Working Hard

The garden has been incredibly busy recently. There is nothing like hot weather and an up coming trip to remind you that you need to get things done and soon. My main chore has been finishing up that double digging of the tomato bed. I started double digging on Friday and did two hours every day throughout the weekend.

Then came yesterday. I did two hours in the morning. I had a friend stop by after I was almost done with my time. She wanted to go for a walk. All I could think at the time was that I really didn't need the exercise, but off I went. Walks really aren't about exercise. They are much more about gabbing with friends in the guise of exercise. An hour later I was back; had lunch; and decided I wanted to get the bed done already. Two hours a day is good to keep the arms and back from getting sore, but really it was taking forever. I didn't want to dig today. It is a really hellish day, at over 90°F(32°C). So I put in a couple more hours of digging yesterday and finished it off. Now I know people complain about all this digging stuff but I've lost a pound and am buff. Who needs the gym when you have a garden to dig? Sadly the rest of the summer will be lighter work, so I might have to lift those weights again.

Just digging the bed of course is not enough. I had to de-pile the dirt, rake it smooth and amend it. The piles were hard to smooth since it was much higher than before. I may have removed a ton of rocks, but I put back in even more of my half decomposed compost. I put it in the lower layer which is mostly clay and small rocks. Since I had so much extra dirt, I took two pails worth of the good top soil and will save it for when I make the mix for the potted tomatoes. The soil ended up about three inches taller than the edging of the bed. I'm sure over the next month it will sink back down a bit and be more manageable.

Here is my finished bed. The closest part is where my flowers will go. I'm going to put in some sunflowers and my tithonia. This morning before it heated up I prepared that bed. That is why it is darker then the far end. It is still moist. A little farther on you can see some trenches. I planted my chitted potatoes in that 4x4 section. I'll blog about that saga later. Next is the section where my pineapple tomatillos and my eggplant will go. That section currently has carrots growing down the middle. The last section will be the tomatoes and chili peppers.

I made the tomato end walkable. This bed is long and I hate to have to walk around it all the time. So I made sure I had some way to get around. If it wasn't there I might try to hop over the bed at some point. It is much safer to have a way around.

Today I did as much as possible before the hot weather descended. So as I said I prepared the flower section of the bed and planted potatoes. Then I planted some nasturtium and borage seed along the fence. I made the pea trellis since the peas are starting to grow and reach for things. It is still out of their reach but it won't take long.

I harvested some greens. Aren't the little radish seedlings I thinned out just darling? They went whole like that into my salad. Salad today for lunch. Whoo hoo! And I went to the store to pick up bone meal, vermiculite, and coarse sand. These are for my potted tomatoes. Well the bone meal is for all my plants.

Now I'm ensconced inside and contemplating cleaning the filter to my air conditioner. It is something that needs doing every year before I start it up for the first time. It is a small air conditioner that only cools down the family room and only on those really hot and humid days. Like today. Today? Really? On average Boston only gets 13 days in the 90°Fs all year long. And we are getting one in April? If this keeps up, I'll be really screwed. I don't take the heat well.