Crops, Rain, Plans

With plans to be on the road for ten weeks or more, Terry and I were in a quandary as to what we could plant in the garden that could pretty much take care of itself. Zucchini, cucumbers, string beans...were all eliminated from our list since they would require frequent picking to get the good tasting small vegetables and not something the size of a baseball bat.

Then I thought of the Native Americans who would plant their corn, beans, winter squash and pumpkins on their inland farms and then head to the water to escape the deer flies, black flies, etc. and to fish. Corn we would not plant. The raccoons would enjoy it too much and our space is limited. Without the corn stalks for the beans to climb, we would skip the beans as well. Besides, I'm not much of one for shucking dry beans. But winter squash and pumpkins...you betcha!

Having made up our minds, we visited Agway to pick up some starter plants and some more top soil and composted cow manure. I wanted six more bags of top soil to finish covering the 8' x 16' raised bed. The cow manure would be mixed in where I would plant the squash and pumpkins. We bought three 3" pots of Burpee's butternut squash each pot having two healthy looking plants. They ripen in 75 days according to the tag; but whether that's from planting the seeds or planting the seedlings, is another matter. That fits our plans pretty well. As for pumpkins, we got a six-pack of Jack-o-lanterns; two seedlings per cell. They are supposed to mature in 110 days which would mean the end of September. Terry got two six-packs of marigolds to fill in a spot on the end of the onion bed and by the front door where most of the flowers are early spring/summer perennials.

I've never grown either butternut squash or pumpkins before so it will be an interesting experiment. Especially since I won't be here to watch over them.

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After several weeks with little rain, we got some T-storms that managed to pass over the Aerie last night instead of either avoiding us or dissipating completely. They started just around 5 PM on Monday and got real serious during the night. The drone of the window fan in the bedroom kept me from waking up too often as the thunder rumbled, but a few lightening strikes were too close to be completely drowned out. And a brief power outage killed the fan for a moment, at which the lack of noise woke me up.

Once awake--at 4 AM, getting back to sleep became a problem. I dozed for an hour but then the birds started and it was all over.

At least I know that the newly planted veggies and flowers are well watered.

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Today, I've a few phone calls to make and some banking to do before heading up to the Bolt Hole to get the trailer. Also, Don and Adam(?) will be coming over this morning to discuss final arrangements for the foundation stone work and log staining to be done while we are away as well as the babysitting of our cats.

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Getting down to the wire! Just 7 days after today. We'll hit the road on the morning of Wednesday, June 9th.