my moss is getting moldy

Last night, the local weather man claimed that at the rate this summer is going, it is going to be the coldest summer on record around here. I don't mind the cool weather, but the mass quantities of precipitation and lack of sunshine this summer is having its toll on the local environment.

My vegetable garden is a perfect example. My five tomato plants have produced one green tomato so far and I fear it will rot before it turns red. My ten pepper plants have produced nothing and they are so scrawny that I would not be surprised if they produce nothing at all this year.

vegetable status

Weatherwise, it has been lousy around here during the six weeks since I planted my vegetables. Wet, cool, and not much Sun sums it up, but it looks like summer finally showed up yesterday.

Early on, I lost one tomato plant and a bunch of pepper plants. The tomato plant just never took to its transplanting, while the pepper plants suffered from an attack of snails and slugs.

The surviving tomato plants did ok until this week when I noticed signs of blight. The pepper plants have just been slow to grow.

The plants look pale in the photo because the day before, I sprayed them to counter the blight.

The dog (Pumpkin Pie) is looking around the corner for her nemesis du jour: Chip or Dale.

flowers in

My daughter and I finished planting the annuals last night.

Most folks around here are not happy with the weather this spring. Too cool and too much rain is the primary complaint.

On the other hand, this weather has been perfect for putting young plants in the ground; no blazing hot sun to burn them up before they get established. Knock on wood, but unlike past years, I have not lost any vegetable plants and only a couple of impatiens (and I am pretty sure I lost the impatiens due to a varmint and not the weather).

All I need to do now is get a few bags of mulch for the flowerbeds, then I can relax until the next mowing.

plants in

Depending on the weather, I usually plant my vegetables during the week after the Dayton Hamvention.

Well, the weather has been lousy around here: we have had a very cold and wet spring. It has been so cold that I actually have turned the furnace on a few times since returning from Dayton.

Weather be damned, June was only days away and I had to get the vegetables in the ground.

So, Tuesday evening I prepared my five Earthboxes: I loosened up the soil with a gardening fork, removed any roots and stalks leftover from last season, put in two cups of fertilizer in each box, installed new blag plastic covers (I used black plastic garbage bags cut to size), then filled the reservoirs with water.

Wednesday evening, I planted six Big Boy tomato plants, six red pepper plants, and three basil plants. Then, I ringed each plant with slices of Styrofoam coffee cups to keep out the snails. And I was done.

I checked the plants this morning and they survived the night.