I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of rain dripping on the window air conditioner. I don't think it rained very much, but it was misty, damp and chilly still when I got up.
I had a long list of things I wanted to get done this weekend, and with the temperatures expected to be near 90° F, I got busy early to try to take advantage of the cooler temperatures while they lasted.
At the top of my list was to find homes for all of the seedlings that were left over sitting in pots on the back step. They all look pitiful because they were so pot bound and I just couldn't keep them watered. I doubt they'll ever amount to anything because they are in such bad shape, but I figured I'd just pop them into the Hügelkulture row and let them do what they're going to do.
So after finishing my morning Bermuda grass patrol, I planted the last of the Rutgers tomatoes, the Cherokee Purple tomatoes and the San Marzano tomatoes on the sides of the Hügelkultre mound.
 |
| Tomatoes planted along the side of the Hügelkulture row. |
I decided to try the cherry tomatoes in the Ruth Stout/Charles Dowding bed. To plant them, I just pulled the hay back to expose the cardboard underneath, laid the plants on their side, covered the roots and the stems with some of rotted cow manure, then piled hay back on top.
 |
| Cherry tomatoes planted in the Ruth Stout/Charles Dowding bed. |
I also decided to put all of my remaining seedlings in that bed. I had one Poblano pepper, two little pots with squash plants (white patty pan?), and one little pot with Blue Hubbard squash. They were all planted in the same way as the cherry tomatoes...no dig!
Funny thing about planting in that bed...the other day when I was searching for all of the potatoes that haven't yet come up, I uncovered a little snake. "Oh!" I exclaimed, "I'm so sorry!" I quickly dropped the hay back down over him and left him alone. But when I was planting the cherry tomatoes today and was reaching out for some extra hay to put over them, I uncovered him again! He was still in that same spot, so that must be his little "home." Not sure what kind of snake, but I welcome him to the garden so long as he leaves my toads alone!
Once the pots were all cleared off of the back steps, I decided to go ahead and plant one of the Narrowleaf False Dragonhead (Physostegia angustifolia) plants. This is another beauty that I found in the Barber field several years ago, and I've wanted one ever since.
 |
| Narrowleaf False Dragonhead (Physostegia angustifolia) observed on June 19, 2019 in the Barber Field. |
I have two of them - one is a rooted cutting, but the other was a bit of rhizome that I stole from the field. I wasn't sure the cutting was quite ready to go outside, so I just moved it into a larger pot. But the one started from the rhizome? My goodness did it have some nice looking roots! I planted it in "the mud hole" with my other wildflowers that like to have their feet wet. Unfortunately, there's been a rabbit or deer or groundhog out there and some of the plants growing out there have been nibbled back. So to try to make sure this little plant gets a fair shot, I put cardboard around it to try to suppress the Bermuda grass a bit, and I put a cage around and over it to try to keep it from being eaten. I think at some point it will be big enough that I can safely remove the cage, but until then, it's kind of like I've put it in a plant "zoo."
 |
Narrowleaf False Dragonhead, caged up to try to protect it from critters.
|
Next on my list was to get some more beans planted. It was about that time that the sun finally broke through the clouds. It was only 74° F, but the humidity and dewpoint was crazy! In no time at all I was dripping sweat.
But I went ahead and planted some lima beans and some improved pinto (horticulture beans). I used my grass shears to cut down the little winter annuals that were finishing up (the henbit, the red deadnettle, etc.) and just put it along the sides of the rows as mulch. Then I used my hand scratcher to scratch a trench about 1/2" deep down the middle of the row, put in the beans, cover them back up, and water them in...done.
 |
| Thorogreen Lima beans. |
I have to be careful cutting down the winter annuals though. Twice now I've discovered little caterpillars feeding on them! So I'm trying to be really careful not to cut down anything that has caterpillars on it.
 |
| Caterpillar of the Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia), feeding on American Field Pansy (Viola rafinesquei). |
I moved some of the Amaranth from the main garden out into the east bed, and set out the Rosemary cuttings that I had rooted from some herbs I bought in the produce section at the grocery store. I also set out the last Green Tomatillo plant and the little parsley seedlings in that bed.
I've not had much luck with my Nasturtiums or my marigolds again, so I planted a few more seeds here and there just to see if they'll do anything. I hope they do.
I also threw the last of my Maryland Senna (Senna Marilandica) seeds on the ground in a couple of places and kind of scratched them into the dirt in the hope that they'll go ahead and sprout. I tried starting them indoors and tried some in a milk jug outside, but had zero luck with either method.
 |
| Maryland Senna (Senna marilandica) observed August 2, 2015. |
I had started some Hollyhocks in pots, and decided to just set them out today too. So they've gone in the back yard by the new fence. They won't bloom this year, but if they can survive the winter, they should be really pretty there next summer.
In the last part of the afternoon, I spent some time pulling grass out of the irises in the back yard, and cutting some of the tall grass around the hazelnuts. The grass makes a good mulch to go around the young trees in that part of the yard, so that should help keep them from drying out so bad this summer.
