I promised I’d be back, and slowly, I’ll get there. I just have to fit it into my busy schedule (and a lack of internet). But I’m hoping to be able to update about my gardens and my preserving endeavors periodically.
Apparently, I didn’t make it clear that I had moved from New York to New Hampshire. I mentioned in this post about how I got the job I wanted at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. I’m out here for the next two years, while Dan stays at our house in New York. Yes it’s tough being apart, but we see each other every other week or so. Most people would think we were crazy for doing this, but I need to go where the work is in my field, and a steady, more than three month job isn’t everywhere.
But enough with that, I know you want an update about the garden. I’ll discuss the New York garden here since that’s the one you’re all familiar with. As of Memorial Day, everything is in the ground for the summer season. There’s 29 tomato plants (crazy, I know. And I feel bad for Dan who’s trying to keep them in check!). There are at least two plants of the following varieties: Big Mama, Polish Linguisa, Poland II, Jersey Giant, Jersey Devil, Rutgers, Heinz, Summer Salsa, Ensalada Hybrid, and Sweet 100. Plus, there’s one Dagma’s Perfection. Except for the Big Mamas, all my seedlings were tiny when I planted them and are still pretty small. My tomato harvest is going to be well within August this year, and hopefully they grow enough to produce this year.
The Big Mama plants (three of them) are the ones I started from seed in January. They were planted on May 5th and had Aqua Shields placed around them until May 30th. They are doing excellent! Already flowering and with tomatoes growing on them. So luckily, we’ll get SOME tomatoes from the garden this year. Although, I don’t think I’ll start tomatoes in January again. They just got TOO tall. Peppers, on the other hand, were a good idea. They never got leggy and looked fabulous when I planted them in the garden Memorial Day. Hopefully, it will have given them enough of a head start that I get peppers off of them in the short growing season we have in Upstate NY. I didn’t record how many of each variety I planted, but I’m pretty sure there was a sweet banana pepper and 7 or so hot pepper plants (I used one of those mixed seed packets, so I have no clue what type of pepper they will be). I did plant some bell peppers and perhaps another banana pepper there, but they were started in April and were small like the tomatoes.
I can see this post getting really long, so I’ll finish the update of the NY garden tomorrow. There’s all kinds of goodies growing out there!
Lots going on in your garden! So are you in a house with a garden in New Hampshire too or just a small rental? You'll be fine, I totally "get" why you need to be separated but hey, I'm a Navy wife so that's all I know LOL. It will be fun watching you commute to all that garden work, though! Hope you are loving your new job, it sounds great!
ReplyDeleteBeing apart stinks, but sometimes ya just got to. How on earth are you going to keep up those gardens girl? I know, us gardeners have super powers. Activate!!!
ReplyDeleteHey, I can totally relate to your situation. I work in Texas during the week and can only see Keith in Indiana on weekends. I'm counting my lucky stars that my current project allows me to go home almost every weekend; there have been projects in past years where I could only go home once every 30+ days. Then there are military spouses like Erin who have to wait even longer between breaks. Not everyone can live the "normal" life, you know?
ReplyDeleteI tell ya, sometimes it's more difficult to leave the garden than the husband! :-) Mostly because the garden doesn't understand that you're gone and can't wait until the weekend for you for gardening chores.
So are you a biologist with the Wildlife Refuge?? It looks like a beautiful place to work!