Batten down the hatches!

This past weekend I put most of the remaining seeds and seedlings into the veggie garden. It rained all weekend long, so perfect weather for a lazy gardener like me - easier to weed, no need to water after planting, keeps the bugs down, yadda yadda. I am no fair-weather gardener.

Now I have to prepare for the onslaught.

My tomatoes were the first hit; I guess I didn't do a good enough job of hardening them off (my problem every.single.year - one would think I'd learn eventually?), and they turned white and crispy a few days after planting them out. They're bouncing back, but some of the leggier ones and the tinier ones are experiencing a real set-back. I will need to give them extra attention and kisses in the coming weeks, and remember to stake them properly when (if?) they get larger.

Actually, the first round of baby bok choi that I planted were the first hit, as they were completely uprooted by Rosie.

Then I did the same thing to a row of beets. (sigh). Rosie comes by it honestly.

I am going to be armed and dangerous this year. I'm going to watch very carefully for cucumber beetles - I've moved everything around and I hope to hell they've been thwarted. I want cukes this year. The past couple of years they have been a crashing failure. I tossed the rotting trellis and flipped everything in the garden over, and changed the location of my cukes, and moved the other squash and melons elsewhere, so I hope that's done some good. If not, I will resort to killing them, spraying with oils, you name it.

I also plan to get on top of the currant problem this year. Every year we have a caterpillar infestation on the currant bush and it affects productivity and makes it a disgusting pain in the ass to pick the berries. I have to spray the base of the tree with vegetable oil, apparently, and I guess I have to start doing it soon.

Yesterday I put out (prematurely?) my little adorable pepper plants. Some barely have a second set of leaves but dammit I am impatient, and it was rainy. As soon as I see flowers on them, I will start surrounding them with diatomaceous earth to deter earwigs - the pox of my peppers. I also stuck a lot of marigolds in and around the tomatoes and peppers this year, we'll see if that scares anything off.

I tried my best to plan the garden using companion planting guides. I think I screwed it up here and there by changing plans, but for the most part, I hope to grow a lot of veggies in a small space well, by making sure they're all compatible with each other. The only things left to go in the ground are the melons, which are going into the perennial bed, and the basils (thai and regular), which are healthy and prolific but still very small. They'll go in very soon - maybe next weekend. But I am happy - the grow-op is shut down for 2008.

Once all of that's done, I go into maintenance mode. I'll weed and try not to pull up the vegetables by mistake, kill insects and try not to kill the good ones, mound the earth on my potatoes but try not to smother them, and try my darndest not to step on anything.

I will post more photos when the garden looks like more than just straw, marigolds, cilantro and weeds.