Well, it’s Memorial Weekend.  If you are following along, this is what your garden might look like:

1. Potatoes, onions, garlic are shoving through the straw.
2. Kale, chard, collards, mustards, lettuces, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, carrots, pak choi, and spinach are about an inch tall. Don’t try to thin them, let them be!
3. Peas are 2 inches high.
4. Sunflowers and pumpkins are all beginning to pop out of the soil.
5. Morning glories have sprouted.  Looks like we might lose one or two herb plants, but the rest look like they are hanging on despite our cool nights.
6. The other seeds are still under the warm soil working.

Now, we put in the summer plants.  If we started these from seeds right now they would never make it.  Best to find a good source (I like Kevin at the Parker Farmer’s Market right as you walk in.) and let them get the nightshades up and going.

In the book, Wisdom of a Radish, by Lynda Hopkins all of her tomato starts die (as they do often) and she had to go buy plants to put in the ground.  She mutters to herself, “Only f#@k up farmers have to buy starts!”

Now every year when Doug  and I buy our starts we chant that.  We don’t mind.  Sometimes a farmer has to rely on other farmers to ensure success.  No shame.

Dig the holes 1 1/2 feet apart for peppers and eggplants, 2 feet for tomatoes.  Then walk back down rows and pop in starts complete with labels.  Then walk down aisle with a bag of organic garden soil and fill the holes, patting around the plants so they stand up nice.  Water well then add straw around the bases to keep them upright and allow less moisture to escape.  Put snazzy looking tomato cage over.  Or not.  I am still saving up for the other 28.  I planted 20 tomatoes, 12 various peppers, and 4 eggplants.  That may seem like a lot but we want tomatoes as deep into winter as we can get!

I have gone without and had a brilliant crop, they just run all over the ground and tempt animals and black spots.  Anything could work that has a little strength.  We have a week to think about it.  In the meantime, enjoy your garden and your Memorial weekend!

See you next week!