tomatoes on the ground

i have mixed feelings on this. as this screwy weather is so unpredictable, its just plain risky putting tomatoes in the garden - and its late may!

so today, i planted 3 tomatoes and set them up with walls-o-water.

usually, early planting with this device would be march or possibly into early april. this would set the plants up for a jump start in may, when the walls-o-water would be pulled off and - walla! you have giganto plants and tomatoes in june.

if i did such a thing this year, i would have had a real problem. most likely would have had plants taller than the walls and - BAM, a frost like we have had over the last few weeks and then a dead plant. frontyard nursery did the walls-o-water thing back in february and it snowed - even walls-o-water cant help with that. the snow filled in from the top and that equals sad tomatoes.

whoda thunk i would be worried about frost and tomatoes in may. lets see how this rolls.

preppin' the potatoes

taking a quick look at bill bird's fledgling potato patch got me thinkin' i might have missed the bus - however, i live at 1850 foot in elevation (he is in the natomas area, so its way closer to sea level) and still at risk of a hard freeze into early may. so planting the spuds is still probably a bit early up here - however, i will risk it in a week or two.

this is the first time i have planted potatoes in over 10 years. the heavier soil in cameron park didnt lend itself to very good potato harvests, but my newly built beds with the fluffy soil is ideal for a huge harvest. i am so looking forward to home grown potatoes - i'm thinking its going to be a great fall.

in the past, i had issues w/ the seed potatoes rotting once planted. my guess is the heavy soil, in cameron park, kept them a bit wetter than optimal - but i think the major contributing factor was i didnt let the potatoes harden off when i cut them in preparation for planting. this year will be different!

this evening, i cut my 'taters and they are in the kitchen drying off on the cut end. according to the the potato flier i received from the frontyard nursery, it suggests that you should treat the cut ends with sulphur or at least let it dry for a day - prior to planting. not having sulphur handy, i chose the latter. these spuds will be set aside for a week before planting.