every rain brings a new batch of grass. Spent yesterday hoeing and bedding down with straw. My okra, lettuce, carrots and parsnips are almost non existent. Very poor germination this year.
finished planting the last eight tomatoes this morning. after how hot it was yesterday i decided to get an early start. glad i did because by the time i finished it was getting even hotter. all watered in.
took Mom a drink of water and reminded her to come in if she gets too hot. there is a nice breeze so it's not as bad as it would be on a calmer day but still...
i am done for the day outside other than perhaps getting some squash seeds planted later. the holes are already dug and the gardens where they are going are pretty easy soil compared to many so it's a cakewalk compared to most planting we do.
I dug out the tulip bulbs from this big plastic planter and put some seedlings into it.
Those bulbs are resting in the greenhouse and getting dry. For those very tiny ones, I will dig a trench near the garden shed - and let them grow for two to three years. Theoretically, there should be nice blossoms after a few years.
I transplanted sunflowers and amaranths in my FIL's garden, where slugs are quite serious troubles. After cleaning up the jungles, slugs lost their habitats. Besides, those transplanted plants are pretty mature and healthy. I guess they should be away from slugs' radar.
Tilled up part of the garden. Lot of seeds didn’t come up while grass came up fast & thick. So destroyed the seedlings and re-planted okra, cucumbers, zucchini & parsnips. (Anyone else struggling with getting a stand of parsnips?). Had volunteer watermelons come up (while seeds planted never came up) so transplanted them. Planted butternut squash & pumpkins. Then transplanted zinnia & 4’clocks..
Showed up at the distant garden without the gas can .
One bed needed tilling if only for the tomatoes. Maybe not 2 weeks late for some years but 3 weeks late for a few warm springs. And, whatever the case, the latest that I have transplanted tomatoes out in decades. So, I trusted what was in the tank and did that one bed. Hurried back to the pickup and up the ramp to the front of the bed .
Returned to a bed that I tilled last week and that I didn't have straight and finished that with the spading fork.
Peppers also went in along with the celery root that was started too late.
@seedcorn , I don't remember a parsnip germination problem. Carrots are another story but the problem is the soil surface drying.
The recent little storms have been of help. In fact, we were lucky to have just such a storm after returning home.
Every year I have to plant parsnips 2-3 times. 3 this year and I had to use boughten seed. Carrots germ fine but hard to pull grass seedlings out and leave carrots before grass becomes entrenched. That is the next project and finish covering the garden with straw.
Spent some time picking off Mexican bean beetles. They came in great numbers this year. I walk through the bean plants few times and day and always find some beetles.
Pruned one Row of tomatoes, watered the sweet corn, harvested raspberries and strawberries. Gave the strawberries to a friend. Also harvested few broccoli heads and had those with lunch.
We got about 1/4 inch of rain today which helped some.