It took us a while to get out of the house. That was ok, because my parents had hosted a wedding at their B&B (roundbarnfarm.com) the day before and those guests were not checking out until around noon, and they had new guests checking in around 4 so I was not going to subject them to my rambunctious kids and dog. We got there around 330 pm and I headed down to the field to plant my flat of Tug Hill Paprika, and build the bean trellises.
The plants I had filled the row I had prepared the other week perfectly, spaced 14 inches apart. That they fit perfectly was unintentional, just worked out that I had exactly 31 plants and that was what it took to do the whole row. Slick.
I had brought all of my heavy steel fence posts, and staggered them out across the large plantings of Christmas Lima, and Hidatsa Sheild. Using a sledge hammer I set them all in deep, and put up a top wire. Brilliant me had forgotten the twine though for the rest of the trellis. Not good as some of the plants are starting to form tendrils for climbing. I may need to make a mid-week trip down to do that.
The weeds are growing distressingly fast. I did not have time to do more than some spot weeding of some squash hills and the holes I planted the dwarf tomatoes through. Hard to believe it was clear not more than two weeks ago. The rains have urged a lot of growth along. I need to get out there with a hoe and the weed whipper again soon, but today was not that day.
The Purple Blauchakker peas look absolutely beautiful, are setting peas and flowering wonderfully. Trellis is holding up well and I hope the worst of the heat holds off so we get a ton of them. It really is a striking pea, and easy to find with the dark purple pods even after they dry.
Was interesting to see the progression on the squash plants, relative to when I planted them. The hills I planted two weeks ago with Nell are just setting true leaves now.
The ones planted two weeks before that are just starting to vine out and the hills are in need of weeding.
My earliest hills are covered in weeds, but the vines are growing up above the weeds and starting to cover the surrounding area already.
The tomatoes I planted through the fabric are looking good considering they were planted straight into the soil without any amending of the dirt at all. Will be interesting to see how large scale plantings like this of dwarf types works, and how Czech Bush compares with New Big Dwarf grown like this.
Once I was done with this, I cooked dinner for everyone (14 people), grilling 10 pounds of chicken legs & thighs along with another 5 pounds of boneless pork chops. We had fresh garden salads, home made sourdough bread, and both pumpkin and apple pie to finish it all off. Was a late dinner but with how the sun sets now, it felt right and we were done eating, and the kitchen cleaned up for my parents a bit after 8 pm. I am finally in bed, at home, 90 miles from where I was gardening only a few short hours ago, and it is before 11 pm. Will be a busy week at the office and I have to be up early to head in. Need to start picking strawberries here and making jam. The planting is done, but gotta start harvesting and processing.