Oh...and speaking of things drying out. RAF helped me unload my IBC tote Friday evening and I got it set up beside the first one. I thought I might be able to connect it to my rain barrels and fill it like I did the first one, but there just wasn't enough water pressure to push the water all the way up over the top of the tote. I've ordered the fitting I need but it won't be here until Friday, May 12.
On Sunday, I had two projects I wanted to get done. The first one was pretty easy...drive a couple of T-posts and tie up another cattle panel so that the cantaloupes will have something to climb on.
 |
| Cattle panel trellis, ready for the cantaloupes. |
I grew some on a cattle panel many, many years ago, and it worked. I'm thinking it's a good way to save horizontal space, but also to keep the cantaloupes up off the ground and away from critters.
After the panel was up, I brought some of the rotted cow manure and used it in the planting holes for the cantaloups. I also top-dressed the cucumbers. I'm not sure if they really needed that or not, but it seemed like a good thing to do.
 |
| Straight 8 cucumbers. The first three hills were seeds I had bought. I had put three or four seeds in the individual cells of a six-pack, but only one germinated in each cell. The last bunch, on the other hand, were some seeds I had saved, and I think every one of them came up. |
The second project was much more involved and took me a good while. I had promised my youngest daughter that we would build a nice little concrete slab to hold the headstone she bought for her precious kitty, Soldier. I started out by building a form out of 2"x6" scraps, with one 2"x4" scrap for the front. My plan was to have the stone slope down slightly.
 |
| The form, set down in the dirt and all level, ready for concrete. |
Once I had the form set, I started mixing some concrete, a little bit at a time. After the bottom of the form was filled, I put in some old fence wire scraps, just because I thought the wire might help keep the slab from cracking. I'm not sure it would anyway because it's so small, but I figured the wire wouldn't hurt anything.
 |
| A bit of wire to reinforce the slab. |
When I got the form filled to the top, I tamped the concrete down, and tried to smooth it off as best I could. I then carefully placed the little headstone in the center. This was the tricky part, because I had gotten the concrete a bit too wet there at the end, and it was trying to sag down the form.
 |
| The finished slab. |
I wasn't unhappy with how it turned out.
Since there was still plenty of daylight left, I decided to work on another project...the raised bed around the cellar. I've gotten part of it finished and even have some things growing in it.
 |
| Strawberries and snow peas from the raised bed around the cellar. |
But the back part is still a big gaping hole. I need to get it finished so I can start filling it and have it ready for new strawberry plants that I plan to relocate from the runners that put out in the current bed.
So I hammered in another support stake (very crooked, it was too!), and using the "Bessie" clamps, pulled the warped board up to the stake and screwed it in place. But after I got that board fastened, I decided that I really needed something on the end where the rock steps are. I found some 2"x6" scraps and was able to start boxing in the end with one of those. Next, I measured for the top board, cut the 2"x8" to length, clamped it with the Bessie clamps and screwed it in place. Last step was to put the last end piece on.
 |
| Making progress! |
There are still some gaps that need to be filled on that end but other than that, I think that end is done, and just ready to be filled. This end is where the bumblebee was...however, I've not seen any sign of her since the day I put up the cardboard. I hope I didn't scare her away.
This afternoon, RAF helped me remove the forms from Soldier's headstone, and then I brought in some good dirt from the garden and planted flowers.
 |
| Flowers for Soldier: Dwarf bachelor buttons; Forget-me-not; Sweet alyssum; and Alaska nasturtium. |
I think it turned out very nice - I told my daughter that I wanted it to be something she would be proud of, and I think she will be.
 |
| The finished headstone. |
I am going to build a bench of some sort under the green ash tree. I told my daughter that it really is just a peaceful place there in that little grove of trees - the green ash; a catalpa; a pecan; a hackberry; and two of my little pawpaw trees. I guess this is turning into our official pet cemetery, because Toby is buried just to the south of Soldier, and Zelda is to the west.
Once that project was finished, I decided to go ahead and set a post for the new weather station I ordered. I am always having to ask someone how much rain we got, or what the low or high temperature was, and I just finally said, "Enough!" and bought my own. I'm not sure when it will be here, but the post is ready for it when it does get here.
 |
| A treated 4"x4" post set into the ground behind the cellar will hold the new weather station. |
I didn't have quite enough concrete mix to fill the hole, so I just packed the red clay that came out of the hole back in around the post once I ran out of the concrete. I'm sure it will be fine. That clay is very dense and packed in the hole almost like a brick!
 |
| Another view of the post. |
I've started gathering up some flat rocks from the field, with the plan to make a "patio" kind of spot at the back of the cellar...so the rock steps will lead up to a rock patio, giving me a way to more easily get up to the top to work in the raised beds. 4' wide beds are nice, except when you can only stand on one side of them, you really can't reach all the way across!
As I was putting all of the tools away, I happened to notice that the Kentucky Wonder beans are starting to come up inside the wigwams.
 |
| Kentucky Wonder beans coming up. |
So there's my next project...cut some pieces of chicken wire to fasten around the outside of the wigwams so the rabbits won't eat my beans!
