I made some progress on the veggie garden today. The weather is still a bit uncertain just yet so I've been taking my time. Well, the weather and the fact that my only free time comes on weekends; I get home from work too late in the evenings to be up for much labour.


I laid down some landscape fabric along the south side of the house and arranged some pots on it. I half-filled the largest ones with horse manure and will top them off with good soil. Despite our ready supply we rarely use manure in the gardens (veggie or otherwise) because it tends to be full of weeds. In this instance the manure will be buried under soil so weeds won't be a problem.


Everything will also have a handful of worm castings mixed in at the time of planting.


We also have our rain barrels set up all ready for watering some seedlings. Having plants in containers will mean lots of watering.


Just two plants have been planted so far, two tomato plants that my mom bought. They are not heritage types, but I am interested to see how they compare against the heirloom varieties I intend to buy. One is called 'Tumbler' and the other is 'Early Girl'.













It seems that 'Tumbler' is a trailing variety well-suited for hanging basket or container gardening. It produces small 1 1/4 inch fruits and is prolific and early maturing (55-68 days). But it is determinate; all the fruits mature within days of each other. I prefer indeterminate types. The 'Early Girl' is a variety I've grown in the past. It is a larger bush variety that produces medium size fruit with a maturation of 69-80 days. It is indeterminate and, in my experience, is reliable but not terribly exciting.


Unfortunately the nice weather we've been enjoying has a downside; the blackflies have emerged. I don't mind mosquitos so much but I absolutely loathe blackflies. All our outdoor activites for the next two weeks or so will have to be done while wearing a super stylish bug netting hat. Thanks goodness they only hang around for a few weeks.