Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does thy garden grow? It's raining. Again. My garden is woefully lacking this year. The peas just started to bloom and look absolutely beautiful. I think I'll have a really nice crop this year. The tomato plants aren't exactly busting loose. I planted 13 (shit I'm so brain dead anymore) Italian drying tomatoes. Principe Borghese. Cripes. I just spent 5 minutes trying to remember that name and then POW it's right there. Two of them withered up and died immediately. The rest are just poking along. I really don't need that many plants because I still have quite a few left over from the last harvest but Rocky (our hen) will dispatch quite a few I'm sure. I think I'll try something different with the way I stake them this year. The spiral tomato stakes were a big joke last year. I was thinking of getting some rigid PVC pipe, drilling some holes thru it, and feeding a clothesline wire (the plastic coated kind) thru it. Kind of like espalier or however it's spelled. It would keep the fruit off the ground at least. PVC is cheap and won't rot. Tomato cages just don't work with them.

I also have lemon cucumbers growing up a trellis this year. The boxwire fence didn't work out very well last year. Too vertical I think. I broke apart the old compost bin (?) that was rotting behind the garage. Half of it was still in pretty good shape so I lugged it over to the garden. It is spanning the path between two of the raised beds so hopefully the cukes will climb up one side and squash will climb up the other. It looks like a couple of volunteer lemon squash came up just in the right place. They are also heirlooms.
Oh gak. The cat just puked. Lovely.

I also planted a dozen pepper plants. They are doing well. The brussels sprounts are just not doing anything. The cabbage is tattered since the chicken enjoys it so. I only had a tiny bit of spinach germinate and it had just gotten to a nice picking stage when the chicken found it. It was succulent and I was already salivating over it and then it was gone. Completely. Evil bird. She doesn't seem to think too much of the lettuce. I've got plenty of that. I planted a single row of string beans the other day. I saw Rocky down in the garden this morning so I imagine it has sprouted and she was tasting them. I called her to the house. She slowly walked in my direction until I rattled the cheese cracker box and then she was airborne. She's a cracker ho.

Not much else in the garden. I planted some dahlias down there. I had some volunteer cosmos show up. A single volunteer marigold. A very sturdy volunteer sunflower. I moved some iris down there as well since it was being overrun in the border garden. I have one bed left that is covered with black plastic and I really need to get my squash planted. I'm thinking I might just cut holes in the plastic and have at it. The weeds are almost gone. It sure would make harvest a breeze. But then I'd have to mulch the hell out of the plastic so the plants wouldn't cook. Either or. This, of course, is dependent upon the rain and if I'll ever be able to get into the garden again. I've been putting pine needles on the paths but it still floods down there. I think I need to invest in some hip waders. Or maybe just switch to hydroponics.