Saturday in the Yard

It's raining, raining, raining and as my father used to say, "The natives are restless."

So with no weekend plans, we decided to put on our boots and head out for some puddle jumping.  Then I got on Facebook and saw all my girlfriends were actaully out working in their gardens!  It seems a little rain can't stop a good homesteader from planting her dahlias, constructing raised beds or starting seedlings.  I got jealous, changed plans, and we all headed out back after a quick trip to the garden store.

To my surprise, 4" tomato plants were IN and 30% off for a 'Rainy Weekend Special'.  I had a momentary lapse in reason, and completely forgot that we have envelopes full of tomato seeds at home - beautiful heirloom variaties that I couldn't help but purchase over the winter.  I bought three.  And then the sun came out!

This is the first year I have grown tomatoes in pots.  I'm hoping I still get great returns.  I usually grow them in the ground with awesome results, but wanted to free up all the ground space in the garden area for items like beets, carrots and lettuce.  Last year I tried some in the Topsy Turvy which didn't work worth anything. Simply not enough dirt in those to get you much fruit. (That said, does anyone want to buy my Topsy Turvy's??)

We found a bunch of yucky looking little bugs on the underside of our wine barrel planters when we turned them over to drain and clean them.  Daddy had the good sense to offer these little guys to the girls.  So we pulled out our portable dog fence and created an area around an overturned barrel and placed the girls inside.  They went right to work, eating the creepy crawlers.

To my surprise, the first green on one of our grape vines.