Where’s Waldo update

I am not really loving the Where’s Waldo garden concept.  For many reasons.  One of which was trying to figure out how to support the tomatoes over there without ruining too much of what the bees were using for dinner.  Things were really out of control over there, plants sprawling on the ground, slugs having a party, rain, rain and more rain.  But I think I got it worked out.

Tomatoes supported.

See, here’s the thing.  I’m not exactly in one of those professions that leaves me with an unlimited disposable income.  I’m sure that is shocking considering my obviously manicured lawn.  I was trying to make do with what I had.  So I pulled out some odds and ends and bought yet more twine and hobbled together a replica of the system in Organic Gardening Magazine this month.  So far, things are looking better.

I also went digging and found some old fence that I salvaged from a neighbor and slid bamboo poles through it and then tied up some tomatoes to that.  I have no idea how long this will hold out, but maybe it will last long enough, anyway.  Do I wish it looked neater?  Uh, yeah.  Do I have the money for a fancy garden?  Uh, no.  So this will do for now.  Besides, even if I did invest in raised beds and pretty pathways, the Handyman would find a way to destroy it.  I don’t know how he does it, but it happens.  That is why he is so handy.  He breaks things, so then he has to fix them.  It is like living with a force of nature.  I’ll let you know how this works out in the long run, but it has already held up to a week’s worth of storms.  We even saw a bit of hail a couple days ago.  The weather sure is kooky this year.  Have a happy Memorial Day weekend!

In tune with nature

So, apparently, I am more in tune with nature than I thought.  I may be taking this whole hippie thing just a smidge too far.  When the storms rolled in this week I was hit with the worst. headache. ever.  Like an icepick had been lodged behind my eyeball.  And it wouldn’t go away.  I was nonfunctional.  All I managed to do well was sleep.  Even the sound of the rain on the roof, which is usually a sound I adore, had me cringing.  I called the doctor and made an appointment.  Lucky me.  I have migraines that are triggered by rapid barometric changes.  I’ve had headaches during nasty weather before, but nothing that was a big deal, but apparently, if the change is rapid enough it will cause my brain to freak out.  This is the opposite of awesome.  Unless I develop a super power where I can control the weather, there is really nothing I can do to handle this except treat the symptoms. So now this:

is enough to bring me to my knees.  Metaphorically speaking.  This was taken in the afternoon, by the way.  Not in the evening.  So, now I get to keep a headache diary to monitor for other triggers.  It isn’t a HUGE deal though.  Could be way worse, and at least now I know what the problem is.

On a brighter note, all the rain is helping my plants out quite a bit.

Things are growing like crazy.  And that’s a good thing.

This is the tomato that broke in a previous storm. It is doing great. I think it is pretty awesome how it has “righted” itself and is growing up just fine.

Support systems is doing well. It is handing the load in the rain and wind.

Some of my tomatoes are cracking from all the rain, but they’ll still be edible. I hope Blossom End Rot doesn’t start.

All in all, things are pretty grand in my little corner of the world.  I hope your corner is looking spiffy, too.

Rain, rain, don’t go away… yet.

We have had unusually dry weather so far this year.  I guess maybe it isn’t so unusual.  We had drought conditions last year and it looks like this year is going for a repeat.  This is. bad. news.  My plants need water.  And frankly, I hate watering them.  I prefer to let nature handle that chore.  And today she did.  A bit anyway.

I have been having a bit of a stressful week at work, and decided to work some of it off in the garden this evening.  While I was out there it started to rain lightly.  I thought about coming in, but decided to just keep working.  The temps were comfortable enough and there were things I haven’t had time to do. I stuck a couple more peppers in the ground and replaced two or three plants that were just simply struggling.  And I waged yet another battle on the pest population.

The aphids are under control again.  For now, anyway.  Unfortunately I have been striken (I’m making that a word) with a plague of slugs.  Ugh.  Slimy, nasty creatures.  I did a lot of squishing because, well, I haven’t had to deal with them before.  I guess I need to spend some time developing a battle strategy.

I worked in the rain for about an hour or so before I came in.  I found it incredibly soothing really.  The precipitation has dropped off, but I’m hoping it will pick back up overnight.  My dirt could use a good soaking.

Unusual? Perhaps, but it works.

