Yesterday we saw the rain was coming (2.5 inches expected in next 2 days) and it was a mad race to get more stuff in the ground. The soil temperature was (finally!) warm enough to feel safe putting in our untreated squash and pumpkin seeds, so it was going to be an evening of squash and pumpkin planting!
But then I got home and there was a box on my doorstep. 200 sweet potato slips (plants)! I was really beginning to wonder if our order had been lost as we were supposed to get them (I thought) 2 weeks ago! But there they were and they had to go in then, as 2 inches of rain will make it hard to plant very much for a week... So it was a change of plan.
With the help of my sister (who is visiting) and my 5 year old niece (who is a sweety pie and very patient) we put in the sweet potatoes. Then a quick look at the weather on our cells said there was only a 20% chance of rain in the next 24 hours (80% in 48) so poor hubby went and got the hoses and dragged them out to the field. We typically do not need to set up our irrigation this early in the year, but we will in the next couple weeks, this has been a strange weather year and we need to be more prepared.
S0 1000 foot of hose came out, not quite long enough, so he spent an hour watering the starts with a bucket while my sister and I put in hundreds of feet of winter squash and pumpkins! He said when we were done he never thought he'd own that much hose, and he NEVER imagined if he did he'd want more!
The 5 year old alternated who she was helping, but I think her favorite was stepping on the seed holes and dropping seeds in the planter, although anything she can do with her Uncle is always fun...
We started around 6:30 and got done at 9:15. Then watered the starts still being hardened off in the barn, took care of the baby chicks, and was inside the house by 9:45 or so. Feed the kids a very late supper (they had snacked and we had a late lunch (2:30)) and I was in bed around 11:30. Yawn...
Woke up this morning and was out the door at 5:59, to be at my office by 6:30. And the past week of days like this are getting me! I NEED to get to bed before 11, at least once, or else I will fall asleep at my computer! When I woke up it was raining, and I felt horrible that hubby had spent so much time watering by hand! But if we had woken up to sun and it had not rained until 1 or 2 in the 80 degree weather those sweet potatoes would have been cooked!
I am having a great time visiting with my sister and nieces, I took afternoons off all week so I can be home by around 1 to go do something with them... Yawn, again, long week... Maybe when I get home today I'll nap...
No comments:
Post a Comment