Garlic Ghosts of Christmas Past

The dinosaurs accidentally left their cast iron rain coats at home.

The Incan Empire didn't leave a note on their way out.

Marie Antoinette forgot that people other than her exist.

Benedict Arnold's pessimism got the best of him.

Taft ate too much cake.

Voldemort became greedy.

We planted pumpkins in the same bed as our thriving crop of garlic. 

They thrive no more.

To be fair, the half that remains is growing well and has already started to curl and produce a petite bosom of seeds. The pumpkins on the other hand are bigger every day. Each leaf is about the size of a hand. At the center of three of the five main garden pumpkins, a flower that looks very much like the mouth of a bright orange squid is blooming.

As summer is ACTUALLY STARTING TO HAPPEN in Somers, the weather has risen from a rainy 65 degrees to a sunny 90. SAY WHAT. The plants are loving all the sun, that is of course the plants that are outside. The issue is that the unlucky few that are inside the greenhouse are basically sitting in a sauna 24/7. Because of this, a mad rush ensued...a rush that can only be compared to the panic in 1938 caused by H.G. Well's adapted War of the Worlds radio drama.

Tomato plants cried out to us that they must be put in the ground. With only two small beds empty as of Thursday, there was really no place to put them. A massive reorganization effort began. Bush beans in pots were moved into rows by the courtyard birch tree. With four tomato size worthy empty pots in the greenhouse and now four more that once held bush beans, we had homes for eight tomato plants. But there were six left.

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrotclassics/2009/07/29/

Katie read enough Foxtrot comics in her youth to know that once zucchinis start producing, they don't stop. We abandoned our original plan to transplant squash starts into the empty small beds in favor of tomato relocation. The six were in the ground by night fall on Thursday.

Early Friday, Jordan observed that the basil starts destined for pumice pots in the hydroponic had been planted in soil instead of peat and perlite. The basil must be as clean as possible before being installed in the hydroponic and soil is much more difficult to clean off than peat and perlite. Luckily, eight long shallow planters and one small empty bed eagerly agreed to foster the orphan basils.

While Jordan filled the last bed, Katie sorted the last of the starts into long planters. Two long planters have frosty peas and six have basil babies. These long planters were put on a pallette donated by the roofers with the frostiest two being placed on the side next to the fence. Eventually, the peas will climb up the fence. Cool, right?!

There are still close to 30 homeless mystery squash. On the upside, what we can't find a place for will be donated to neighboring community gardens. Next week promises more sunny weather, which we welcome with open arms. Arms that are attached to hands that are attached to giant green thumbs. Naturally.