I have been so busy trying to take care of the plants in the greenhouse, I have been neglecting the ones that are already in the ground.  As a result, I lost one last week on a rather windy day.

The wind knocked over this tomato plant, but it still seems to be determined to live.

Tomato stem snapped at the soil line.

I was going to pull it up, but the leaves still look healthy and it is flowering.

Since tomatoes shoot out roots from the stem if planted, I will trim the branches and bury the stem.  Hopefully, it will be enough to keep it going.  If not, I will replace it in a week or two with a plant from the greenhouse.

Too keep this from happening again, I started putting up the supports for the other indeterminate tomatoes.  I have several 10 foot lengths of electrical conduit that I use to support the plants. After assembling a frame of the conduit, I run twine from the top bar to an anchor at the bottom.  As the plant grows, I will trap the vine around the twine (hah! that rhymes!) and the plants will be able to support the weight of the tomatoes and get plenty of air circulation to prevent disease.  I’ve used this method for about 4 years now, I think, maybe more.  It works really well.

I use a mallet and a steel rod to drive a hole into the soil.  Then I put the 1/2 inch conduit about 12 – 16 inches in the ground.  Going that deep allows the conduit to hold steady even in a storm.  I live in a hurricane prone area, and this system has kept my plants safe through some pretty nasty storms.  I’m not saying it would hold through a Category 3 or more, but it has done OK through some bad blows.

I lay the horizontals out first so I know where to put the uprights.  I have used different lengths, but this year I decided to use more uprights than in the past.  When you live in a hurricane strike zone, you get a bit superstitious when you haven’t had a bad storm in a while.  I’m hoping that if we do get a rough year, this will help keep things more sturdy.  Of course, there is always the chance that I’ll have more than my garden to worry about if that happens.

I actually drive the holes and insert the uprights after I have laid out where I think I want things to go.  I try to plan around not only where the tomatoes are planted, but the other things I stick around them as well, like marigolds, or this year, borage.

Planning out the system.

Uprights installed. Now to add the horizontals.

I use these 90 degree joints to attach the horizontals to the uprights. Save yourself some trouble and invest in stainless steel screws.

I add some joints and use stainless steel screws to tighten everything together.  If you look at the picture above, you can see a divot where I secured things together in previous years.  Then up the ladder I go to screw everything together and tie the twine.  I didn’t get that far this weekend because somehow, I lost some of my joints over the winter.  I need to go pick up a few more.  In the past I have tied the twine to the horizontals before installing but I found that made things more difficult in the long run.  You may be more coordinated than me though, so feel free to give it a go.

I only use this system on my indeterminates, and using this I have been able to get my vines to grow well over 8 feet tall.  When they reach the top I just try to get them to drape over the horizontal and start coming back down.  I have some ideas about how I may want to support the determinates, but I haven’t really committed to anything just yet.

I need to get on that though, because I think things are going to get interesting around here, soon.

Take care and find the sunshine.

 

 

Wonky Weather Weekend…

I was hoping to get my plants in the ground this weekend.  Unfortunately, Mother Earth had other plans.  We are supposed to get a wicked storm this weekend.  The local meteorologists have even suggested that we may get a bit of hail.  This is what really convinced me to hold off one more week.  One more week is all I can wait though.  I have plants that need to be in the dirt.

One thing that I’m pleased about this year is how I was able to stagger my planting so that (hopefully) I will be able to maintain my harvest over a longer period of time.  That’s the plan anyway.  I won’t have as many in the beginning as I would have liked due to germination issues, but in the end, I think I’ll have plenty.  I was even able to give a few plants away as a birthday present and I am planning on delivering some to one of the friends who donated some windows to the greenhouse when she redid her home.  I’ll also be dropping off a few to the friend who donates mulch to my garden.  Though to be honest, he would rather I just grow them myself and then hand over the goodness later in the year.  Which I will do.  They say it takes a village to raise a child, but the same is true when you are trying to garden on a budget.

Now, on to the update.  This update isn’t as updated as I would like.  I took the pictures a few days ago, but you’ll get the general idea. They are just a bit bigger today, than they were when the photos were taken.

Two rows of peas

So far the peas aren’t doing as well as I would have liked.  By this time last year, they were bushy and full.  I think the warm weather is messing them up.  I have had two blooms though.  That’s something I suppose.

