Carpe Diem

I finished off the last tomato bed today; after throwing a bucket of alfalfa pellets into the hole, I refilled it with the dirt left from the first hole, back when I started leapfrogging across the patch. Dig a hole, throw the dirt into the last one to fill it, advance, repeat. So I finally got to the point that there were no more holes to be dug, just the mound of extra dirt to fill the last bed.

As a side note: it's been raining here. A lot. Like, "more than thirty consecutive days" a lot. The mud is incredible. I had thrown tarps over any soil that would need working, so I wasn't completely stalled... but the ants have been flooded out repeatedly. Meanwhile, I had this great mound of disturbed earth, covered to keep it from getting wet, warmed by the sun... and it turned into the biggest damn anthill I've ever seen. Digging it was exciting. At least they're only Argentine ants, and they didn't bite even me, despite the fact that I'm one of the only people I know who gets bitten by these tiny black ants. They don't do more than itch and creep me out.

So I finished the beds, whisked away the tarps and dropcloths, and looked around. I looked up (some of the only sun, albeit hazy with clouds, that we've seen in days), and I looked over at the table where the tomatoes have been out in the weather for the last several days.

Then I went to get a trowel and labels, and started planting tomatoes.

The main pepper bed isn't done (that'll be Monday, if it's not pouring), and even though I could have planted some peppers in the inset squares, I didn't. They're warmer where they are, and they'd like the soil temperature a little higher -- 65° isn't freezing, but they do best when their roots are over 70°. Besides, planting the tomatoes took a while (shaking off the ants in that one bed as I went).

Several of the beds were so wet I really shouldn't have disturbed them at all. I handled the clay as little as I could, didn't tamp it down, and water seemed to have no trouble soaking in when I baptised them with Superthrive. I don't think I did too much damage, really. But if I hadn't planted today, it would have been at least ten days, maybe two weeks, before I got another chance.

So they're in, they've had their anti-shock treatment (only a little, I figured the last thing they need is lots of water), and hopefully they'll be able to get their roots under them and take off. The place actually looks like a garden now, rather than some debris-strewn mudpit -- something about having the dropcloths taken off, the paths beaten down in even rows, and even little plants in depressed basins makes it all look right suddenly. Most of the weeds are gone from the front half of the garden, just a couple of tufts of grass or bindweed remain among the thriving mounds of wild geranium I've left standing. Lovely plant, well-behaved, and I love the smell when the stems are crushed. I'll pull them after they go to seed.

Everything else is on hold. One of the white California poppies was flowering today, and the potted roses have buds; my Kaffir lime is finally breaking bud and putting out leaves (and a couple of flowers of its own); the nectarine and apple are leafing out well; the rhubarb is leafed out, with large leaves that show that it enjoys being in 1-gallon pots instead of four-inchers; the blueberries are hopefully being pollinated by all the insects coming to the flowering broccoli; the peas are pea-ing; and the brodaeia is sprouting in its pot. No sign of the other bulbs yet, but the brodaeia is what I wanted the most, and it's looking good.

There are a couple of plant sales coming up, and I'll be looking to grab things like my redbud. The stump grinder is delayed with the weather, of course, so I have no idea when these things will finally be planted, or how hot a summer I'll have to coddle them through. I'm hoping we won't get huge heatwaves, so that nothing will fry before it can establish.

The tomatoes will do well, though. It's early, we're past frost, and they all look healthy (I have a few spares of this and that just in case). Next I should sow some basil in flats, and really figure out the watering system.