CAROL BURNSIDE / ANNIE RAYBURN

We’ve had more rain and the gardens are loving it!

Today I’m taking more pictures of all the little seedlings and bounty of tomatoes coming on…and there’ll be a Phoebe update coming soon.

Thank goodness the rain has cooled things off because Hubby and I went to Eureka Springs for two days and returned to a broken central air unit. I’m expecting the repair man any minute now and not a moment too soon. It’s in the high 80’s (F) at just after noon and very humid.

The dogs pant within a few minutes of being outside because the air is oppressive. Currently, they’re all lying around the room sacked out as I type.

I hope all of you reading this are having a great day like I am.

2012 Garden, the beginning.

This year, Hubby prepared the soil early on our big garden, turning it under, adding fertilizer, turning it under again. A few weeks ago, he planted a couple rows of onions. A few days ago, I added leeks next to them and we talked about planting everything, but it was late in the day and Hubby had a job come up that took him out of town for the better part of two weeks and it seemed like when he was in town, it was raining or had just rained.

On Thursday, Hubby returned about 2 p.m. and I informed him that rain was forecast for that night and Friday. We headed out with our hats and hoes and got to work. When people talk about back-breaking work, I think they were talking about gardening, specifically planting. It’s also hard on the legs. I took a quick break to apply sunscreen and grabbed some Gatorade light for us both. We got tired, but kept digging in–literally–until it was almost too dark to see.

Finally we had the complete garden planted with green beans x 2, lima beans x 2, Crowder peas, okra, 15 tomato plants in 5 varieties, radishes, 3 kinds of squash, corn, watermelons, 5 jalapeno peppers and 5 banana peppers. The onions and leeks are in the foreground of the 1st picture, too close to the camera for me to get everything in the picture.

Second picture is of our mini garden inside the backyard. Yeah, we need to weed. Before we bought the place, it had been vacant for a year. Grass and weeds took over so we’re still fighting them. After this rain, the ground will be super easy to hoe and we left enough room in between the rows to till it up.

Meanwhile, on the back deck I’m trying a new (at least to me) tomato plant…a Patio Tomato. It’s supposed to be super sturdy and compact with small, but tasty tomatoes. We shall see, but right now, it’s early in the season yet it has 10 tomatoes growing. Yum… I luvs me some home-grown ‘maters. Guess that’s why I have 15 plants of them.