I have GOT to figure out how to deal with these.  The Handyman just wants to make tea out of them, but I would like to see what kind of rose they turn into.  The problem is, I have no idea how to go about starting a rose from seed.  I mean, who does that?  The Handyman insists I’ll be disappointed in how they turn out.  Frankly, I am not sure if I care what they look like.  I just want to be able to said that I did it.

The seedlings on the right are about 6 or 7 weeks old.  The ones on the left… well, they aren’t that much younger than the ones on the right, but since I have been keeping them in the starter cells they are still pretty small.

These are my pepper seedlings.  You can see the germination rate wasn’t anything to write home about.  I started a few more in some egg cartons.  I think that I may have overdone it in a response to the poor germination.  Oh well.  I suppose I’ll figure something out when the time comes.  One of the things I really need to do soon is separate the seedlings that are bunking together in the same cell.  I did that for my tomatoes last Saturday.  It took a good couple of hours.  I think it will be worth it in the end though.  The bad part about separating the tomatoes is I forgot to pay attention to what was what, so in pretty typical fashion, I have no idea what some of them are.

Gardening.  Always an adventure.

This gives you an idea what I’ll be working on this weekend.  I can work inside the greenhouse fairly comfortably.

separated tomatoes. These came out of 5 or 6 cells.

It isn’t all tomatoes and peppers all the time in my garden.  This is a butternut squash plant.  Had one for the first time in the fall and now I am obsessed.

The potatoes are coming up, too.  I also have carrots, swiss chard and asparagus coming up, and I recently planted some lettuce.

Well, that’s it.  Not a whole lot new to report.  Stay dry and safe this weekend.

Upsizing to new digs

Before I tell you anything else, lemme tell you about the weather here today. It was Gorgeous. Did you notice the capital “G”? Cause you should. It was sunny and in the lower 80s with just a bit of a breeze. It isn’t even April yet, folks! I live for this weather. It is why I get out of bed in the morning. OK. Truth be told, I get out of bed because I have to work, but this really is my favorite kind of weather. I could write poetry about it. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll show ya how I transplanted my tomatoes. Cause that’s the kind of gal I am. I’m here to help, not traumatize you.

These are the tomatoes that I started on a random whim in January.  I know, I know… what was I thinking?  Why did I think I was going to have space for tomato plants that were going to get out of control?  I didn’t.  Know that is.  How well they were actually going to do.  So now I have 5 rather large and extremely healthy tomato plants that need to get a new home.  Kind of like a hermit crab.  Only immobile.

The first thing I needed to do in this process was decide which pots I wanted to use.  I had a serious Goldilocks moment.  This pot was too large, this pot was too wide, and then finally, the pot that was just right.  For now anyway.  The upcycled yogurt pots were chosen because I would be able to bury the plant somewhat deeply, but it was also narrow so I wouldn’t be wasting a lot of soil that the plant wouldn’t be using in about 3 weeks when I put it in the ground.  Maybe 4.  Why did I want to bury my plant?  Well, when you cover the stem of a tomato plant with soil, it produces more roots.  More roots means more stability, a big plus for indeterminate plants, but it also means more efficient water and nutrient absorption.  This is a plus for plants that can easily grow more than 8 feet and produce an amazing number of vines.

So, how to transplant.  I use a pretty similar method no matter how large the plant is.  I loosen it from the current container.  In this case I smooshed the sides of the pot a bit.

Then I flipped the whole thing upside down.  You don’t want to pull it out by the stem.  The stem is the most important part of the plant.  You damage the stem and you’re in trouble.  Let gravity to the work for you and the plant should slide right out of the pot.  I catch it by letting the stem rest gently between my index finger and thumb.  Then I tease out the roots a bit and place it in a pot that has a bit of soil in the bottom.

Then I carefully fill in the soil around the stem.  This part is pretty easy, but you want to make sure that you don’t have any gaping air bubbles in there.  On the flip side, you don’t want to pack it in like brown sugar when you’re making cookies.    Mmmmmm….. cookies.  Sorry.  Got distracted there for a moment.  Anyway, the plant needs a bit of space in the soil for air and water around the roots, just not too much.  So just lightly pack it.

Fill it all the way to the top of the pot and remove a few leaves if you have to.  It’s fine.  The plant will grow more from the top.  Lots more.  Plus it will send out lots of other vines from these little suckers.  I am pinching most of these off at the moment so it won’t get too bushy before planting.

