I was also thinking of a galvanized narrow long cattle trough with drains, out to the lawn, on one side. Then put in a foot or so or river rock and then fill with soil. That would last a lot of years and be big enough for everything I want to grow. I was thinking maybe two and one just for watermelons, but watermelons are plentiful here and fairly inexpensive. I do think I will have zucchini, potatoes, onions, and garlic next year. We have several veggie and fruit stands here that sell from their own farms, but I think maybe a little farming might keep me out of trouble. It looks like lots of tomato sandwiches this summer.
Have you grown Roma-types before, @Beth Gallagher ? They tend to be drier inside as they are bred mostly for sauce and such, so the moisture inside is what the breeders try to reduce. Mine are not usually hollow, though.
Our plant sale is now over, so we are getting into the gardens now. Here is what my wife planted while I was tilling since I can't get up and down well any more: 43 broccoli 48 cabbage 43 broccoli 34 cauliflower 4 Romanesco 9 Brussels sprouts Uncounted but numerous leeks and kale The greenhouses are yet to be quite finished with peppers Peas, beans, squash, potatoes, etc. are yet to come.
I don't remember ever growing Romas before. I thought they were preferred for sauce because they have fewer seeds. In any case I won't be growing them again since I prefer juicy tomatoes.
I finally decided to bust out the water bath canner since I'm running out of refrigerator space for pickles. I made 5 quarts of garlic dills and they are sitting on a towel to cool. Looks like they all have sealed so they'll go in the pantry tomorrow.
We had no rain for three and a half weeks! And none was forecast for another two!!! When after a few hours of nothing thunder, the skies opened up yesterday. Two inches of driving rain in about an hour. Everything looks flattened and my poor middle daughter, who was nursing along her own fist mini garden, lamented that her tomatoes were crushed and her kale...They are on our deck so I helped her make some makeshift cages with what was at hand. Those tomatoes were trying to right themselves without us and were like turgid little green corkscrews after being watered minimally daily and now were drenched. My poor baby. It will turn out ok but plants are not her thing yet.
My earliest-planted cucumbers are about played out. I'm probably going to pull up those vines next week and thin out the tomatoes. The three hills of "munchers" are about a foot tall and blooming, so we'll see how they do. It's getting too hot for cucumbers, but I'm quite tired of them anyway. A damn little raccoon keeps "clawing" my low-hanging tomatoes and ruining them. I pick them and find open claw marks slashed on the fruit. I need to contact @Von Jones on the Raccoon thread. I have some little dwarf tomato varieties seedlings that I'm going to get planted pretty soon. Not sure if they will do anything since it's so hot already; I should have put those in Kratky jars in the cool dining room.
Raccoons are opportunist when it comes to eating. I found this if you haven't already researched but just remember raccoons are smart and you have to be smarter .
Thanks, Von. I have been tossing the damaged tomatoes on the ground in the garden... I figured it was going to compost anyhow. Apparently that is drawing the little bandit back. Oops. If he gets to be too big of a problem (like crapping in the pool ), we'll get the trap cages out and take him for a ride.
Be careful, live trapping in a cage and relocating wildlife can be considered animal cruelty. I don't know about Texas law, but here we have call the game warden and they come and trap it and relocate them to spots that check all the boxes. Raccoons are famous for carrying rabies, so be careful whatever you do.
Atta girl, let the hubby take the fall. Seriously, if you decide to relocate them, then call your wildlife dept so they can check them for rabies and relocate them. From what I read, it is illegal in Texas to trap and/or relocate them unless you are sporting a wildfire badge or have their permission.
Well, we'll just have to be law breakers; there's no way I'm contacting any govt agency about relocating raccoons.