About those early tomatoes....

I planted 8 tomato plants on the 12th of April.  On the 14th, we had a cold snap that brought a light frost for a couple of nights.  I did not cover the tomato plants because the cold snap sneaked up on me.  They are now brown and crispy.  Dead, you might say.

Early Tomatoes

It was so warm last week that I could not resist picking up a couple of 4-packs of tomato plants.  Late Saturday morning, I set them out in the garden and mulched them with straw.  I also began planting a row of Mascotte beans, but I hadn't gotten far down the row when The Husband announced that we were supposed to meet some folks for lunch, so I had to quit.   To be honest, I wasn't all that sorry to quit.  Having decided to try "no till" gardening this year, I had to poke individual holes for the beans, rather than opening up a furrow with the tiller then running the bicycle-on-a-stick planter down the row.  It was a pain.  The ground was really too wet to be planting things, anyway. 

Last night, we had stormy weather.  After sunrise, the temperature went down instead of up.  There's a frost warning out for tonight.  Figures.  The ONE YEAR I actually get to plant something early, and we have a late frost. 

Maybe the tomatoes will be safe nestled in their straw beds.

Cabbages

Today when I was leaving the nursing home after visiting my mother, Mr. Fred was sitting on the front porch, taking in the warm breeze.  We greeted one another, and then asked me where I was going.  I told him I was fixing to go home and plant cabbages. 

He said, "You late."
I said, "Yes, I know."
He said, "Anyhow, you don't 'plant' cabbages, you 'set 'em out'."

He told me he always raised a garden because he just liked to grow things.  Then he said, "I don't take much out of it, myself, but I give things to the old women in the neighborhood."

That Mr. Fred sure knows the way to a woman's heart. 

Then he said, "They won't hardly come pick it, but they're right glad to have whatever I'll take to them."

I said, "Ain't that just the way, Mr. Fred?"  ;)

So I came home, got my gloves and my shovel and my cabbage sets, and went to the garden.

I have been grooming about 8 rows for the no-till gardening method - layers of newspaper, covered by layers of straw, and sprinkled with alfalfa sprouts, like the man told me.  I peeled back the hay, plunged my shovel through the wet newspaper, and lifted out a shovel full of dirt.  Guess what I saw?  WORMS!  Big, fat, juicy ones.  YES!  The soil man said that worms are a sign of healthy soil, but I haven't been seeing any.  Maybe they've always been there, and we've just been chopping them up with plows and tillers.  In any case, I was happy to see them. 

Now, it's really too wet to be planting anything, but I planted - excuse me, set out - those cabbages anyway, because it's supposed to rain again tonight, and I can let Mother Nature do the watering.  Besides, if I keep waiting, it'll be way too late, and my cabbages would probably croak.

I also had a package of brussels sprouts that I bought a month ago and never got around to planting.  They are limp and pitiful, but I planted them, anyway, in a flower bed in front of my house.  It will be a miracle if they live. 

So, the gardening season on the hill has officially begun.

In about two weeks, I'm going in with some squash seeds and bean seeds, maybe even a few tomato plants. 

I'll keep you posted.  ;)