Later days

Days have gotten longer. It's reamining light enough to do things outside until after 7:30 now. Noted to my daughter this weekend that the sun has moved drastically toward the north in only a few weeks. Pointed out to her that the sun will keep moving north and set further over behind the trees during the summer. She didn't seem highly interested but it's not soomething she can experience immediately or measure directly. I'll point it out again later, so she has a comparison and I think she'll be more interested. Mix it with the little solar system model I got for her birthday.

Couple more of the smaller tomato plants aren't looking too good. They looked okay this morning, so it wasn't the cold but the sun which was the problem. Most of the larger ones look good. Just for kicks, I planted more tomato seeds directly. Lots of them. Figure better to have to thin them out if necessary. If all goes well, they may grow large enough to produce by June or July.

Since planting out the tomatoes disturbed the pepper seeds, I planted more of those, also. Lots of them.

Makes for an interesting mix on those rows but they're all supposed to help each other along one way or another. Tomatoes, peppers, carrots, spinach and basil. Going to add marigold nearby soon. Basil and marigold deter some insects. Peppers tomatoes each deter some insects. Tomatoes help shade peppers and spinach. Spinach acts as a living mulch until mature. Carrots are supposed to help tomatoes, most likely by breaking up hard soil.

Some of the mulch has been displaced and saw lettuce sprouts growing (for sure this time). Planted cucumbers on those rows. So that makes a mix of lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, green beans, celantro and cucumbers. On a couple of rows, also strawberries, melons and broccoli. Again, supposed to help each other. Trick in this case is that broccoli, spinach, lettuce and peas will be harvested and mostly cleared by the time the other items are maturing. Then likely plant pumpkins in some places to help keep ground cover.

Started laying bricks for the walkway. Not going to have enough for even half the distance of the path. May give up on that idea.