A Soggy Slow Spring

Wilkommen auf meiner Leser in Deutschland!  Wie gehts?   And hello to all of you here along the sodden U.S. east coast.

Since April 1 through May 19 of this year, rain has fallen on 24 days, or very nearly 50% of the time. I looked at my log from last year and the difference is amazing!  On May 22, 2010, we began picking strawberries and the snap peas had developed pods that would soon be picked. We are nowhwere close to that point this year. And, while it has been a difficult spring in the garden, Lancaster County has a huge agricultural industry that is very near disaster with millions of seedlings sitting in greenhouses waiting to be planted in fields that can't be worked.  There certainly will be no early sweet corn this year in a place that customarily sees those first ears on the 4th of July. You can't till fields of mud with a tractor or a mule team!

                                                Heading back to the barn

Our tomatoes are coming along in spite of the weather. We're trying out a red plastic "mulch" for the first time with these plants. The theory is that the red color tends to cause the tomatoes to ripen at a faster pace.  The sheet comes four feet wide, but we've folded it over due to a lack of space in a bed that's only eight feet wide. Watering through the slits in the plastic cut to accommodate the plant didn't seem practical, especially as the tomatoes mature. To insure an even watering, we've run a soaker hose under the plastic and on top of the compost around the plants. Not that we need to worry about water very much at this date!  We have six plants in the bed... two each of Better Boy, yellow, and Chianti Rose, plus a volunteer plant near the asparagus patch. The Better Boy shown in the picture below has a collar fashioned from a plastic 16 oz. water bottle, as do the others.  The hope is to keep the snails away from the plants now while small and tender, and also later as the fruit begins to ripen. The Chianti Rose is an heirloom variety that Lois picked up at Longwood Gardens.

                                          Better Boy tomato with a collar.

The pole beans are up and ready to begin reaching for the trellises. Only a few of the plants are shown in the picture below. These are also heirloom seeds from Longwood Gardens.

                                      Rattlesnake and Purple Pole beans

There's not much to be done in our county park plot, at least until the rainy season ends! I'll be back in a few days. I hope to see you then!

                                          Staring out the door at the rain!