Garden Tilled Go!

My husband tilled the garden and incorporated 400 pounds of composted manure into the soil. (The other soil amendments were added during the winter months.)

Now for the fun part, planting all those seedlings into the garden that were started in the dark days of winter in their little styrofoam cups. Nine okra seedlings were planted along with some okra seed to make two rows for a total of 22 plants, hopefully. That should be enough for two people to have a mess of okra everyday and share some with the neighbors. Just nine seedlings were started as a comparison to see if an early start will increase yields or if transplanting will stunt okra's growth. The oldest of the okra seedlings are just a couple of weeks old and had already started to form their second true leaves, the plants are 5 inches tall but I went ahead and buried the plants deep.

Six rows of tomato plants were planted out for a total of 48 plants. Three of the rows of tomatoes will be supported using my husband's interpretation of the Florida weave system and the rest will be staked, it's just too humid here to let the plants sprawl on the ground where the fruit are liable to rot. The tomato plants were not leggy at all so there wasn't a need to trench the plants, trenching seems to make the plants prone to listing to one side so I'd rather just bury the stems deep and mound up the soil.

My husband's only request is to grow some corn this year. Six ten-foot rows should be enough to do it and then watermelon, winter squash, and banana melon will be planted between the rows. This should help smother the weeds between the corn rows. Maybe I'll even plant some scarlet runner beans and yardlong beans to clamber up the corn.