Transplanting? Check (I transplanted a few dozen Cherokee Purples just today)
Planting? Check (just ask my lower back! Update on what I've planted and what remains, when you read on below....)
Driveway garden beginning to take shape
Driveway tomato conversations with seedling customers? Check! (Just a few weeks remain - and I am so grateful to my annual tomato friends)
Events? Big Check! (lots of week end travel, lots of wonderful hosting by some superbly nice people, lots of engaged, interesting, energizing audiences).
Writing? whoops (too much of all of the above - leading to spaces between blog and overdue work on the next book)
It really doesn't get any better for avid gardeners. Spring is simply where it's at. For those who like to flit about from one activity to another, it's perfect. So much happens each day - whether watching seeds germinate, planting seedlings, or monitoring them for progress and growth. The weather is often perfect, the bird songs plentiful.
Here are the news items....
I've got a few more speaking engagements, including White Flower Farm in Connecticut on Friday, and the NC Museum of History on Saturday. After that comes the Mother Earth News Fair in Burlington Vermont. And after that comes a bit of a sigh - it's been a delightfully busy winter and spring. I am now turning my efforts to setting up events for 2018.
The 2017 seedling sales are drawing to a close, and will culminate in PlantaPalooza in Durham on May 27, when I hope to find homes for what remains. Stay tuned for details. This was a smaller effort than previous springs, and I expect the decline to continue each year as I work to free myself up to do more traveling about with Sue. Thanks to all who support my tiny enterprise!
About 75% of the garden is planted - I am listing the varieties on my Facebook Book Page in a series of posts. In the next blog, I will begin to discuss the varieties and reasons behind growing them. Though I will be growing less than half of a typical summer, my strategy is to maximize yield and performance. As always, the plants represent numerous projects, including taking the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project into some unusual directions.
Now, if I can only avoid trying to do too much at one time and putting my lower back out of commission for a few days!
Indeterminate tomatoes in 10 gallon containers