Week 6 - Getting there!

Friday, March 27 2009



Time in: 4pm
Time out: 8pm

This is the day that we really laid down a lot of the ground-work for the tomato patch. These tasks included:

• Deciding on a layout for the tomatoes, then planting them. We used a theme for each lot. One for the classic red kind, one for the extra-large kind, one for color (striped red and orange or purple) and one for "odds and ends" (we both picked out a variety we thought sounded odd or interesting).

• Planting marigolds and sowed nasturtium seeds.

• Installing individual lines (from the main drip-line) to each tomato plant. We also snaked a line through the marigold plants and one for the nasturtium seeds.

• Adding extra hot chili pepper flakes around the tomato plants

• Mulching

• Creating small cages for individual tomato plant for added protection from squirrels
  

• Setting up timer for drip irrigation. Since the tomato plants are still seedlings, it was suggested to us that they should be watered a little more in the first couple of weeks, so we decided to set the timer on for 5 minutes every 48 hours at 7:30am and pm. We are crossing our fingers that it will work!
  

Next week's tasks:

• Plant eggplant, squash and cucumbers in 5 gallon containers

• Set up the drip irrigation for the 5 gallon containers
  

• Plant legumes alongside tomato plants (more on this later)
  

• Plan for the small lot on the other side of the shed