Gosh, it's hard to believe that two weeks ago it was rainy and cold ... today was spent turning soaker hoses off and on, throughout the garden.
So, here we go, off to a rough start, but being an optimist, we will at least get something to grow!
The bottom picture is of one of the two hoop houses that Doug, with Bob, Angie and Kellie's help put up over the last two weekends. As soon as the hoop house was up, we planted three varieties of tomatoes in it.
In front of the hoop house (the bottom picture) are potatoes, and in front of the spuds are brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli and the little dead looking things way in the lower right corner are Chinese cabbage and baby Choy. (Alas, the tender little greens seem to be a favorite of the millions of flea beetles!) Hopefully, we can take care of their nesting grounds and larvae by putting the ground cover over the top of them.
The top picture is looking east and is of the second hoop house, which is full of peppers and eggplants. They were looking pretty droopy today ... I think they were shocked ... like the rest of us ... at the heat. Soaked them with water and they perked back up.
We're trying spring lock on the plastic this year, (from Steuber's out in Snohomish) also Doug put perlins between each plastic pipe so it should strengthen their ability to withstand the wind. Although, while we were installing the second hoop house the wind gods did pay us a visit. You would have laughed to see us running around trying to hold the plastic down before it shifted out of place! In all of the running around, we didn't panic ... it was a mission! (We did it ... remind me this fall to pick up the plastic and not let it sit on the ground all winter ... arrggghhhh ... what a mess ... my head band was covered in mud!)
These hoop houses do have a lovely creaking sound when the wind is moving around them. So, we will see how long it takes before we hear (or see) the plastic fluttering! Seriously, I had a nightmare about seeing half of the plastic blowing in the wind. With luck, (and Doug's ingenuity) they'll make it to November this year!
Make it a good one!
