Butter Beans and Marigolds

Yesterday I went to check on the garden and ended up staying out there four hours! I can not believe how fast time flies when I am alone with my thoughts and dirt.
I worked up 2 three foot rows and planted some butter bean seeds. Not a big fan of the hard fat ones, but they're not too bad when they're small. Mostly I planted them for Mom and Caroline. HD had marigold 6-packs for $1.25 so I picked up three to plant among the tomatoes to repel some kind of pest. Also got nasturtium, cosmos, and portulaca seeds in the triangle patch. There is still about 10 ft. of one row left to plant.
Charlie told me that when the okra was producing that I could help myself to the row next to my tomatoes. Might have to at least try some.

Lady Peas Are In

Today is the last day of my vacation so I was feeling the pressure to get the rest of the garden planted. It took 5 hours, but I got 3 rows prepped and planted 2 rows of lady peas and one row of purple hull peas. I transplanted 4 broccoli plants and 5 cauliflower seedlings. And, just for fun I put in some cantaloupe and honeydew.

The lady pea package did not come with specific planting instructions. It was "plant seeds when danger of frost has passed." No planting depth. No spacing. No number of days until harvest. A web search had skimpy info at best. So this is turning into an interesting experience. I ended up using the same instructions that were on the purple hull package. Will post growing details here as I discover what works.

Melons

I'm thinking about putting out a cantaloupe and honeydew plant. I think there's room for them to run. Got to get the peas in first. That will be one row of purple hull and two rows of lady peas.

Here's a "God" picture from Friday;

Met the Neighbors

Met Mr. Bill at the top of the hill in DD and Charlie next door in GG. There are a lot more men than women out here. Everyone has been really helpful. You can tell they look out after each other.

Since tilling Wednesday morning, I've planted 16 Roma, 8 Better Boy, and 4 heritage Big Red tomato plants; 2 tomatillos; 2 jalepenos; 2 bell pepper plants and 8 sets of seeds/seedlings; 4 straight-neck squash, but one is already kind of shriveled; 6 cucumbers- 2 sets of 3 each with a cage around each set to encourage climbing plus 2 more hills with seeds planted. I worked a 3x3 foot area and planted some of my spring seeds. There is a row of radishes, leaf lettuce, dill-includes 2 seedlings; carrots, and a row of onion seeds and one of seedlings that I started in February. I planted 1/3 of the Peaches and Cream corn and will plant 1/3 in about 2 weeks and the rest 2 weeks after that. I also scattered wild flower seeds in the triangle of dirt next to the road entrance. All that's left is to plant the lady peas and purple hull peas.

Bamboo-zled

Tomorrow is tilling day. The plot has been plowed, but it needs to have some manure tilled in and the big chunks of earth broken down.

So yesterday I went out to buy tomato stakes, but the sticker shock was pretty high when I multiplied 24 x $2 + tax. "There has to be a better (i.e. cheaper) option," I whined to myself. Then my eyes were opened to the jungle of bamboo growing next to the carport. It didn't look like much, but at the end of the day I had plenty of stalks trimmed into 3-4ft. stakes. Win. I am determined to keep this project from becoming a money-pit. Anytime I can reuse or repurpose something, that is the direction I will head.

Muddy Mess

Plowing is done and plots are marked. Except HH. It's not on the maps and the spot next to GG does not have markers set. Ms. Griffin will take care of that tomorrow. It really doesn't matter at this point because all the rain over the last two days has created sucking muck!