Tuesday morning it was cold as it’s been most mornings for the last week or so. Heavy frost on the windshield. The magnolia flowers are half brown and falling off. I’ve not been over to check the peach tree. It still looks pink…
So I had a lot to do: laundry, clean up the kitchen disaster, amendment orders, and the usual chores and putting up my post.
If you recall I could not find the paper with the inventory of peat pots on Monday. So as a last resort, I started going through the recycle box. Naturally, I was supervised and had help. I found all kinds of things in the box that didn’t belong there (in the chair) including the inventory. So I finished going through all the recycling so it can go to the dump on Saturday.
Then I went back to work on the amendment orders. I was working on all that when I saw my helper friend walk by the window.
He had some of the amendment order and was dropping it off. It took 2 wheelbarrow loads to get it in the Tonka garage. (I really should rename that shed. It’s not been a Tonka garage for a couple decades…)
Once he left I finished whatever it was I was working on and went out to start planting peas and carrots around 10:30AM when it had warmed up.
I started with the carrot row as it was first in from the gate. I got it partially broadforked and remembered I wanted to plant the sweet peas.
So I got the seeds and went over to the South garden and got that section weeded. Then I got the sweet peas in.
I planted:
Heirloom Painted Lady
Perfume Delight
I had packets for Perfume Delight from 2 different companies. It’s sort of old seed so I hope some come up.
When I got to the end of the carrot row with the broadfork, I saw the rose had grown through the fence. So naturally I stopped what I was doing and went to prune the rose. And weed it. And cut down and weed the hibiscus next to it.
And cut all the dead branches off the poor mountain laurel. It was hit hard last year by winter kill. It only has this one branch left.
So having procrastinated as long as I could playing in flowerbeds, I finally got to work on the carrots.
I really messed up big time with seed orders this year. We forgot to check inventory several times. I had 2 small packets of carrot seed that was old, not enough to finish the row. Once I got what I had in, I stopped to go rest awhile. It was 1:00PM and I planned to come back out at 3PM to do the peas.
But I came out into the kitchen and saw the seedlings still on the table and decided to move them to the back porch where they belonged. They’d been on the table since Sunday afternoon.
Well, that was harder than I thought. First I had to clean up the boric acid mess on the top of the cabinet, so I’d have some place to set trays. Then I had to raise all the lights. Then I had to water each tray as I put it in place as they were much too dry.
I finally got the table cleaned off and all the trays tended.
Then I noticed the lights were too low for the plants in the dining room and when I started moving things and raising lights, I found the second starting of mesclun had wilted. So I watered all these trays. That finished me off. So I went back in to rest a while longer.
I finally went out about 3:30PM and started planting peas. I got all 3 rows done by 5PM and cleaned up my mess.
My son said he couldn’t move wood on Tuesday afternoon, so we had to put a tarp on it as it’s to rain on Wednesday morning. I was so exhausted by the time that was done.
I made supper, did chores, got a shower and went to bed. I had my son light the stove as it was to be 28F on Tuesday night. I’d called my neighbor and told her I didn’t think I’d be going to exercise class this week as I had so much to do and it was to be warm during the days.
On Wednesday I still have a lot to do while it rains: laundry, the kitchen mess, amendment orders, phone calls, water the rest of the seedlings, and get ready to go to lunch with my husband’s cousins at 11:30AM.
The rain is to stop by the time we leave for that and I’m hoping we can stop to get carrot seed so I can finish planting. Then I need to get mulch down on these rows.
So another busy day.