When the Aug. 10, 2020 derecho blew an oak tree akilter, I had to cut it down. I left a tall stump for a seat from which I took this photo. This will be a plot of tomatoes. The seedlings are getting tall in the trays, which means they need more moisture and roots do not have a place to grow. If I can make it through a long day on Monday, I will get them in the ground. That’s a big “if.”
This plot is smaller than the one I used last year, so I may need more space in another plot. I haven’t measured and counted yet, so no worries until I do. I had hoped to leave one of the large plots fallow, but it may be required for production to fit everything in. This is what happens when a gardener just starts a bunch of seeds without detailed planning. It’s how I have gardened since I began.
So I measured and counted and came up with this planting plan:
Tomato Planting plan plot #4 – 2025.
It will be a bit crowded yet I can deal with that. I may have to take the fencing down to access the two outside rows. Won’t know that until we see how things grow with these indeterminate vines that go all over the place.
Editor’s Note: Still short posting while I work on the garden. About another week to go before the main planting is finished.
The weather has been fabulous the last week or so. Mostly clear skies, moderate ambient temperatures, and normal relative humidity. Each day I begin a little earlier and work until just before I drop. That means about six hours. It is beginning to look like a garden.
Instead of working straight through on a single garden task, I have a couple tasks going at the same time. I work some on one, then another, and then another in small bits of time. It breaks up repetitive motion, keeping me healthy. It also makes garden work more engaging.
The last day of May was cleaning and organizing tomato cages and stakes, turning over part of the soil in plot #4, and then grinding all the desiccated tomato vines into the yard.
I picked a big bunch of greens: Pak Choi, three kinds of lettuce, and arugula. In the house, I managed three loads of laundry. By the end of all this, I felt tired and sore.
Here is a photo gallery of the best last day of May shots.
Trail hiking.Canadian Geese.Sunrise on the trail.Transporting tools.Turning the tomato plot.Tomato cages are ready.
On Friday I dug into the garden plot that was fallow last year. Tall weeds took it over and died, leaving a soft place for wildlife and two feral cats to bed down and sleep protected from trouble. As I moved the weeds aside and pulled up the plastic, my feet sank into the soft, fertile loam. I worked a lot of years to get soil to be like that.
Because the pile of dead grasses was so tall, I burned it instead of running the mower over it for mulch. The fire was intense, radiating its heat 20 yards away. Luckily, it didn’t harm the nearby kale and chard plot. It burned, bright, intensely, and soon exhausted its fuel. Saturday morning I will start turning the soil over for tomato planting.
Because ambient temperatures were forecast in the low 80s, I started early at 7:30 a.m. By 1 p.m. I was tired and achy. It was a good day’s work. A six hour shift is what I can stand these days. Enough of them back-to-back and we’ll have a garden.
I found volunteer collard plants in the plot. I picked them all and we’ll use them in the kitchen this weekend. I can already sense it will be an abundant year.
Editor’s Note: Still short posting while I work on the garden. About another week to go before the main planting is finished.
When the repair shop returned the John Deere yard tractor, the right rear tire would not hold air. I removed it and ran it across the lakes to the tire shop. The diagnosis came back air was escaping through the sidewall due to rubber deterioration and the tire needed to be replaced. According to the tire’s date code, it was older than the technician that worked on it. The guys (and they were all males) at the tire shop had fun talking about that.
The garden is proceeding on a reasonable schedule now that we are past the worst of spring weather. This week has been about tilling the soil in plot #3, covering the surface with plastic sheets recovered from last year, putting up a fence, and then beginning the work of clearing out the greenhouse. I made good progress by Tuesday and should finish planting seedlings ready to go into the ground today. The next big project is clearing a space for the tomatoes. I know just where that plot will be this year.
I harvested arugula and spinach. Under the covered row everything grows well and soon there will be Pak Choi, lettuce and more arugula. Picking kale is not far away as it is growing well in almost ideal conditions. Already it is feeling like a productive garden.
Yesterday I went grocery shopping after garden work was done. I had a dozen items on the list and quickly got them into a shopping cart. Just as I finished gathering the last item, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I left the cart near the frozen foods section in the health market and ran to the car to see if it was there. It wasn’t. I returned to my cart and calmly returned all the items to the shelves. Shopping will have to wait for another day.
Editor’s Note: I am short posting when I get time until the garden is planted. It is taking longer than expected, yet I am determined to harvest produce from this soil, this year.
After several days of rain, Friday was a clear day for gardening. The cruciferous vegetable plot is fully planted, the next large plot is cleared, and I cut weeds so I can access the compost bins more easily. I lit the first burn pile of the season. The plot with the burn pile needs mowing so I can store the tomato cages there until ready to use them. I put my Practical Farmers of Iowa placard on the compost bin to officially open the garden. It felt like a productive day.
Cruciferous vegetable plot.
The right rear tire of the yard tractor wouldn’t hold air. I called the John Deere shop and they sent me to a local tire service that has been in business since 1932. I checked in the wheel, and now await their phone call. I’m good with waiting until Tuesday to pick up the wheel. Everyone, especially a mechanic, needs a holiday weekend.
