Tomatoes in the garden, etc.

Walt has done so much work this year getting the garden in. He planted seeds in little pots a few months ago. Those stayed in the greenhouse and got a good start. Then he transplanted all the seedlings into larger pots. Those stayed in the greenhouse too, until a couple of weeks ago when he judged it was time to set them out in the garden plot.

The curlicue things above are the support poles for the tomato plants to climb up on. They're a standard item in the garden centers around here. The tomato plants are still small, but they have thick, sturdy stems and are really growing. There are some blossoms already. The weather we are having this June is perfect for them.

I hesitate to call the vegetable garden a spring "chore" but it is a lot of work. I do the tilling to prepare the ground, then Walt does the planting and watering. We look forward to a bumper crop of tomatoes — there are thirty plants in the ground. Walt has also planted three rows of green beans, three zucchini plants, some hot peppers, and snow peas. We'll be eating purple snow peas in a couple of days, and we've already harvested and eaten a lot of green ones.

In the fall, we'll be making tomato sauce for the freezer, tomato paste to put up in jars, and oven-dried tomatoes as well, all for year-round enjoyment. And we'll be eating a lot of fresh tomatoes in August, September, and October. I hope. Weather, please cooperate.

Speaking of chores, here are some we've taken care of this spring. I scrubbed all the moss and other ugly stuff growing on the fence that runs along the road on the south side of our house. We emptied the garden shed, vacuumed it all out, and the put back and organized the things we wanted to keep. Walt took down and washed all the curtains on the main level of the house (6 windows and the big sliding-glass door). I washed the sliding glass door on the front porch downstairs, as well as the curtains and windows in the utility room. We've been busy. The red flower above is a geranium in our kitchen window planter box. The little yellow flower stalks farther up are growing up against our back gate, which definitely needs some TLC (or replacing).