Cleveland Summer Garden 2011: Year Two

Despite a forecast of rain, rain with a chance of more rain, the skies were only slightly  cloudy this morning as the pseudo-husband and I drove through the rural (and wealthy) beauty of Chagrin Falls, ending in the parking lot of Lowe's Greenhouse. Last year, their selection of heirlooms was more satisfactory than the greenhouse in town, and this year, they didn't let us down.

We walked away with starter plants for two zucchini, two cucumber, one beefsteak tomato, one Purple Cherokee tomato, one heirloom cherry tomato, one monster sweet pepper, one patio red pepper (quickest to turn red of all the red peppers), one purple eggplant, one japanese eggplant, and one red russian kale plant. These we promptly planted and gave a smattering of water. Along with the starters, we put seeds in for red lettuce and edamame.

Of course, before all of this, we had to go out yesterday with a shovel, hoe, and rake, and turn over the plot by hand. This is not something I would do (or could do by myself with my bugs bunny biceps) again without a rototiller. There's a reason why back in the good ole days, they used mules to furrow the fields. However, the work done, the plot doesn't look half bad considering we did all of the tilling by hand. Next time I head over, we'll put up the tomato cages and stakes and I'll take some lovely pictures in celebration.

Another bit of good news: while tilling, I noticed one of the same breed as my devoted kale spiders from last year scuttling through the turf, carting a large white egg sack. Perhaps they will take to the new red russian kale plant with the same gusto as the more green-blue kale bush of last year. I'll keep my eyes peeled for arachnids.