The Modern Victory Garden

It has been down right cold here for the past several days.   Night time lows were right at 35 degrees for two nights in a row, which has not killed anything outright but has all the less hardy items a bit stressed.   It is supposed to warm up (relatively speaking) tomorrow and I hope that everything recovers quickly and resumes growing.   The tomatoes in the greenhouse have been completely unfazed by the cold though.   In fact the super early Siletz tomatoes continue to put on more blossoms.       

One thing that has been totally unaffected by the cold snap is the weeds in the walkways of the garden.   I absolutely must do the first weed whacking of the walkways this coming weekend.   I am in jeopardy of having small children and large cats getting lost in the tall grass along the edge of the beds!   Those of you who have followed my blog for a while will know that I really dislike this chore.   In fact, I  had good intentions of doing something different with the walkway areas this year but recognizing I have already spent quite enough money with the addition of a chicken coop this spring, I am going to have to wait.   So it will be yet another year of doing the monthly weed trimming work.   While I heartily dislike doing this task, I do love how the garden looks immediately afterwards which motivates me to get to it.   I also need to clean the top panes of the greenhouse.   The caked on pollen needs to go so the sunlight can reach the plants inside more effectively.    I am too short to do this job without standing precariously on a step ladder - so this is not my favorite job either.                                                  

The other thing that must be attended to this weekend is planting out the pumpkins, zucchini, and cucumbers.   They are way over due for transplanting but I have been holding back because the weather has been too chilly.               

While the majority of the squash family plants are growing and ready to plant out, I am giving up on growing Early Butternut squash this year.   I definitely am in possession of a package of bad seeds.   After two completely failed attempts to start the Early Butternut seeds in the seed trays of sterilized starting mix, the third attempt was made to germinate the seeds in a damp paper towel in a warm spot.   Absolutely no luck – not a single seed sprouted.   I think it is safe to declare that the package of seeds was a complete dud.   They were bought from a seed company that I don’t generally use and am unlikely to use ever again.   So, I am changing my plans a bit as a result.   I am going to plant the Small Sugar pumpkins in with the corn and pinto beans for the three sister’s plantings and just skip planting winter squash all together this year. Looking at the bright side, this gives me more room in the garden for bush green beans and dried beans.             

This week has felt like a lot of minor set backs what with the weather; confirmation that I had a totally bad package of Early Butternut seed; and weeds in the walkways that demand that I do my least favorite garden chore.  I need the sun to come out and make things right with the world - or at least in my garden!