Yahoo…we finally got the tomatoes planted. It’s exciting to see everything coming together. Tim got out early to construct the trellis for the tall indeterminite plants (Brandywine and Sugar Sweetie), and we got those all planted (18 of them) in the back row of Tier 3. Then we put in stakes for the determinites (so far just the Romas) and got those planted. I also have some of the Ace variety started, but they’re only about 2″ tall, and I’m not sure about taking them outside just yet. I’ll wait a couple of weeks, and they should provide a later harvest. I also planted 4 of the romas down by the asparagas, just because they’re supposed to grow well together. That took all morning–Tim started around 6 am, and I got out there around 7.
It was a warm day–yesterday was cooler and probably better for planting, but this was just the way it worked out. I kept watering them just to keep them from wilting, but hopefully they’ll be ok. After we got those done, Tim began to work on creating the beds for strawberries, while I planted the bush beans I’d started inside a couple of weeks ago, and also put new seeds in the ground for more. I’d started 10
edamame and 10 tavera french beans inside, because the soil blocker material I’ve read said that even though beans don’t normally transplant well, they will in the soil blocks because the roots aren’t being disturbed. So, I gave it a try. Eight of the edamame sprouted, but only four of the tavera sprouted. Since I had the empty soil blocks, I went ahead and put
them in the ground and put my seeds into those, so they’ll have that nice soil to get started in. Could be a good experiment, and I can compare the ones started in the soil block mixture with the ones started in the ground. I also put my marigold seedlings around the beans, as they are supposed to grow well together and help repel bean beetles.
I realized, too, that of all the seeds I’ve already planted, I haven’t paid attention to the soil I put them in. Perhaps I should have been more careful to mix some good soil together for planting the seeds, similar to the soil blocking mixture. Hmmm. If a lot of these don’t sprout soon, I may have to plant them again, but with better soil next time. Lots of experiments this year!!!
After the beans, I moved on to the summer squash section. My reading indicated that I should plant them in “hills” but didn’t specifically say how big these hills should be. I made little hills about two feet apart and planted my seedlings along with a few seeds. I’d forgotten about hardening off these plants and they haven’t as yet had any time outside, but hopefully they’ll survive the shock. If not, the seeds I added should sprout and I’ll still have plenty of summer squash. The 9 plants look kind of small now, but I know they’ll grow and I’ll have plenty of squash. I also planted some seeds for nasturtiums around the squash. They’re supposed to grow well together and be pretty.
By then we were pretty hot and tired! As soon as we can, we’ll get the strawberries planted, then finish the part of Tier 3 where the younger tomato plants (Ace) will go along with celery & leeks and maybe an onion or two in between each tomato plant.