If it doesn't rain. . . - April 21, 2023

The Husband and I made a pact last fall (and I never let him forget it over the winter) that this year we would plant the garden earlier than we usually do.  We've had a wet spring, and it wasn't until last weekend that were able to work the soil.  We plowed and tilled but did not make up any rows or put up the tomato support system (hog wire on metal fence posts) because it was getting dark.  It rained that night, and the garden has been too wet to work ever since.  

Last night, the evening news weatherman said it was going to rain before morning.  I thought about my 50-something tomato plants that have been living on the patio table for a couple of weeks.  Should I move them to the porch?  I decided against it.  After all, if we'd planted them last weekend, they'd be out in the rain, wouldn't they?  I left them on the table but barricaded the trays with heavy stuff so that a strong wind wouldn't blow them off the table.  

When I checked them this morning, they had not blown off the table, but their water-catching trays filled up, and the little pots were about to float.  And it was still raining.  I poured off some of the water and slid the trays under the table for the day.  I'll need to dump the water again when the rain passes.  The peat pots may not survive all this soaking and jostling.  With this rain, it will be another week before we can put the plants in the ground, assuming it doesn't rain again.  We will need to re-loosen the soil, make up some rows, set the tomato stakes, and put up the support wire before we can plant.  And before we can make up the rows, we'll have to resolve this "hiller-hipper" situation.

Last week, we decided to buy our own hipper instead of borrowing Uncle Jack's every year.  This week, we investigated local options, but didn't find anything that we could load up and bring home.  Meanwhile, word traveled amongst the family that we need a row-maker, and a different uncle called with a solution: we could bolt individual discs onto a cultivator we already own, and he may even have some individual discs to donate to the experiment.

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The flooring installers have finished their final little jobs, and now I have no excuse to delay putting everything back where it belongs.  The big stuff is already in place, and most of the boxes and tubs have been emptied.  Now, I'm down to the little stuff that needs to be organized and stored.  I guess that's as good a task as any for this rainy day.