I removed quite a bit today.

Water it in thoroughly.  Enough so that water drains out the bottom a bit.  Then after a bit, come back and water one more time.  I like to set my plants that have just been repotted in the shade for a bit so they don’t get too shocked.  Most of the time it works.  This time, I did have one get a bit droopy.  I think it is because it had already endured some insect damage the day before.  It was having a rough week.  The next day I like to check on them and move them back into the sun.  You should be good to go for a bit longer as long as you chose an appropriate size pot.

It was a bit droopy but has perked right back up.  Well, that’s all there is to it.  Happy planting… er… replanting.

 

Irish eyes are smiling. Hopefully.

Sunday was a busy day around our place.  I had some tomatoes that needed repotting and potatoes that needed planting.  I really should have put the potatoes in the ground a few weeks ago.  Especially since the winter here was so mild.  But one thing would pop up and then another.  Or the weather would be gorgeous during the week when I was too busy and then it would rain buckets on the weekend.

Plus, I needed to decide exactly how I was going to plant the suckers this year.  Potatoes are not my area of success.  They should be.  I am vaguely Irish.  It should be genetic, shouldn’t it?  And I love them.  A lot.  I have the same relationship with potatoes in all their wonderful forms that some women have with chocolate.

In the past I have ordered seed potatoes from very reputable (and expensive) seed companies and I have picked up seed potatoes from the local big box home improvement place.  Neither attempt worked out.  I wasn’t really planning on trying again this year, but you know how sometimes you buy some potatoes with every intention of turning them into something and then for some reason it doesn’t happen?  You don’t?  Oh.  Okay.  Me, either.  Soooo…. I bought some potatoes, and then I intentionally didn’t cook them and I intentionally left them under the counter to intentionally start growing.  That’s exactly how it happened.  So I had some seed potatoes.

I only buy organic potatoes to eat by the way.  Potatoes have a thin skin and when fertilizers and pesticides are sprayed they stew in them in the dirt, unlike the fruit and veggies of above ground plants which have the benefit of being washed off by the rain.  Also, if you haven’t seen this experiment by a young girl and the effects of bud nip, you really should.

I decided to go with the potato condo again this year.  I made it last year and I did manage to get a few tiny spuds, so I thought I’d try again this year.  I moved them to a different spot, this year.  I’m not sure if that will help or not.  I think they were getting cooked in the afternoon, so in the new location they will have afternoon shade.  I had three different random varieties floating down in my cabinet.  Three scraggly looking red potatoes (I actually think I did intentionally save those.), two Russets, and four Yukon Golds.  The Russets and the reds are bunked down together, and the Yokons are in their own condo.  As the plants grow, I’ll add a bit of compost and straw (I think.) and add boards to the condo.  Supposedly, you can get quite a yield with this method.  I suppose we’ll see.

I did find a surprise while I was working in the spot where the taters were last year.  BABIES!  I covered them back up and marked the place.  I’m not expecting anything to really happen there, but stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned to the next exciting episode where tomatoes are transplanted (yet again!) and dastardly pests stalk their delicious leaves.  War has been declared…  Who will win?  The gluttonous mystery insect?  Or the green murderous gardener?  Until next time… happy growing!

 

Spring fever… I has it.

I do realize it isn’t spring.  I am aware.  The ice on my car and below freezing temperatures tonight are driving that fact home to me.  Doesn’t matter.  I have a serious case of spring fever.  Symptoms include:  staying up too late, wanting to hurl alarm clock out of the window at approximately 5:30 a.m., desire to walk around barefoot, and a strong impulse to purchase new tank tops, t-shirts, flip flops and trashy paperbacks to read at the beach.  Diagnosis: non-terminal spring fever.  Treatment:  extended workouts to be physically ready for warmer temps and gardening activities when they arrive, extended hours in the sun when temps exceed 70 to generate Vitamin D and “base tan” to prevent burning on longer, sunnier days, and the occasional fruity libation to ease symptoms.  Treatment will continue until late April or early May when I expect Spring Fever will transition to Summeritis.  As early onset Summeritis takes hold of the victim patient, expect treatment to include trips to the beach and new sandals.  The CDC is expecting a mass outbreak of these illnesses in the coming weeks, and the young, elderly, and those involved in education related fields should be monitored for symptoms.

