Groundwork

Last week Kirk and I each had a personal day — at the same time! We put that time to good use first by planting herbs (after our enjoyable morning outing to the Herb Farmacy) and then by moving more dirt from the driveway to our final quadrant. We are on our second giant pile of half loam/half compost mix that we are using to fill the last of the raised beds. We're closing in on finally finishing this project:

We finished filling the center "C" and half of the outer beds — that's a lot of progress! And really, we need to get it done very soon, because our frost-free date is fast approaching, and we will need every last square foot of space for our summer garden plan.

In one section that we filled we put out our tomatillo seedlings. I sowed these in mid-March, and after seven weeks of growing inside (and with some much more careful hardening off), they were ready to go out. I have to say, I was a little nervous to set them out. Unlike the onions, these are not a cool-weather crop. Tomatillos are often used in Mexican cooking, so that should give you an idea of their native habitat. We have grown them here successfully in the past, but after some cool nights at the beginning of the month, the basil I purchased on a whim looks terrible. Because I'd never set tomatillos out so early, I wasn't sure how much cool weather at night they could take — are they a bit sturdier than notoriously wimpy basil? We gave it a shot and set them out, and put our spare plant in a corner as well, where we will have it until something else needs to be planted in that spot (just in case we lose one).

And so far, everything seems fine. They have been outside in the elements for a (rainy) week now, and they don't seem to be bothered by the temperatures dropping below 50 some nights. We have a long way to go until there is any fruit, but so far they seem no worse for wear for having been planted in early May.