The Transplanting

I've been waiting and waiting until the weather warmed up to transplant the eggplants, watermelons, strawberries and basil. Finally the wind stopped blowing and the temperature soared yesterday, reaching a high of 80.8°F. Then I heard on the news that another cold front is blowing in. I said to dh, "Another cold front?! These plants need to get into the ground. I'm going on with my plans to get them transplanted tonight. They will just have to make it on their own."

That was last night. It took about an hour, but the beds have been ready for the past couple of weeks so it was just a matter of digging holes and plopping the plants in.

I am working from my home today. Well, actually I'm driving to my boss' home, and we're working there together. She was in the hospital last week and on Thursday she asked if I'd gather everything we'd need to finish the end of the month bookkeeping and come to her house today, instead of going to work. She wants me to arrive at 10am, so that means I didn't have to leave this morning before the sun rose. In fact, I don't have to leave for about another 90 minutes. Wow, so this is what it's like being home until 8:30 in the morning on a Monday. She lives about 75 miles from me, and I should be able to avoid most of the rush hour traffic if I take the back highways.

This morning I went out to check on all the new transplants. They all look great. The wind was still blowing last night, so I did cover them all with boxes for protection. I watered this morning, and found this very pleasant surprise:


One lonesone Sweet Pea flower blossom. My edible peas produced blossoms months ago, but my peas which I planted for the beautifully scented flowers have not done well. I think it is because my watering system wasn't set up properly in that bed. Mostly the problem was I planted the flowers at the north end of the bed, which was at the end of each tube. The laser line had holes every 12 inches, and apparently there were few holes near the very end where the flowers were planted. I'm actually surprised to see a blossom, considering my edible pea plants were spent a couple of weeks ago (no longer producing and beginning to die off).

I was thinking that all the long skinny beds against the sides I've created for green beans can be used come September for peas! I wish I could just plant 30 feet of Sweet Pea flowers, but I really liked the edible peas, so I will be planting more of those.

I did a heavy watering this morning. I still don't have my watering system set up, but desperately need to figure out what to do! It's just difficult with so many beds and only one faucet. I wish I could figure out something permanent, as the soaker hose and laser line just don't seem to last long due to our hard water.

Well, I'd better get off this computer and start getting ready to leave.

Until next time.