Oh, I like the sound of that.... planting AND harvest. Now if only I could hear the sound of rain I'd be in seventh heaven.
I got the children all up early and we had a planting festival of sorts. We planted the new plum tree, all 4 blackberries and a forsythia bush I also got on discount to replace the one that V accidentally backed over with the lawn tractor last fall (oops). The weather this morning was lovely- mid 70's, slightly overcast and with a breeze. Great planting weather. With all of us working it didn't even take us that long. We were done in less than an hour. Now we'll just have to make sure we keep them well watered until they are established. The soil was powdery dry as deep as we dug the holes. Scary!
V, however, missed out on all the fun this morning. He had to make a run into town to reboot our friend Mike's servers. Mike lives out of town but still has his web hosting service here. There was a power outage downtown yesterday which messed things up and V is the resident troubleshooter for Mike's business. But Mike gives us comp tickets for Silver Dollar City so it evens out.
This afternoon I pulled all the rest of the onions and have them safely into the shop to dry off. And... drumroll please..... The first ripe tomato of the year!!! I was pulling onions and glanced over at the nearby tomato plant and there they were. THREE little yellow cherry tomatoes. I ate one on the spot- following my usual 'ritual of the first tomato' and brought the other two inside where I shared one with V and promptly ate the other. And no, there were no photos- they didn't last long enough! It looks like a few more are starting to turn- even some of the big tomatoes. I can hardly stand the wait!
I noticed that I've got another summer squash out there that needs picked, the Long Island Cheese squash vine is growing rapidly and I've got a honeydew melon about the size of a softball already. Hooray!! I'd better get out there and fill my water jugs to keep them all going.
With the drought we're having this year I'm going to try to stash away all I can since I can envision food prices climbing even higher this fall. Makes me glad we've got a freezer full of beef. Maybe I need to pick up another 25 lb sack of flour. At least we'll be able to have homemade pasta and beef all winter. Mmm... spaghetti and meatballs. Yum! That's making me hungry- I'd better start thinking about dinner.
I hope you all have a lovely week ahead.
I'm waiting for my 1st cherry tomatoes too!
ReplyDeleteI picked a red cherry this evening. YUM!!
DeleteI'm anticipating a big canning/freezing party this august/september to get ready for the winter for the same reasons. If you come across any too good to miss deals in town give me a shout! I'm thinking pasta, meat and beans are going to a big hit this weekend. I'm almost a little more happy for Costco now!
ReplyDeletep.s. we just did a big planting/ pruning run in the backyard - our raspberry bushes are in and the peonies cleaned up and now I'm wracking my brain for late summer/early fall green and things I can plant to suppliment this winter!
DeleteI'm not sold on Costco yet. I haven't been there but at the price they are asking for a membership we are wondering if there would be enough stuff that we would buy that would make it worth it. I'm always up for good deals- I'll let you know if I find something good.
DeleteAs for the fall stuff, it isn't too late to start fall greens. My little fall cabbages are up and I'll be setting them out in a few weeks. And things like chard, kale or spinach can tolerate quite a bit of cold.
I split the membership with my mom so it was only about $25 per person - the extra large bottles of vinegar I got for about $3 were definitely worth it on my last trip. =D
DeleteI think I'll be hitting up the last of the seed stock this week and finding a few green to put in once the onions are out. =D
Thanks for the wishes for a good week coming up. Same to you, Bloggy Friend!
ReplyDeleteI bet it felt good to get all that planting done. I know it's been bothering you being on your list for a while. Glad it went well.
I think you are so correct in that we are going to see food prices sky-rocket this winter. All of us who know how to cook from scratch and make good meals with our homegrown stuff in the freezers or pantry shelves should be okay. Although we may have to get creative and forego extras!
Hopefully the grape harvest will be good somewhere- I don't know if I can forgo my weekend glass of wine! Other things- no problem but red wine and chocolate are must haves around here!
DeleteBut seriously, you are right- it is those people who don't know how to cook except from a box or can who are really going to suffer.
We picked up plants on clearance yesterday here. We have the heat now so they have been marking things down. Very nice about the first tomato harvest - fun to eat one right in the garden.
ReplyDeleteI love the end of the season mark downs. And this year we have gotten some really nice plants.
Delete1st cherry tomatoes ,I'm green.I won't have any this year,It just got too busy so I didn't get my usual container garden in.I can just see your kitchen,making home made sauce too for the homemade noodles
ReplyDeleteToo bad about no tomatoes. Surely someone you know will have some that they may be willing to share. It's not summer without 'real' tomatoes.
DeleteI stole some cherry tomatoes from my parents farm on the 4th and my parents had been eating on them for a week before that. But in all fairness, they were volunteer plants from last year that survived this year thanks to the warm spring and lack of killing frosts, something that wouldn't have happened normally. Their planted cherry tomato plants just started ripening this past weekend.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly enough my planted cherry is doing better than the volunteers- by one day! But we had a killing frost that took out all the volunteers (as well as my strawberries) so these got a later start.
DeleteYay on the tomato!!! It's so nice to start harvesting, hope you get some rain soon.
ReplyDelete