It’s gonna be short today – I gotta run some errands in town and we’re trying to get them done before the afternoon heat really hits. I’m slow drip watering my raised beds right now, letting it soak deep. I introduced some worms (both nightcrawlers and red wigglers) to all three raised beds, and they seem to be working out well and are definitely improving the drainage in that clay filled compost I unfortunately added. Previously, the water would tend to pool on the surface and it would take a while for it to soak in, but now it seems to be soaking it up fairly quickly.
Everything is exploding in the garden right now – I’ve been pruning the tomatoes every couple days to keep the airflow, had to trim back a bunch of cucumber leaves, and the bottle gourd has taken over half the pig-fence trellis I added to the raised beds. At the current growth rate, it will be encroaching on the luffa soon, so I may need to trip it back somewhat.
The first fruits have appeared on my Brandywine tomatoes – I hope there are a couple ripe enough before the boy goes home in a month, as I’ve been promising the absolute best BLTs prepared with tomatoes fresh from the garden. I had hoped to have a harvest of the San Marzano’s as well, and to make homemade pasta sauce from scratch, but I don’t think there will be enough (if any ripe at all) for that – maybe a few to make some bruschetta.
The Sunsugar Golden Cherries are fruiting a lot as well, and the hydroponic one is doing amazing and is outperforming the others in the grow bags. I think that will be the main method I use to grow once I have the greenhouse built, though I do want to try the technique on a couple other varieties – my biggest concern being that the Kratky bucket won’t be able to support the growth and weight of the larger fruit. I will definitely need to have a string trellis system setup for the greenhouse.
Anyhow, I gotta get those errands done to prep for the boy’s birthday tomorrow…
Song of the day: Secret Garden by Bruce Springsteen
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