For one glorious week in May, we have spring here in New Orleans! Right around Mother’s day the threat of frost leaves, the rains die down and the weather is reasonably cool. That’s it! One wonderful week before it gets too hot and muggy to want to move.
The big news in our house is that we picked and ate our first tomato of the season. We started the seedlings in February. We planted seven different kinds of seeds: cherries, local creole strains and several hot weather varieties. We watched them come up, replanted them in larger pots carefully fed and watered them. We transfered them to their permanent homes at the beginning of May. Right now we have one cherry tomato with a bunch of fruit and a lot of the others are in full flower. If we can fight off the black cutworms, the green horn worms and the swarms of insects that love this city, we are set to have a great tomato crop.
Nice to have a little success after the pole bean disaster. . . we planted these in the ground in late April. We have not done much ground planting here for a variety of reasons like questionable soil, weeds and pests.
The pole beans were our first in ground experiment. . .When the beans came up and started to climb the poles, we were thrilled! Then it started to rain (and rain and rain). The 12 inches of rain drowned the pole beans. We had to start over again. Thankfully, pole beans germinate and grow very quickly. Here is a picture of some of the latest plants, which are now in pots! As you can wee the one plant is starting to climb!
Another ground experiment in corn. This is the first attempt at growing corn, ever. We are braving the ground and so far so good! Curious to see how it is going to turn out. I’m told the corn should be knee- high by the fourth of July. Seems like we are making a good start. . .Only time will tell if I am overly optimistic.
No matter how it all turns out, gardening makes me very happy! I love watching the seeds pop out of the ground and seeing them grow. Of course, the best part is harvesting and eating the crop. I have weeks of anticipation and probably frustration until we get there. The trick is to remember that it is the journey that counts.