Last week as I was loading the tiller into the back of the truck, it fell off the ramp onto its side. The broke the carburetor. I took it in to get fixed. It was supposed to have been ready yesterday, but the repair shop received the wrong parts, so it’s going to take a while longer.
…which means I didn’t get to till yesterday.
…which means I didn’t get to plant.
And now, it’s raining. A lot. Probably too much to till on Wednesday, which is fine, really, because I’m already booked for Wednesday. I was supposed to do some landscaping for someone yesterday, but rescheduled it for Wednesday so I could get some work done in the gardens.
And I did! The owner of the place where I have most of my gardens won’t let me fence the deer out of his yard, so I put a deer fence all the way around one of my plots. I just planted it maybe two or three weeks ago and I see raccoon tracks on the landscape fabric. Anyway, I got that fence up, mowed down the weeds on last year’s sweet corn patch and potato patch so I can till them up…and that’s it. Of course, I went to the feed store and tended the chickens and such, but I didn’t get nearly as much gardening done as I’d have liked.
It’s supposed to rain again Thursday. And Friday. Saturday, of course, I’ve got a market. And at some point, I need to mow the yard. I’d hope to garden Sunday, but I doubt it will be dry enough to till after raining all week.
This is why I shouldn’t start my veggie CSA in June. I’ve got stuff planted–spinach, kale, lettuce, arugula, bok choy, cabbage–and as soon as I can till some more, I’m going to plant beets, carrots, radishes, rutabegas, and potatoes, with winter squashes, beans, and cucumbers soon to follow. (Mayda planted some cukes here at the house, bless her heart.)
On the bright side, the stuff I’ve planted so far is all in beds covered with landscape fabric. It lets water through but keeps the weeds down. I learned the hard way that it’s better to burn holes in the fabric rather than just cutting x’s, because the flaps don’t stay open and the sprouts end up getting smothered. But I haven’t had any problems with weeds there yet. And once I get some money for drip tape, I’m going to lay it down under plastic for the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squashes, fennel, etc.
I think, while I’m stuck inside, I’ll plant herbs in containers.
I noticed that the place where I get sawdust also has a dumpster full of wood scraps, some of which looked like they’d be suitable as tomato stakes. I’ll have to ask the owner about them.
