Check it! Our tomato house! It's all the rage in Germany (according to Mr. Upstairs Neighbor) because we get so much rain. And apparently tomatoes don't really like to get rained on. Who knew? So we bring the top cover down to cover them (like a greenhouse I guess) at night and also when the weather's bad.
Mostly we just go to our laundry room or back yard and look up the hill at Mr. Upstairs Neighbor's tomato house to see if his is open or closed. I'm not even kidding, we're totally copying everything he does in hopes to get more fruit this year!
We've barely gotten our garden in the ground and already learned a few really helpful gardening lessons this year. Mainly, to be more careful about the timing of your seedlings. Example: we planted the tomatoes way too early but we put the rest of the goodies in the planters or the ground a bit late.
Another oops is that we didn't start everything from seed in the house... and we're kind of regretting that now. The zucchini, beans, cucumbers, carrots, dill, and chives went straight into the garden and then we got a monsoon for about a week... the garden was a mud puddle and we're not sure if the baby seeds are going to survive it ;o) So next year, we'd feel better about making sure we get all of our plants strong before releasing them to Germany's crazy mother nature!
Luckily, we aren't planning a May vacation next year ;o) so hopefully we can be more timely about getting the plants in the ground when they need to. And it's only our second year, so I'll just be happy if we get some of everything! I'd obviously love to can lots of tomatoes. But I'll take what I get!
The jalapenos and bell peppers are definitely doing the best so far. But I also have high hopes for the zucchini... that stuff always grows a ton even when people don't want it to, so it should be fine.
And the beans are like "rain shmain, we're just poppin' up left and right anyways". It's nice to see at least one sign of life from the seeds that went right into the ground!
Speaking of signs of life, Lilo's roses are just beautiful this time of year. But I always get a twinge of guilt and sadness when I see all that her garden/yard used to be or could be... there's a huge gap between the love I have time to give the yard and the love I'm sure she used to give it. I'm pretty proud of myself that I went out there the other day and pulled up all the tall grass that was choking out the rose bushes... but even that I wasn't able to do thoroughly before Double Trouble were getting whiny for lunch.
I always feel like it's the like the Secret Garden, you know? Just a shadow of the glory it once was... no one to really take care of it. Kind of overgrown and crazy... but blooming nevertheless.
Poor, sad, neglected garden. Overrun by weeds with no one to take care of it anymore :o(
Oo! Oo! Oo! I have two cents to say about the seeds being in the ground when a lot of rain came! Seeds are actually the best time for your plants to be over watered because seeds will actually start to grow in a bowl of water. So cross your fingers with confidence about that there rail because unless they were sloshed around you should have more baby plants soon. I know this because Mom's herbs are growing strong after I brought the flood upon them on accident. Oops.
ReplyDeletePS I liked this post because you were the one that read me the Secret Garden.
Aww I remember that! I used to crawl up into your loft, right? :o) I miss you. ALSO you were RIGHT! Pretty much five minutes after I posted this a thousand beans came up AND some zucchini! YAY! :o) :o)
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