Rain, shmain… There’s work to be done

I spent today puttering around in the greenhouse.  Here are some update pictures to show you how things are going.

Tomato seedling in recycled self watering container.

And they say Gerber daisies are annuals. psshhh...

Eggplants are also blooming and fruiting

Butternut squash are coming along... or is it the watermelon?

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it has been kooky around these parts.  We have had temperatures in the upper seventies, then a storm rolled through and the temperatures dropped.  Neither the rain or the drop in temps could really keep me from working though.  I had things that I really needed to do, and since I’m not independently wealthy, the weekends are the best time for me to work.  I try doing odds and ends during the week, but I’m usually pretty darn tired from that whole 9 to 5 thing.  OK.  More like 7 to 5, but that doesn’t make for a catchy song title…

One of today’s task was to clean out the greenhouse a bit, and make room for the seedlings that have popped and started growing their true leaves.  When seeds first germinate, or pop as I call it, the first set of leaves are called cotyledons and are what feed the plant until it forms its true leaves.  Generally when seedlings have their first true leaves I go ahead and transplant them into small pots of their own.  It gives them a bit more room to grow good root systems, and it allows me to easily pitch a plant if it has caught something nasty.  I had to rearrange things a bit to make room for all the “pots” and to move my plants that are getting larger to a better spot where they will still have plenty of light, but not hit the shelf above them.  I also took the time during a break in the rain to repot some thyme from last year.  It wasn’t looking so great, so I thought I’d try trimming the roots a bit and putting it in some fresh soil.  Hopefully that will help get them going again.  I don’t have a whole lot of luck with herbs for some reason.

Next, I set to work making more “pots”.  In my world just about anything can be repurposed to hold a plant, support a plant, or help plant a plant.  Today, I was mostly working with yogurt containers.  After they were washed out I drilled holes in the bottom for drainage.

Perfect size for larger plants.

Recycling actually uses a lot of energy. I prefer to upcycle or repurpose when I can.

I use smaller single serving yogurt containers for new seedlings. I made these last year and they are still in good condition. You can also see the lids in this picture. I save those to put under larger pots to catch the drips.

Next, I started transplanting the seedlings from the seed flats into the yogurt pots.  This can be a tricky business.  You need to have plenty of time to work, mistakes happen when you rush.  In my case, they often happen no matter what, but I try to make sure I have plenty of time, and I’m feeling pretty relaxed.  Since I was dry (and warm once I cranked the heater), and I had a cup of coffee at hand, I was good to go for the couple of hours it took me to get the job done.  To get the seedlings that were ready to be transplanted out of the flat, without disturbing those that weren’t ready, I got a little creative.  The Handyman had some materials from a recent project and like the Pirate I am I went pillaging…

A piece of a shim snapped down to make a transplanting tool.

I slid the modified shim down each side of the cell that the plant was in to loosen it up.  Then I gently levered the plant out of the cell.  Simple machines at work!  (Sorry, sometimes the nerd in me takes over.)

Then I put the seedling in the pot with a bit of potting mix and watered it in to tide it over until it is either large enough to be put into an even larger pot or it is ready to go into the ground or container where it will live out the rest of its days.  Hopefully bountiful, disease free days.  I stole an idea from my friend Karen over at the Lil’ Suburban Homestead, and I keep my soil in a storage tote.  So far it has kept the ants out and as I’m working with a pot, I just hold it over the container and the soil that “misses” the pot, falls right back into the tote.  Good for clumsy folk like me.  Thanks, Karen!

I did this about forty times today.  That’s not saying all forty will make it to the next step.  I may have damaged some today while transplanting even though I worked really carefully.  The trick is to try to avoid damaging the stem.  The seedling can usually come back from a little rough handling to the leaves and roots, but to damage the stem is usually a death blow at this point.

New transplants

I’ll check on them tomorrow to see how they are settling in and to take a count of what I may have killed.  Hopefully the seeds I tucked in earlier this week will get growing soon.  Even though I transplanted 40 plants, and that sounds like a lot, I usually have double that.  Also, almost everything I transplanted today was a tomato, and I have to have some eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos to have a complete garden!  I’m hoping the planets will align and the gardening fairies will take pity on me and help me out. 

