A Beautiful Weekend

I was able to spend nearly all of Saturday in the garden, and managed to accomplish a whole bunch of goals. The first was adding a second layer of netting to the fence surrounding the garden. Now that there are two layers I don't think the rabbits will find it so easy to jump through. I also weeded and mulched the asparagus bed. A side benefit is with mulch piled up against the fence it'll be a lot easier to see if any rabbits dig underneath it during the week.


I also 'potted' up two of my larger free-range tomato plants into kitty litter buckets that a co-worker gave to me. The plants are destined for another co-worker and I'm very curious to see how they work. With the garden more secure I decided to replant the green beans again too, in addition to more pumpkins and cucumber plants. It may be too late in the year at this point, but I figured I'd give it a go.


With the multiple bunny invasions last week. All hope of actually getting any peas at all was lost. I pulled up the towers, and plunked in some more wood supports for a batch of eight more tomato plants. If I actually get tomatoes from all my plants I have way more than I could ever imagine I'd need to eat, but I like watching them grow none the less. I also figure with the recent scare I can give them away easily enough as mine are home grown and 'safe' since I know exactly what has gone into them and the soil.


The main row of tomatoes is becoming a dense jungle of tomato vines, and I'm finding I have to weave up new lines nearly every day to keep up with the growth. I find it very relaxing to do, and it helps me to mark the progress they're making. In hindsight I think I should have added a bamboo stake next to each of the plants for additional support, but I'll leave that experiment to next year.


More and more of the tomato plants are starting to fruit, and it is such and exciting sight. Every time I find a new one coming in it makes me smile and then it makes my mouth water as I imagine it ripe and juicy with just a little salt from the shaker on it. I'm guessing it'll be another two weeks or so before the first cherries start to ripen, and then another week or two after that when the first of the bigger tomatoes will come in but only time will tell.


The tomatoes that were supposed to be paired up with summer squash are doing well, even if the summer squash is nibbled to the ground. I feel sorry for the squash as it keeps sending out new shoots and they keep getting eaten.


The mustard seed pods are starting to really plump up. The plants are leaning over they're so full of pods now. I couldn't quite picture how I'd get enough seeds to actually make some mustard, but now that I've seen the plants in action I'm not worried.

I finished up this afternoon by weeding the remains of the carrot bed and the lettuce bed. I'm really close to just plowing them under and planting a cover crop, but I want to give them one last chance to recover. I really hope I don't catch a rabbit in the garden when I come home from work this week!