESTER

Do you remember a couple of posts ago regarding the garden helper?  The one that is beneficial but not well liked?

Yep, he was back and yep he had the element of surprise, especially because he wasn't where I saw him last.  His last sighting was about 200 feet from where I bumped into him this morning, or I'm sure he was thinking - where I disrupted his morning sun.  Because it was obvious from the rattling noise he made he wasn't happy about the close proximity he and I had.  I couldn't quite figure out why the robins where making such a racket in the corn crib. Well hindsight would seem to indicate it's because Lester was about.


Meet Lester - first impressions are lasting.

After the initial adrenal wore off I was able to get to know Lester better through the camera.  At least I felt safer behind the lens.

He eventually worked his way down the corncrib to the north and headed to the inside again.  These are the last shots of him slithering over some cable inside the crib. 

To all of you snake lovers, I honestly do not know where he went.  Sooooo when you're walking through the corn crib over the weekend, do like I've done all day - step carefully and remember to look all around, up and down. Cuz Lester wasn't on the ground when I met him - he was eye to eye.

PLANTING UPDATES

We have put in the ground since Friday, May 21, Beans - Climbing French, Taste of Asia, and Burpees Stringless, more Bunching Scallions, more red onions, more Lettuce -Yugoslavian Red, Speckled, Red Romaine, Forellenschuss, more Spinach - Bloomsdale, more Arugula, Parsley, Endive - Green Curled Ruffec.    More Beets - Burpees Golden, more Radishes - French Breakfast.  More herbs - lambs ear, fennel, and more flowers - Kiss-Me-Over The Garden Gate, hollyhocks, bachelor buttons, and five types of sunflowers.  Potatoes - French Fingerling, German Butterball, and a blue (whose name escapes me at this moment) and Beauregard Sweet Potato.

Tomatoes - five rows done - 15 to go.  The picture on the left is a tomato we planted on May 1 and the next picture is from a tomato we planted on May 23.

Peppers - being hardened, all 600 of them.  Fifteen varieties.

Basils - being hardened.

Remember the peas?  Here they are this morning. 

Today tomatillo's and cabbage to plant and continue prepping the tomato rows for Saturday.  Seed left to plant - 12 varieties of dried beans and carrots for fall harvest.  Succession plantings on greens, lettuce, etc., will continue every 10 days to two weeks throughout the summer. 

WHERE I WORK

This is my office.  Note the coffee cup with 6 am sunshine. 

Proof that at least we try to look the part.  Note the invented tool for creating rows for seeds.  Menards is the best.  Less than $8 - it's a brick joiner, a wooden handle, and green duct tape.  Works like a charm!

Morning visitor.

ANURANS

 

Anurans or tailless amphibians also known as frogs or toads.  Minnesota has 14 species of toads and frogs grouped into three families:  toads, tree frogs, and true frogs.  I still can't identify what this little guy is we found on the way to the creek this morning.  Tonight he's singing an ongoing duet with the whip-poor-will.

WE START THEM YOUNG

I'm not talking about plants.  The help.  Michael was awesome and taught Noelia how to help, and she's only two!!  She was quite proud of herself. 

Then the big girls got in on the action.  First Bella and then Amaya.

Bella decided driving was better than shoveling what they vetched, but Amaya didn't hold back.  She dug right in.  Finally she admitted, "This is hard."  No complaints about smell.   That's because the horse manure was well composted.

During all the action Michael spotted a garden helper that many people don't take too kindly to.  Me included.  But they are benefical and as long as he doesn't slither out of some weeds and "surprise" me, we will get along fine.

FLAX

SUNSHINE

Sunshine in the morning makes me happy...is that how the song goes?  After the rain comes the green, or something like that.  Or how bout after the sunshine I have a hard time getting out of bed cuz all my muscles are sore from the day before.  Bending, stretching, squatting to put seeds in the ground!!  Any way you look at a sunshiny day involves happy.

Over the weekend Michael invented a "tool" to assist in laying mulch. 

Amber helped as always.

The peas peaking out of their nice green mulch and radishes in the "microgreen" stage.  They are sooooo yummy like this. 

PLANTING

Sitting at our desk this morning listening to the rain hit the window and the wind blow.  Glancing over at the table stacked with seeds that probably won't make it in the ground this week.  Dried beans, green beans, squash, watermelon, and the list goes on and on.  Working on the description of tomatoes and peppers to email our customers and making sure the nursery continues to nurture the peppers, basil, and tomatoes.

Hope everyone's gardens are growing with gusto and you are enjoying some fresh greens.  After this week, with the fresh moisture and the warmth predicted for the weekend, garden life should explode!!

ROUND TWO

Thirty degrees at the airport - 42 degrees under the row cover!!   Round Two - tomatoes.

ROUND ONE

We didn't wake up to this, but it was 38 degrees in the Bella garden where the tomatoes are nestled.   So round 1 - tomatoes.   The big challenge will be tonight if the forecast holds true.  For us the predicted over night low has now gone to 30 degrees. 

COULD THIS BE MAY 8?

