dinner....April 30th

 well - we wanted BLT's...but we don't have any 'T' ...not yet, anyway. So we're having 'BL's...however, Will likes arugula on HIS, so he's actually having a 'BA'...and tomato soup with fresh basil YEA!

and we have a garden again

 Actually these pictures are over a week old, which means the plants are much bigger now...but we've been crazy-busy and I'm having a hard time keeping up(!)

 We are all satisfied. As are the cats. Especially when they're tearing up the new catnip. argh.

After the Big Rain

...well, can't tell much about the garden yet. The soil is packed down and that may be a problem but we'll see...I once again pulled the baby rainbow chard leaves out of the mud, hoping they'll push to the future and not just give up - so much rain! After the long scary night of lightning and thunder, a lazy day for cats:

hey! a magnolia!...and it's April! like Will says, you just can't tell anymore. I keep wondering what will be left to bloom, now that everything has decided to bloom all at once?

All the flats from the side of the house were pulled up under the carport, and a good thing too...I'm trying to decide if the rain has passed - they need the light. You'd be surprised at the difference between the carport and just outside of it - the plants know. I'll give it one more night. I'd hate to move them at 2:00 a.m. from the yard back under the carport....

...and the baby squash and watermelons in their flats are in the greenhouse by the barn. So as much rain as we had (according to the wheelbarrow, probably about 3 inches), it matters not to seedlings who were under cover. Ditto for the carrots in the greenhouse. Hose dragging is for the birds by the way. It seems so stupid to be dragging a hose all the way to the back of the greenhouse after everything else has almost drowned. There must be a better way! All said, it could have been worse. We worried, after the herculean effort of planting, if we were going to lose part of the garden and have to do it all over again...but in the muddy field the corn is sprouting and so are the beans - and the flowers. I think we may have dodged a bullet.

By the way, this cracks me up. We planted 200 gladiolas, and a few of them came up right through a leaf in the mulch! ha.

Cat and Turtle

 

Pretty Boy and a snapping turtle on his way to the pond

..forget it

Day 2

..and the planting is finished...unbelievable. Not as many members as Saturday, but enough to get the job done. Planting of the sunflowers...

Max shows us the spinach packet...

setting tomato stakes...

the whole garden is planted...except for the rest of the herb beds but that's ok - because we had a big rain today and teeny tiny seeds would not have fared well in a big rain - that can be done later this week. Rain is good - it will bring up the corn and the beans but also the weeds! As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather hoe weeds than drag hoses around trying to beat the drought. It's one thing or another, right?
But now we can watch the seeds come up and everyone who helped to plant can come back and admire their handiwork...I think we'll rest for a little bit - a very little bit.