Organic Gardening: Mucking Around

Deer tracks across my garden strip!

April was an insanely busy month, and May is shaping up to be more of the same.  Nonetheless, we managed, here on April 30, to set out our first transplants.  We set out about 8 Gold Rush currant tomatoes, and about 10 Rutgers original strain.  We had planned on more, but other tasks delayed us.

Being the lazy gardener that I am, I asked the Resident Dragon to "drill" the holes with his trusty bulb auger, which made quick work of the digging task.  We worked until it was so dark we could not see.

It's now five days, a light frost, and two inches of rain later.  I put out some of the tomatoes (more Rutgers, Bloody Butcher) and peppers (early jalapeno) yesterday, but every time I drilled a hole, it filled with water.  After about an hour I had only planted about one-third of the plants, and had sunk to mid-calf in the fine-grained buckshot mud.  So, I decided to finish on a slightly drier day, and came inside to inventory the remaining plants.

The variegated weigela
is beautiful!

My next planting day will be a busy one and will involve fertilizer and bone meal!  I also need to devise the tomato trellis and set up the cucumber fence.  While I feel like I'm behind, I'm actually about two weeks ahead of last year when I did not set out my first plants until the first week in June due to a cold snap in early May and heavy late-spring rain.  Here's hoping I can get a jump on the summer.

The heavy rains have been wonderful for the rest of the garden:  many of the blackberries are blooming, the blue berries are fruiting, and the fruit trees and muscadines are leafing out nicely.

Abraham Darby is
the first rose of the year in my garden!

The roses I trimmed so severely in February are just beginning to bloom.  I feared I had been too ruthless in the pruning, but, it appears, that was just what they needed.

There is so much yet to do, as always.  I hope for some weather dry enough for the ground to be workable so I can plant seeds directly into the ground.

So, despite the rain, and the late cold despite a very mild winter, I am optimistic about this season.  I have to be.  The past two years have seen disruption in my garden plans.  Two years ago I developed a severe infection from a tick bite and was sick most of the summer.  Last year, my father-in-law was ill and I took care of both his garden and mine--poorly.  This year, I'm sure, will bring other challenges, but I'm ready.

I think.

If not, there's always next year.

What about you?  What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy