I got the backyard tomato bed planted this week. I wanted to sterilize the soil but only had a short window of time in which to do so, so I had to get creative. The method I settled on involved lots and lots of boiling water, I used a giant stockpot that my parents bought for their annual corn boil, where they cook enough corn to feed 100 people. I had to refill it 3 times to get enough water to soak the bed. After the soil was as soaked as I could get it, I covered it in straw and stapled a new sheet of landscaping fabric over top. (The previous piece had gotten so torn up it wasn’t much good anymore.)
I had hoped to plant right away while the soil was still warm from the boiling water, but I could barely move by that point. The next day I built a new trellis for that bed because the previous one had fallen apart, and I planted 6 tomatoes and 2 cucumbers, and put wall-o-waters around each of them. It was warm enough this week that it was tempting to skip those, but it’s a good thing I didn’t because next week we’re expecting freezes!
Last Christmas I was given a $50 gift card for Jung’s. This week I used it to buy seed potatoes. That’s going to be one of my major projects this year, I want to compare potato varieties and find 2 or 3 that best suit both my needs and my growing style. I have 7 varieties now, I’m hoping to add German Butterball and kennebec to that list, along with the three varieties of true potato seed that I’ve got.
Still waiting for my land to be plowed.
I still have some potatoes to plant, and will do it this weekend, if life doesn’t intervene again.