A Busy Yesterday

I've slowly been working on getting my bean trellis done. I've been doing an 8' long patch once a day. The work bothers my back a little, so I don't like to do too much at once. But now I have all three of the ones currently made all strung up. When the spinach comes out I'll have two more sections of trellis to make and string. But I've got a week or two before that happens if the cooler than normal temperatures continue.

I was thinking about weaving netting for the cucumber and melon areas, but it just takes too long and I hated doing it. So I tossed the little I made and ordered enough to cover them. The ones I ordered aren't quite tall enough to go to the top of the trellis area so I'll have to fudge that part, but they shouldn't be too hard to put up.

Then in the middle of the day my townhouse mate and I took a trip to Rockport and Ipswich looking for plants. There is a bamboo nursery in Rockport. I talked to the gal on the phone about what I needed, but when I got there they didn't have any left (Fargesia robusta in small pots, they had large pots, but at $130 a pot, we weren't biting). She did talk to us about our needs for a while and decided that that bamboo was the one we needed for the spot. At least lunch in Rockport was nice. We sat overlooking the harbor. And the bamboo was ordered over the web later in the day at $30/pot.

Then it was up to Ipswich for the Clematis Nursery which isn't far from Crane Beach. They also didn't have the clematis that our designer said to put there, but after talking to her, we decided it wasn't the one we wanted anyway. Sally our designer picked that one because it was tall and I said I wanted a vine to go over the top of the fence. But the reality is we would rather have a longer bloom period and the one she picked doesn't bloom all that well. So instead we got a good bloomer.

Since we were right next door we stopped in at Russell Orchards and got some of their honey, some hard cider (both apple and pear) and some fruit wine (strawberry/rhubarb and apple). And of course we got some apple cider donuts for our families.

Trying to stay organized

Later in the afternoon it was time to put in the rest of the tomatoes and peppers that had been hardened off. The peppers were put about a foot apart in three rows down the bed. Not all of them are in. I have some more hardening off that were late and I'll have to pick some up from the nursery as mine just didn't germinate well this year. I'll buy more sweet peppers.

As I was putting them out I decided to just put in the first four eggplant too. Usually I don't plant them this early as they are such heat lovers, but with much more time they will really overgrow their pots. I have four more plants that I started later. So if these have problems I'll just pull them and replace them.

Another stick farm, the peppers are still very small

Now I just need some warmth to come in. We have had the perfect spring for greens this year, but if we don't get out of our cold pattern my warm weather veggies won't produce. Next week looks like a really wet week. Rain everyday with no sun at all. I often cover my tomatoes when May gets like this, but right now I don't have the materials to do it. Maybe I should hit the store on Saturday before the rain starts. I might get a chance, but this is another busy landscaping weekend. We have more plants to dig in and a huge load of mulch.