It’s over 80* out in New Jersey today and tomorrow. I put the sprinklers on for the first time today.
Though it will get colder near the end of the week, I am taking the chance and planting cucumber seeds today. My friend Angela came over for coffee and I coaxed her out to the garden to help me string up a new trellis and put some seeds in the ground. We planted Poinsett 76 and Marketmore. I decided not to plant the smaller pickling cucumbers this year because I wasn’t fond of them last year and the plants wilted before I got a satisfying amount of fruit off of them.
My father in law gave me 2 extra early girl tomato seedlings he bought for his own garden, so I planted those this morning. This time, I laid the plants down on their sides in a shallow trench and covered the stems up to the top set of leaves. I plan to mulch heavily this year so I didn’t want to plant too deeply as the soil is still pretty cold the further down you dig in these beds. The trench will allow roots to form along the stem of the seedlings, but the plants shouldn’t suffer too much shock because the soil is fairly warm near the top of the bed.
My greenhouse is all opened up today. I don’t want me seedlings to cook!
Also, husband set up my solar frog puddle yesterday in the front yard, right next to the keyhole garden. The panel is very sensitive, so if you make a little shadow on it with your hand, or if the sun goes behind a cloud, froggie stops spitting, but in direct sunlight, he becomes a happy little fountain. I hope the birds and frogs LOVE it. I can’t wait until the keyhole is full of plants – very soon now!
