It's raining. Again. No one can control the weather and even though sometimes it can't be predicted accurately, today they got it right. The rain is good, don't get me wrong but I really want to plant some vegetable plants and seeds in the raised bed garden. I'm not late in planting at all, just not as early as I want to be. The spinach, radishes and lettuce are all coming up great but my pre-started seeds are growing like crazy. The tomatoes are getting tall and are screaming for a home of their own while the peppers are more than ready to stretch their feet into some good garden dirt. I'm tempted to get outside during break in the rain and stick some seeds in the garden like cucumbers, squash and beans but I have some prep work to do first. I'm going to grow the cucumbers along a trellis made from leftover fencing material and I need to build the support system first. A strong support system is always important!
I have a spot ready to go for the beans but need to add one more row. I'm using more of the 'Nash' bush beans this year that I used last year. It's a good idea to use a technique called succession when planting bush beans. They tend to produce strong and fast then back off as the season progresses. By planting in succession I can be assured of a steady crop through the season. I'll also be growing some pole beans among the corn to utilize the stalks as poles.
I'll also be doing succession planting with the squash to help avoid my most dispised garden pest, the dreaded squash vine borer! I'll plant a new squash plant about every two weeks that way when one plant gets attacked I'll have another coming along to provide us with squash all summer long (hopefully).
This week looks good for planting. Tuesday night has a weather prediction of 39 degrees then nothing lower than 44 degrees for a low the rest of the week. In fact it looks like we'll hit highs in the 80's! That's good tomato weather don't you think?
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