Too Good To Be True

The beautiful weather had me lulled into believing that the time had come for serious planting in the garden. My cool weather vegetables like lettuce, spinach, green onions, chives and swiss chard have been producing daily and I add the greens to our salads along with the sprouts growing in a jar on the kitchen counter to add the extra nutrients we crave as the temperature outside warms. The ground was warming, new seeds and plants could be put in.

My extra early peas (just a few plants) that I started in the cold frame are climbing up the wire cages that protect them, and they are almost 2 feet tall now, blooms will be starting soon. The row of peas that I planted in the main garden are barely 2 inches tall, it will take quite a while for them to get to producing stage.

The garden dried out enough for Mike to sneak in with the tractor tiller, over several days he got the the ground worked to manageable clods. I was able to get the garden rototiller in there and prepare enough ground to get the row of potatoes planted and I was able to get the seeds planted for second crop of lettuce, spinach, radishes and onions into the ground.

We made a run into the local garden shop one of the hot 85 degree days. We timed it so that we were there in the late evening so any plants we purchase would not wilt on the way home. It was the perfect time to shop. We were practically the only ones in the place, all the spring-fevered shoppers had hit the place early during the day and were all home firing up the BBQ. The workers at the shop were bringing in and filling up all the displays with fresh plants right out of the green houses getting ready for the next day of shopping.

Several ornamental bushes were selected to fill in areas around the house. As we were walking through the millions of plants, the tomatoes got my attention. The 4 inch pots had health, green plants. I could not resist, and picked up several to put with the cart full of yard bushes. Then, I walked around to another table and saw a huge sign that said, Tomato Blowout Special! They were selling gallon size tomatoes for $.50 cents cheaper than the 4 inch potted ones.

Well, I could not pass a great deal like that, so I replaced the 4 inch pots and drug my little, green garden cart over to the gallon pots. There was a limit of 5 on this special deal or I would have bought 20.

Once we got home, we planted and watered in the plants until we were digging in the dark and finished the rest of them the next day. That’s when we got deluged with a rocking and rolling thunder storm and heavy rains for two days.

The plants were very happy with the cooler weather and the extra moisture. The rain created huge puddles, and matted the worked garden flat. It would take a week before the ground dried out enough to plant again, which is just as well because that is when it started freezing at night again. I am very thankful that there was a limit of 5 gallon tomatoes, otherwise I would have had 20 plants freeze out.

In my mind, I knew that it was too early to plant the tender tomatoes, but I led with my heart and my spring fever itch. I’m hoping that there will be another tomato blowout special in a couple weeks.