trying again, trying early

TRYING AGAIN

this thing in that white cup that ive written about before
is called a monkey pod vine

two years ago my medi school friends friend gave me
some of these pods
it was a bag full
i was worried since they looked so strange
they looked like something from those old science fiction movies
you know where those pods are sent from outer space and
they grow and take over the world
thats what these look like except on a smaller scale

they grow a long vine that is aggressive but apparently produces a
beautiful flower
ive never got to see them but have only heard the stories


two years ago after i planted them they got up on our arbor
which is eight feet tall
then the drought hit and i had to make decisions
on what got the water
monkey pod vines or tomatoes
i went with the tomatoes

our drought lasted 2 years then eased some but im afraid its
returned
we usually average 30+ inches of rain a year but since september
thats 5 months ago for those who cant figure it out
we have gotten only 3 inches of rain here at the country n
and that was in 2 days several weeks ago

despite that scarceness of water i plan to try again to grow these
monkey pod vines

when we were visiting our med school friend he said hey they
have some more monkey pod vines
you want them
yep
im determined to get them to grow

(i wonder if this is one of those tricks that he is known to
play on people you know like those pods dont really grow into
anything)

ive set up a special dripper to the area where ill plant them
to see if i can get them through the drought

ill post pictures if they grow

hopefully my med school friend isnt sitting on his back porch
rocking in a rocker in his overalls
having a good chuckle

TRYING EARLY
for the last several years when i plant my tomatoes some of them
freeze well all of them froze last year
ive usually had to replant them every year
sometimes twice
but i dont give up
since that nice fresh juicy tomato is hard to duplicate from
store bought ones

this year ive tired as i described in an earlier blog to plant a few
tomatoes deep in the ground in a big hole
and
so far they have survived a 29 degree freeze

the reason to plant early is to get good root growth and to get
an early start to the tomato season
since the hot summer can hit early and shut down tomato production

so i went to my favorite nursery
where lucky for me the vegetable garden guru was there working
in their garden
i had him all to myself
asked a hundred questions of him
so
i plan to go ahead and plant all of my spring tomato crop early
 (since these survived the freeze and those terrible 60-70 mph
winds we just had)
by planting in those deep holes hoping to survive the 1-3 freezes
i know are coming before april

heck that wind blew off my top layer of mulch and compost 

i had put on all my beds

always having to battle mother nature arent we

im glad im not doing this for a living

wish me luck

the organicgreen doctor