Might As Well...

Well, it is extremely late, but I still have the energy so I might as well give an update on the garden while I am writing.

Today saw me finishing up some of the work in my garden. I managed to finish weeding the broccoli, hoed in between the last two rows of onions, put out some soaker hoses, and applied an insecticide to the plants that the bugs have been so enthusiastically eating. I also tied the tomatoes for the first time.

Things are going well in the garden. The green beans all appear to be up. The purplehulls are about up, the baby limas are up, and the okra is poking its way through. The fordhooks haven't shown themselves yet, but I think that if I can get some irrigation to them that they will spring forth as well. I about lost my watermelon plants and a couple squash plants to thirst, but I think that I got to them in time.

The big challenge so far this year is trying to figure out how to water this large garden. I don't have nearly enough soaker hoses. At this point the budget for such things is tight, so my only option may be to move the hoses from day to day as things need to be watered. All in all I don't guess that would be so bad - just a little inconvenient.

Yesterday (Thursday) was a hard day in the garden. All of my onions needed weeding and I have a LOT of onions. First I needed to get the weeds out and then I needed to pull all of the dirt back away from the bulb of each onion so that only the roots were left in the ground. From all reports, this is the way that they like to grow. The only way to do them effectively was to either get down on my knees or to bend over and work on them. Some of the onions are really starting to come along. I am anticipating them to do so more readily now that they have gotten some fertilizer, water, and the other attention that they need.

I also drove all of the stakes for the tomatoes. It was a good shoulder workout!

Dad helped out by setting up trellises for my garden peas to run on. I really appreciated his help. We still need to do them for the purplehulls and the green beans. He also helped to get some of the soaker hoses put out, ran the hose from the wellhouse to the garden, and hooked everything up. He even patched a leak.

Speaking of leaks, one of the soakers that I put out today sprung a big one. Keeping them repaired is a constant process.

I believe that I should have some peas ready for picking soon, I have seen a couple small tomatoes on a few vines, and I noticed an itty-bitty head of broccoli forming in one of my plants.

Next week I need to finish tying the strings in the trellis for my peas, put up a trellis for my cucumbers, and finish my hoeing.

I took some pictures tonight of the garden and I'll try to post them here tomorrow. We'll have to see how it goes. I don't have that much memory on my computer, and I think that I took pretty high resolution photos. I may need to wait until I can download them at my parents' house. I should make it over there some time this weekend. I think that I got some interesting shots.

Hope you guys all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. In the midst of all of your recreation take the time to remember all of those who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms. God bless!