Each time I went out to the garden, I would get just a little more done, but not enough. Seemed like it took me a whole week to get all my tomatoes planted. That's actually true, after thinking about it.
It's my own fault though, since the total tomato count came out to 43. And that's after selling over 30 and giving away that many to friends and family.
Last year, I bought a ton of tomato cages. So many that I thought to myself, "no matter what happens now...I will never need another tomato cage." Well, Sunday afternoon, I had to go "borrow" some cage from my dad, who isn't doing a garden this year.
Anyway, with all the tomatos and peppers planted, I moved to Phase Two, which is just NASA speak for "I planted the other crops that I couldn't start in a cup."
I made two more rows with the tiller. About the time I finished, I realized that I had not soaked the seeds, which I have found greatly aids in ensuring that the seeds sprout. But, what can ya do? You throw them in water for 30 minutes and hope for the best, I guess.
In the first half of the first row, I planted velvet okra. One seed every 6 inches, just about 1 inch deep. The planting instructions specify a 3 foot spacing, but my experience has been to overseed, as there is a high failure rate.
On the back half of that row, and the entire next row, I made mounds. There are about 18 inches tall and 3 feet in diameter. I leave a 3 foot spacing between them, which really isn't enough, but I am running out of room. That was enough to give me 9 mounds in a row.
In the back half of the first row, I planted squash and zucchini.
In the last row, I planted cucumbers. I believe it was marketmore and muncher. 4-5 seeds per mound. That's a lot of cucumbers, I know. But, we eat a ton of cucumbers AND Alyse *says* she is going to can this year. So, between the 43 tomato plants and 9+ cucumber plants...we will be busy.
Regarding the squash and zucchini....last year we fought this grub that would burrough up the stalk and kill the plants about the time they really started to produce. I need to figure out how to stop that.
Anyway, so I got those mounds planted last week and we had rain all weekend. Even though I didn't soak the seeds like I should, I hoped the extended rain would bail me out.
But, yesterday when I checked, I had ZERO sprouts. I was starting to get worried. This morning, as I prowled the garden with my coffee cup in hand, cussing the squirrels like an old man...I spotted one. Then another. Then, a mound with 3 or 4.
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