Tomato Woes and a Busy Day Ahead

Some kind of animal or other has been eating my cherry tomatoes, right off the vine. Since the only animal I've seen anywhere near the backyard is the stray cat semi-adopted by the neighbors next door, I'm guessing it's sneaking under the fence door and helping itself. This is where my ideals hit the brick wall of practicality. Should I put out the critter ridder stuff near the fence entrances or not? On the one hand, I'm not sure what's in it, but I'm pretty sure it's not organic. On the other hand, I only have a little tiny bit of room, I can't patrol the garden day and night, and we want to eat our tomatoes.

It's too hot out right now and the big boys are not setting out fruit. I can't blame them, really. I don't have the energy to do much either when it's approaching 100 degrees in the shade. One plant finally succumbed to the caterpillar damage from a couple months ago and will need to be pulled this week. I'll be down to 4 tomato plants, and greatly reduced dreams of a bountiful harvest, fresh sauce, and canned tomatoes for the winter months if I don't do something soon.

While looking at seeds online, I found an interesting type of tomato from Park Seed. I don't know if you'd call it a dwarf plant or not, but it's meant to go in containers and takes up less room than the traditional varieties. While I don't want any more containers to worry about beyond what I have right now, I was thinking that they might do well in both my little garden and the nook at my in-laws' house. Being Florida, there's still plenty of time to plant tomatoes and get a nice return, if they work out well. I suppose that's one advantage to enduring the heat of summer- we get the warmth of autumn, all the way through November and sometimes December until it gets very cold.

The plants I transplanted to the southwestern side of the mulched garden are mostly doing well. Two peas were lost, and one of the bell peppers, but the rest are growing strong and steady. I planted more bush blue lake beans (seeds, this time) and they are sprouting through, as are 2 of the 4 pea seeds I planted the same day. Apparently my method of scooping mulch out of the way until I found dirt, putting in the seed, and just leaving the mulch in a ring around the planting area is working. If nothing else, I at least know where not to step, which is good.

I have 3 more bell peppers ready to transplant, and 2 banana peppers as well, which I will do this week. One habanero sprouted in a milk jug self-watering container, but there is room for root growth so I am going to let it develop more before I mess with it. I'm also hoping another one or two will sprout up now that I've moved the containers to a sunnier spot on the front porch, instead of under the table in the backyard.

I also have 1 lone sunflower, standing tall in the round plastic overflow self-watering container that will nicely take the place of one of its' fallen brethren in the front flower gardens. My first go-round at butterfly bushes led to only 2 sprouts. One went to Mr. Autism's occupational therapist and the other went into an empty space in the front garden where it will begin blooming and showing when the mexican sunflowers around it start dying off. I'm starting another round in a milk jug, and so far just one sprout, but I am hopeful that more will join in the growing fun. I also have lavender started in the second plastic overflow self-watering container with 2 sprouts thus far. I'd really like 6 or 8 of them though to make a nice border and so I can steal flowers to dry without making the garden out front look naked.

I've been trying to decide where to put the herbs in. I have dill, sage, oregano, marjoram and parsley sitting in containers on the front porch, ready for transplanting. The original plan was to mulch out the northwestern section of the backyard for an herb garden, but that won't be happening until it gets cooler outside and the plants can't wait that long. The danger of interspersing is that I will forget what's where. The only herb I can identify easily after a few seasons' of growing is basil. I know, I know, use labels. I hear ya.

We spent most of yesterday working on the garden bed at my in-laws' house. The logs that formed a back wall to it were completely rotted out, so we went to Home Depot for the pretty white retaining wall bricks. It's good practice for my beloved geek, since that is what I want to do when we expand the front gardens eventually. We way underestimated how many bricks it would take (we thought 36 and there might be leftovers) and still need about 20 more. After that is done, the composted manure needs to get tilled in, and the soaker hose needs to be laid out. After that, mulch, of course. Since it is his parents' house, and it's a small location, no free city mulch this time. It happens to be on sale, so that's okay. Another 4-5 hours of work, and it will be done and ready to plant.

While we were there working (well, he was working- I was watching the kids and helping out when it was safe), I was daydreaming about their yard. There's a nice gentle hill leading to a fence, and it's all partially shady, mostly sandy- perfect for blueberry bushes. I was imagining how it would look finished - 3 or 4 rows of blueberry bushes, mulched and bordered off, put in a nice bench near where they put in swings for our boys, under some tall pines for shade, to sit on and just enjoy the yard. It's big property, and I love it nearly as much as my guys do. And, the more spaces we turn into garden areas, the less mowing my in-law's will need to do in this heat, since they won't let anyone help them when they're not out of town.

I've rambled about enough. Maybe more than enough. It'll be a busy day, but I'm cheerful. Mr. Smarty Pants needs new shoes and a new outfit for school, so we'll be hitting Kohl's after church. We need just a few groceries, so maybe my beloved geek and Mr. Autism will go to Publix while we're off doing that. This afternoon, once they recover from their flight home from Norway, we'll be off to see the in-laws. I'm lucky not to have evil ones, and I do count my blessings. I've missed them, and the boys are frantic for spoiling. Tonight, I'll be assembling backpacks full of supplies for the big day tomorrow. Mr. Autism starts 5th grade and Mr. Smarty Pants starts 2nd grade. In the morning should be fun. Rush to get breakfast on the table, make lunches, soothe nerves. Mr. Autism's bus comes at 8:05, Mr. Smarty Pants' is supposed to come at 9:17. That's just enough time for him to completely freak out about a new school, new friends, a new teacher, and being gone all day. He hasn't panicked yet, and I know it's coming. It's how my kid is built.

By 9:30 tomorrow morning I should be sitting in the house, listening to the quiet and enjoying my coffee.

I can't wait.