Rainy Day Coming

Today looks like a good one to stay inside. The temperature is not supposed to even reach 60F and rain is predicted. In fact, there may even be thunderstorms throughout the day and well into the night. That makes me feel cold. Maybe I will change from my shell set to a turtleneck and my boiled wool jacket for church.

I need to check on the pansies I bought this past week. I am a little afraid that they might be dangerously dry since I have neglected them somewhat. While I am doing that, I ought to check on those little tomato plants. I think that I probably never let you know why the little tomato plants are such an involved project. Where we live, generally the last frost is considered to be mid-May. The general rule of thumb is to not plant tender plants until the end of May when the soil has had enough time to warm a little. To plant the tomatoes which need warm soil before the end of April is really pushing it.

We put the cut down milk cartons out where the plants will go for a few days to help warm the soil. When we pop the cartons over the little plants, the cartons become little cold frames. When we put the tomatoes in early like this, the roots become very well established. We are able to have tomatoes a few weeks early. After living on store-bought tomatoes for the winter, in April we begin to become very desirous of garden grown tomatoes. Even with the little covers for the tomatoes, we run the risk of loosing them because of cold.

The apricot trees look like they are getting ready to bloom. Please do not make the mistake of thinking these are the lovely, juicy apricots from California. These trees are hardy in weather as cold as what we have in the middle section of Minnesota. The apricots are quite small; in fact, I have seen some humongous olives that are almost as big as our apricots. We eat them off the tree and if we have a large enough crop, I will make preserves. The danger here is that the trees bloom with the first warm temperatures which we have had this past week. If we have frost which is quite possible, we will loose the crop; we have no way to cover the apricot trees the way we cover the tomato plants.