Adding on to the Greenhouse… sorta

It seems like every day involves work of some type for the garden right now.  I know that I should enjoy it, because the next few months will fly by and then I’ll be complaining that there isn’t anything to do.  Scratch that.  There won’t be anything I want to do.  Right now is the honeymoon phase of the garden.  Yes, there is work to be done, and we’re still settling into each other, but there is still the excitement of each new germination and we don’t quite know what to expect from each other just yet.  I don’t know if the Inca tomatoes aren’t germinating because of something I’m doing (or not doing) or if it is just the way this variety behaves.  I don’t know yet and it’s all a grand adventure like any good relationship.  (It’s a hybrid and in the past I generally have avoided those.  Unfortunately, finding a good determinate bearer that is an heirloom isn’t an easy task.  But that’s another post entirely.)  I wanted to show you what we’ve been up to here on the Ponderosa.

The biggest change is that we have added on to our water storage supply by a great deal.  And by a great deal I mean by roughly 800 gallons.  The Handyman was search Craig’s List for something or other and came across a gentleman selling food grade containers that hold approximately 275 gallons each.  We got three.  Two are hidden behind the greenhouse with a newly installed guttering system feeding them and one is up by the porch where the old 55 gallon drum sat.  That drum will now be moved to live in the pump house (or beside it, hopefully) and that will become my water store for the hydrangeas out front.  The main water supply will be used for the food garden, as well as for the rose garden and other odds and ends around the yard.  Last year we struggled with a drought, and I felt guilty watering all the time.  You should have seen us out there last year, running around like a couple of ducks gone mad every time it rained.  We would empty the barrel every time it would get full in a storm into ANY empty container we had while the rain poured and lightning flashed.  Trash cans, Rubber Maid totes, empty gallon jugs, 5 gallon buckets.  It was bad.  But then, that water would be gone in just a few days thanks to the hot, dry weather.  This year we will be more prepared.  I hope.

I also planted some seeds for a friend’s wedding coming up in June.  I started some snapdragons and some Texas bluebonnets.  I discovered, though, that the blue bonnets should have been planted in OCTOBER.  Why, oh, why do seeds sellers put seed out at the wrong time?  I am going to take some sandpaper to the remaining seeds to see if I can convince them to go ahead and germinate.  I also will plant some sunflowers and zinnia seeds that I saved from last year.  She is having a florist as well, but this will be a bit of a personal touch.  That’s the plan anyway.  Cross your fingers for me, please.

Some tragedies occurred as well.  I’ve lost a seedling or two to natural causes.  I also had a rather stealthy caterpillar cause some of my plants to meet their doom.  I caused him to meet his own doom.  Then I fed him to the ants.  Recycle, I always say…

Poor watermelon... never saw it coming.

I caused this poor plant’s death.  I was clumsy.  It happens.  A lot.  This, friends, is why I have to plant so many seeds.  *sigh*

On a brighter note, I moved some things about to make room for more seedlings, and I found these little gems hiding behind a rose bush that I bought but haven’t planted yet…  Yippee!!! More peppers for my tummy.  In a few weeks anyway.  I’ll take this as a sign of success.  And speaking of signs of success… You remember that other pepper that I attempted to kill?

Here she is, showing off her lovely new leaves.  She has staged a comeback, friends.  She survived the great greenhouse overheating of 2011.  She has walked to the brink and laughed at death.  She needs a name.  I may call her, I don’t know, Brittney.  I’m open to suggestions.  If you have a good name for this survivor, please leave it in the comments.    And finally, I want to show you something that has zero to do with the garden.  Actually, maybe it does.  Perhaps it will keep my squirrelly friends out of the garden.  The four legged ones.  Not much I can do about the two legged variety.  I don’t have a real problem with them thanks to all the oaks we have around, but perhaps this will encourage them to stay in their greener pastures…

This friends is a squirrel feeder.  Made with a pickle jar and a fence slat.  The Handyman made it for me and I adore it.  I love to see my little friends out there just chowing down.  I took this picture shortly after refilling the jar.  It doesn’t stay this full for long.  I have one little friend who attempts to live in the little house part.  He will park his rear in there and eat, eat, eat, and fight off any other creature who comes close.  I worry that he is going to outgrow the holes and not be able to get out.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on around here.  I hope your garden is coming along.  I can’t wait to hear what’s happening in your yards soon!