I went to Countryside in Crystal Lake today and bought the rest of the tomatoes, 4 eggplants, and cucumbers. I planted the four eggplants between the Roma Tomatoes and the Hot Peppers, and installed chicken wire to protect against ravenous rabbits and also cages to support the plants. The varieties are (2) Blackbell II and (2) White Star.

I also decided to plant the three large tomatoes in the area cleared by the landscapers since they have been sitting on the deck for a couple of weeks. These were in 10-inch pots. So I planted (2) Champion Tomatoes and (1) Early Girl II in large pots at the west end of the tomato section of the garden. These plants already have tomatoes on them. I pruned them quite a bit as there were several shoots coming up from the bottom of the plant. I also planted (1) First Prize Hybrid tomato that I bought today to complete the row. I’ll be planting 4 rows of 4 plants, which is spaced out further than last year where I had 4 rows of 5. I think the plants will do better with more space.

There is heave rain in the forecast for tomorrow and 50% chance of rain for Saturday which means tilling will be put off again. So I will spread the rest of the old compost pile over the cleared area and plant the rest of the tomatoes without tilling. These are in 4 inch pots and about 18 inches tall so they shouldn’t have a problem. The only purpose of tilling would be to kill the weeds, so I guess I’ll put down a heavy straw mulch to keep the weeds down

The upside of having lots of rain is that everything is green and the flowers are beautiful.

The landscapers came this morning to rototill the garden. They cleared the weeds, but the soil was still too wet and just clumped up and clogged the tiller. They will try again on Saturday, it looks like several dry days in between.

I hand weeded this bed then scraped the surface with a shovel and raked out mostly dandelions. It took several hours, but I got the be ready and then planted Romas and Hot Peppers. I also emptied the compost bin on this bed. There is 4 or 5 feet of bed left between the peppers and Romas, I will probably plant eggplant in the space.

So this is the bed nearest to the barn and here is what was planted, South to North.

3 Large Hot Hungarian Bell Peppers (Goebberts)
6 Large Jalapeno Peppers (Goebberts)
3 Small Poblano Peppers (Goebberts)

Then there is a space, pbobably for Eggplant.

15 large Roma Tomatoes (Goebberts)

After Tuesday’s 2.5 inches of rain, the weather finally dried out enough that I can begin planting. The soil is still extremely wet, too wet to rototill or turn over. I dug the big weeds out and got the rest the best I could with the cultivator. So at least all of the sweet peppers are in, but I should have been at this point a month ago. I hope this wet spring weather isn’t the new normal.

The peppers are in the bed next to the blackberries and here’s the lineup from South to North:

10 Large Shishito peppers (Bonnie Plants – Home Depot)
2 Large Lady Bell Peppers (Goebbert’s)
3 Small Lady Bell Peppers (Goebbert’s)
3 Large Sweet Banana Peppers (Goebbert’s)
3 Small Sweet Banana Peppers (Goebbert’s)
6 Small Valencia Peppers (Goebbert’s)
3 Small Melrose Peppers (Goebbert’s)
3 Small Gypsy Peppers (Goebbert’s)

I need to put bottomless pots around the plants, lest they become rabbit food.

We just had the wettest May on record with 8.25 inches of rain. Last year was the second wettest with 8.21 inches. Then in the early morning hours of June 5, we were blessed with another 2.5 inches of rain. The ground is completely saturated. We got a significant amount of seepage in the basement, and some of it did make it to the rec room carpeting, so I spent the day mopping up with the wet-vac and moving fans around. At least it didn’t keep me from gardening. We’ll need at least a couple of dry days before I can do anything.

Pots by the deck:
2 Husky Cherry Red
2 Goebberts Grape Tomato

Garden Pots:
1 Sungold
1 Sun Sugar

1 Chocolate Sprinkles
1 Chocolate Cherry

Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Basil

Oregano

APRIL 27th!!!

Looks like the garden is going in late this year.

So we are back to snow! Last Sunday was Easter, the temp was 76 and sunny and we spent most of the afternoon on the deck at Jared’s. They are talking 45 degrees tomorrow, and then in the 50s and 60s all week. It is also going to rain all week. The landscapers didn’t show up this week to do clean-up, so it may be late May or early June before the garden is in.

So, here’s our April 14, Palm Sunday surprise. We eventually got 5 inches of snow. The weather is warming, so it should be gone in a day or two as we’ll hit almost 70 degrees later in the week. But the warmer weather will also bring rain so the prospects of doing anything to prepare the garden are bleak.

It is also Holy Week with Easter being about as late as it gets. This is the week I usually make horseradish, but with the snow and then the rain coming, it will be impossible to get it out of the ground. Storebought horseradish on Easter!

If the rain stops, maybe I can have the beds built and ready to go by early May.

I placed my order for garden seeds today from Terroir Seeds in Arizona. I really don’t have a place to start seeds indoors this year so these will all be directly seeded into the garden.

For greens I ordered Arugula and Pak Choi which I have grown before and had success with. I am trying Strawberry Spinach for the first time since it looked interesting.

In the cucumber family are the True Lemon Cucumbers which I have grown before and absolutely delicious right off the vine. Also, Cucamelon and Armenian Pale green cucumbers will be tried this year.

As an experiment in weird vegetables, I ordered Achocha, Vine Peach and Poha Ground Cherry seeds.

Finally on the herb side we’ll be trying Epazote, a classic Mexican Spice and the totally off the wall Crystalline Iceplant.

Hoping the weather will be good enough so I can get my raised beds installed and the ground prepared before summer. It’s been a cold, wet spring so far, thus I am not getting my hops up yet since fall cleanup never happened again because of the rain and sudden onset of winter last November.