If you are a regular reader you already know that I performed the back-breaking and tiresome task of ripping-out and replacing my asparagus bed. What a relief to strike that from the chore list.
Sunday I performed some weeding and completed a second sowing of green beans, planted two hills of Kakai/Pepo pumpkins, two rows of pickling cucumbers and this.
Yes, a grand experiment. Red, plastic row mulch for fourteen tomato plants.
This product is purported to possess properties that can advance the growth of your tomatoes for an earlier harvest. According to researchers at Cornell and Clemson universities, when tomatoes are grown on red mulch they have higher yields, stronger stems and ripen earlier. Research has also found that the row mulch reduces nematode damage. I'm hoping it also reduces the need for irrigation (it has small pores), stops the spread of the spores that cause fungal and mildew damage to tomatoes and eliminates the need for weeding.
It was a monumental pain in the tuchus to install this stuff on a breezy day, place it over the tomato plants and pin it to the surface of the garden with staples and rocks. If it can perform all of the tasks in the paragraph above the up-front work and aggravation will be all worthwhile.
We'll see.
In the mean-time the German butterball spuds have begun to emerge in their trenches and the onions are up - all in the last week.
I have four short rows of various lettuces that appear to be coming along nicely - the spinach required replanting. I can begin picking radishes (two varieties) this week!
The peas are doing terrific and should be right on time for an early July harvest.
The chicken wire is protecting the broccoli plants from the deer and rabbits and the sweet pepper plants are thriving. I believe I'll have to replant the beets - maybe the carrots too I'll give them until the middle of this week.
Vive le Jardin Magnifique!
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