Just Chatting

Harold and I have been putting in full days doing outside work now that the weather has finally settled down.   Last week we did have a bad episode - it got down to 23 one night.  Remember our lovely apple tree from one  of my previous posts?  It was in full bloom and we were expecting to get a bumper crop of apples.  With such cold temps predicted we wondered what we should do about our apple tree.   Supposedly apple growers try to save trees by spraying the trees with a good stream of moving water all night or during the cold hours. So we bought a brand new oscillating sprinkler and set it on the tree.  Everything was fine, and Harold even checked it at 4 a.m. and everything was working well.   So he finally went to bed.  But between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m., the oscillating mechanism on the sprinkler actually froze into the wrong position, and instead of putting moving water on the tree, the water went over the tree and just a fine mist of spray hit the tree.  Not good.   Four hours of misting made the tree look like this:

Oh no!!  Our lovely apple tree encased in ice!

Every blossom was covered in thick ice.

While it looked pretty, it was a disaster for the tree, and we were just sick about it.   Harold was kicking himself that he didn't get up at 5 .m. to check on things.  We lost 4 branches and one of them was a major top branch.   I think the tree will be OK, but whether we get apples or not remains to be seen.    I guess this is what happens when we try to 'play God'.  We should have just let the blossoms freeze and KNOW that we wouldn't get any apples, instead of losing 4 branches to cracking because of ice.
     Here's what the tree looks like today:

It still look good, but we may or may not get any apples.   Some of the blossoms were pink and at that stage they can survive cold.   White blooms cannot withstand freezing.  If we had been able to keep moving water on the tree, it probably would have been fine, even the apple blossoms. 

Yesterday we planted up our "small garden", which is about 25 x 125.  Here I am planting peas:

I usually wear a large straw hat and something long sleeved and light colored to protect me from the sun.  I spend an average of 5 to 6 hours outside almost every day. 
      Today I spent 4 1/2 hours planting tomatoes in my other large garden, which is about 60 x  150 give or take.    I've been working with plants and seeds since mid February, so it seems like I have been moving plants around for ages!  Now I finally have the joy of putting my hard work of growing plants into the garden where they really belong!  I already got the living room cleaned up from plant growing stuff, and this afternoon I will clean and prepare the screened in porch for summer, now that there are no more plants to move around on the porch.

I planted 34 tomato plants today.

We need to get everything planted by the end of this week because next week the weather guys predict rain almost every day.   And after that, I will be taking a trip to visit family in Indiana and Massachusetts.   Harold will stay home to watch things and water plants.  It was such a beautiful day today - the birds were singing, it wasn't too windy, and the temp was about 70.   And I really enjoy having such peaceful and serene views from my garden:

Here's the view from one side of the garden.  You can see the newly tilled up pasture that we will use as another garden, to plant corn and melons in.   All the land in this photo is part of the farm.

Here is the view from the other side of the garden. Most of this land is part of the farm also.

 We are often asked why we plant so many vegetables, and in such large amounts.  Well, we are vendors at the local farmer's market and we need things to sell!   Besides, I also like to give things away to folks who can't garden, and I like to share the extras with friends and neighbors and family.   I use a large amount of vegetables in my summer canning, too, making my own spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, canning tomatoes plain and seasoned, and also filling up the freezer with veggies, too.  "If I can grow it, I will"!  This year we are trying to grow watermelons, cantaloupes, and honeydew melons.   We shall see if I am successful or not with this!  My old bones can't take more than 4 hours on my knees doing garden chores, so every year we try to make things easier.  I'm no spring chicken anymore, you know! But I sure do enjoy growing my own food!