Dry Dirt

Finally the dirt in the garden that was not in beds was dry enough to till. I actually started tilling it last Friday, but did not finish and it rained Saturday night. Last night the dirt was just right. There is nothing like the smell of sweet dirt when it is being turned. Now the visions of delicious peppers and winter squash and okra can replace the visions of the pounding tiller.

Last year Florida speckled butter beans were planted. They grew beautifully, but the beans came on so late that they were not able to fill out before the first hard freeze. This year we reverted to the old standard speckled limas from the grocery store dried bean section. The only thing wrong with them is that they are bush beans, requiring the picker to bend over or kneel down to pick.

So far all of the plants except for 1 or 2 that were planted this weekend are still alive. Yeah it is only Wednesday, but it seems the first hours are the most critical. When the greenhouse was planted, there were some seeds that fell out of the packages and it was hard to tell what they were. They were just scattered in a fallow bed for the heck of it. They turned out to be either cabbage, broccoli or Brussels sprouts. They were too thickly planted to stay where they were so they were thinned and the plants that were removed were put into the garden. They wilted Saturday night, but Sunday afternoon they were fine. As of last night only one of them did not survive.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/