A few days ago, We planted the first group of the toms in the greenhouse. Two days later the little tops of the tom plantlets were up and away. We have been cleaning up the veggie quadrants and mowing the grass paths. The cold spells have come and gone. I earthed the spuds up and they are out from under the soil blanket, continuing their development. We have cleaned the two strawb beds and I am proud to show the blooms of last years strawberry plants are many and no longer have black faces. The bean sticks went up and are hopeful of getting some green friends soon. The beetroot bed has been weeded and the Swiss chards have been cleaned as well, with some transplanting of some bunched-up ones. The spinach is ready for harvesting, and that bed will receive more Swiss chard or excess beetroot plants. The sugar snap trials are developing very slowly but their cage has been opened above and they are now free to grow higher. Those little peas look pitiful. I had better dust off that last bottle of Geritol. The weather is getting warmer now and shade is welcome. The last of the toms were planted in the greenhouse. One plant lost its top to a cutworm. My Bride was furious. I found the worm and my Bride gleefully dispatched it. Merci.
Oh Mart, I do appreciate your selfless offer for those special Texas weeds. I must decline hough as the bindweed, mare’s tail ail and ground elder are enough to keep my weight down. Cheers Netty. What a nice thing to say. How is your’s coming along?
Cheers Zigs. We have been putting our beans in in a staggered fashion. The last of them will go in monday or tuesday. BTW—when did you plant those beab?
Your garden looks great Sjoerd. Tell me, could you reroot that Tom the cutworm got? Or not worth it? I'm glad your strawberries have recovered. Sounds like all is well in the Lottie.
About those nasty cutworms--one can take toilet paper cardboard tubes, cut them lengthwise, then into three sections across making three circles. One of the tube circles placed around the stem of a plant with the cut overlapping and the circle just slightly buried in the soil deters the little cutters. The cardboard lasts as long as needed, and is easy to remove, or not, since it will biodegrade. Thank heavens TP tubes haven't been replaced with plastic! P.S. Don't let anyone see your stash of TP tubes. You'll get the reputation of being weird. I know . . . .
This is beautiful Sjoerd. I'm so happy to hear that your warm weather has finally arrived. I cannot believe how lovely your strawberry plants are - definitely a reason to be proud. It did not take long for your tomatoes to find their sun and grow to the occasion. I love what appears to be the large rocks in the greenhouse - (when we can take the boat down the lake this summer we are hoping to get some large slabs of shale for the greenhouse, to absorb and radiat back heat. ) Cudos to your Bride for the cutworm disposal. Between that and dealing with giant spiders relatively calmly, she has my admiration. I have a hard time squashing bugs of any sort.
Cayu— I left the plan in situ and will hope that the stub will produce another stem. They do that sometimes. However, as back-up I planted a new plant near-by. Time will tell if the plant will continue. My Bride broke off another plant when she was handling the plantlets. I have that on a shelf in the greenhouse with the same hope that it will continue life. Jane, I have done that with plants that I plant the conventional way; however, with planting horizontally that doesn’t work well. I do have a stash of paper towel tubes. Shhhhhhhh. Thanks Mel. The stone bits are paving slabs and to the sides are curved roofing tiles. Yeah, my Bride normally will not dispatch anything. I have to do that; however, she was so angry at loosing that plant her emotions got the better of her. Chuckle. Good idea to use shale slabs. You must show piccies please.
Looks lovely! I might invade your country this summer in order to taste everything you grow. Start building your fortifications!
