Memorial Day Weekend

It was wonderfully cool this weekend and it rained at the start of it. Perfect for pulling weeds and fertilizing, which is what we did. We also put netting over the tomato planter to discourage birds. Birds have built a nest right over the tomatoes and right now the baby birds are learning to fly. If we get too close, the parents start dive-bombing us. They actually ran into Ralph, who was all bemused and not understanding what was happening. We can't get near the back gate to take out the trash! I think this period will be over in a couple of days.

I have bought a bunch of pots (14" terra cotta unglazed) at Ikea and planted some herbs in them under the big tree. I planted a Malabar spinach plant against the iron fence so it has something to climb. This is supposed to be a green veggie that can take the heat. I planted an akra, a borage plant and a bunch of vinca and lisanthus flowers.

Also, must note that after turning the irrigation off for a few days because of the rain, I set it for what I expect to be the summer setting. The only change I am making over the recommendation by the gardeners is that I am watering the raised planters and containers every day, three times a day. The total amount of water is being used but my goal is to keep it constantly a bit damp instead of soaking it and letting it dry out. The reason I made the change is that the veggies seem to thrive much better on constant moisture. I was already doing this with the containers and the veggies there are doing much better than in the raised planters. After all, it's not like these are desert plants.

Meanwhile the melons are getting huge, lots of flowers but not fruit set yet.