I complain about the internet from time to time, yet it was easy to locate a YouTube video that showed how to remove the wheel from the tractor. It saved time and frustration. It assured me I was performing the work correctly. We didn’t have that in the pre-internet days. As a bonus, I had the correct tool to remove the clip holding the wheel on the axle.
It’s the time in the garlic cycle where heads from the 2024 crop need to be used. Thursday after supper I took half of what remained and made garlic purèe with olive oil. I froze eight jars, which is plenty for the rest of the year. There is an abundance to use fresh until scapes come in.
Friday was a good day in the garden. Here’s hoping for more like that.
Some years the garden has been in by now. Not this year. Weather is the main culprit causing delay. When it does clear up, there will be some long days of digging, tilling, planting, and mulching. I’m ready, more or less. The greenhouse is full, and supplies are on hand. Once I get going, my experience will help it go quickly. With four weeks of spring remaining, there is plenty of time.
One of my daily reads is Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American.” I usually read it within a few minutes of it hitting my inbox. She wrote:
I have not been able to stop thinking today of the significance of the timing of the Republicans’ push for this bill, and what it says about how dramatically the U.S. has changed in the past 60 years. (Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson, May 21, 2025).
Those 60 years are the main part of my life. I’m old enough to remember the 1950s, and the changes made in the country by Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. During the postwar industrial boom we lived a life close to the means of production yet never considered ourselves to be poor. That all the public parts of my life seem now to be changing is unsettling. I haven’t been sleeping through the night for a long time. The last two days, House Republicans have been debating and passing the budget, giving me something in which to engage in the wee hours. I streamed it before I got out of bed.
The reconciliation is not over by any means. It has to clear the U.S. Senate and then the two chambers must reach agreed language before a final vote and sending it to the president. If today is any indication, Republicans are willing to jack up the debt and deficit to a level that will invoke their Paygo Rule. That means forced cuts in Medicare of up to $500 billion, among other things. For those of us on Medicare it could get rough. The cuts in Medicaid and nutrition programs are directly part of the bill.
My position on this budget reconciliation is if we can’t afford tax cuts, they should not be part of it. Republicans have a history, going back to Ronald Reagan, of increasing our national debt and the budget deficit. By any measure, they are out of control with the budget that passed the House this morning.
I woke up to Cousin Al on the radio when I lived at Fort Benning, Georgia. Each day, across the line in Alabama, he played Christy Lane’s hit song, “One Day at a Time.” Good advice in 1976. Good advice today.
My electric lawn mower was delayed in shipment. Instead of arriving today, it will be tomorrow. I attempted mowing the garden plot using a trimmer, but it doesn’t get the job done. I will clear off the weed barriers to reuse and be ready when the mower does arrive. I need to think a bit before planting this large plot, anyway.
Toward the west will be cucumbers and summer squash. That much is decided. There are green beans for direct seeding, so there will be a row of those. I need to put celery somewhere. I have chard plants started but not in the ground. The hot peppers and tomatoes aren’t big enough to transplant. I guess I will walk the ground, then walk in the greenhouse and the solution will become obvious.
Below the plastic weed barrier is a life seldom seen. Bugs, ultra-soft earth, evidence of rodents and worms everywhere. Starts of plants went nowhere because of a lack of light. The soil made me sneeze as I unintentionally breathed it in. The weather has been perfect for gardening. Except for a quick trip to town to get a lottery ticket, I was at it all day. I was immersed in it. It was spring, as good as it gets.
There have been setbacks in the garden. The riding lawn mower developed electrical problems and will be at the shop for as many as three weeks. It sees heavy use clearing weed growth in the garden so I’ll have to do it by hand until the new electric mower I ordered arrives on Sunday. I need a push-style mower anyway because the ditch in front of the house is very steep and I’m getting too old to survive if the riding mower flips over while I’m mowing.
We are experiencing high humidity that began late Wednesday. Today it was 87 degrees Fahrenheit and very humid. Late afternoon it became windy. I know when to stay out of the garden, so I don’t pass out. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back to work. I can also finish planting the first plots.
One day at a time.
Editor’s Note: Another short post while I focus on the garden. Thanks for sticking with me.
Maple trees have been releasing seeds for about a week. They are everywhere. As mentioned, I think the abundance is because the Autumn Blaze maple is dying and in one last effort at procreation is releasing them. We will hate to lose that beautiful tree.
Another short post today about competing demands for my time.
To get a garden planted I need to focus on that. I have a large garden and only a fraction is planted. I have been turning down other commitments to organize things. Specifically, Women’s March, Indivisible, National Education Association, Veterans for Peace, the county Democratic Party, and others have asked for a part of my time. I have to say no more than yes until the garden is planted.
Partly, as I age, I am slowing down. By the end of a six-hour garden shift, I am achy and worn out. I persevere yet have to manage my time, energy and pain to stay on track to get the right things planted at the right time. Thank goodness there is ibuprofen.
After a walk on the trail, I’ll be back at it. There is always something that needs doing.
Being a bit out of it yesterday after Satuday’s late (for me) festivities, I managed my daily walk on the trail and tended newly planted collards and kale seedlings. Last year was a garden bust for our favorite leafy greens. We are still living off frozen from 2023.
There won’t be much action here for a while. There is a lot to do during gardening season.
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