We will see what the morning brings!!

MISTAKES

Do you ever wonder why you do something when in the process of doing it a still, small voice is telling you not to?  That still, small voice starts in your stomach and you don't listen.  Then it moves to the back of your skull and you still don't listen.  Then it moves to your forehead and you STILL don't listen.  You are not listening because you are in a hurry to get to your other job.

Then when your husband calls later in the afternoon and says, "Did the tomatoes look beat up this morning when you put them out?"  "Ahhh no," you answer.  You still don't know it's because you didn't listen to that still, small voice.  When you get home and go down and check on them and think ----  #$%^!! if I had only waited this morning.

MANURE TEA RECIPE:  Place one or two shovelfuls of fresh or dried manure in a permeable bag.  The finer the holes in the bag, the less likely it is that weed seeds from the manure will get into your tea.  Burlap bags are best, but perforated plastic or mesh bags will work.  Tie the bag closed , then place it in a barrel or other large container filled with water.  Make sure the bag is submerged.  Allow your "teabag" to steep for about a week.  You can apply manure tea at full strength for periodic feedings or dilute it and use it whenever you water your plants.  Do not apply undiluted manure tea directly onto plant foliage - it will injure plant tissue.  (Adapted from Rodale's - Organic Gardening.)  Manure is a prime source of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and is rich in bacteria.  We happen to have one of the best manure's available - horse!

Have you guessed yet what happened?   In the morning before I head to the bike shop I have to water the oldest tomatoes in the hardening process.  They have been outside for over a week but still in their four inch pots in flats.  I decided they need a little boost and so this particular morning I watered with DILUTED manure tea.  BUT because I was in a hurry I wasn't as careful as I needed to be to protect the foliage from the enriched water even though it was diluted.  SO consequently the vast majority of them (I am not revealing numbers) look, well - not so good.  Fried would be a good word. 

The lesson - always listen to that still, small voice.

The next challenge - to see how Friday and Saturday night go in beating the predicted frost.  How well will the row covers protect 100 tomato plants?  The current predicted low for Saturday night is 31 - that means our gardens could get to 26 degrees.  The row covers are suppose to provide 4 to 5 degrees of protection.  Hmmmm....it's going to be close.

CAUGHT

When you are usually behind the lens it is hard to be caught in front of the lens.  I was so engrossed in planting yesterday I did not notice my sneaky husband pick up the camera.  As you can see we decided to add an additional "experimental" row.  We have the tomatoes, we have the row cover, and we planted 36 Chaulk's Early Jewel's and 14 Black Krims.

We also seeded the Yuli Flower beds yesterday with -- Nigra, Country Romance, and Giants Mix Hollyhocks, Velvet Queen, Mammoth, and Torch Sunflowers, Pincushion and Flower King Scabosia, Mammoth and Bouquet Dill, plus three types of wildflower mixes, two annual mixes and one perennial.

WATER

An earlier post gave tribute to the value of DIRT!  As in life all things cannot survive solo and the precious dirt needs life giving water to germinate seeds, grow the seedling, and mature the plant.  Now the gardens are starting their own rhythm.  Work the dirt, plant a seed, and water.  Work the dirt, plant a seed, and water...so the process continues.

RHUBARB

We would like to thank my daughter, Tona, and her employer, Carefree Living, an assisted living facility in Burnsville, for allowing us to donate our rhubarb to their menu this month.  Tona graciously gathered around sixteen pounds of rhubarb and prepped it for delivery.

WE CAN TASTE THEM NOW!!!

We had a lively crew on May Day!!  Fun, full of energy, entertaining, good conversation and the best part - hard working.  Despite the horrific winds we had we managed to fetch, prep, plant, feed, and cover our first row of tomatoes for the year.  We know, we know...it's too early to plant tomatoes.  We do admit this is an experiment.

Our experiment last season saved the tomaotes from the cold, but our learning curve fried them.  They do not like 120 degrees (we used plastic for row cover).   Ultimately 90% of them managed to recover but we lost the advantage we had by planting them three weeks early. 

This year we are using a row cover made from spunbonded polypropylene designed specifically for the purpose of providing 4 to 5 degrees of additional warmth, protection from wind, insect control, and rain permeable.  We purchased from a local supplier, Jordan Seeds.  Under the plastic mulch, that Michael and Evan are laying down, hides either a soaker hose or drip tape that provides a minium of an inch of  water on a weekly basis. 

Evan and Michelle are installing the hoops every 4' to support the row cover.  Amaya and Bella helped provide the bone meal and epsom salts in the bottom of the planting hole for Alberto and Michelle.

In the ground soaking up the sun this morning are:  Sudduth's Brandywine, Speckled Romans, Brownberry, Black Krims, Chaulk's Early Jewel, and Black Sea Man.  Fifty babies taking on the elements - grow baby, grow!!!

Michael and I thank - Alberto, Tona, Evan, Michelle, Bella, Amaya, Noelia (Ellie), Rio, and Amber for all your hard work and fun!!   Last year it took Michael and I one whole day to do what we did in just a few hours.  Thank you.