Gardening in the Dark

Oy.
I haven't been here in forever. I have no really good excuse, but I will tell you what I have been doing.
I've been making soap, working late (yay, working, money is good!), spending time with friends, labeling soap, trying to design a banner for my soap booth for farm market and making slow progress (wanting to spend only a little money here) and of course riding my motorcycle. Like I said, I have no good excuse for not writing. Mea culpa.
We have eaten asparagus twice now from our little patch and it was exquisite, so tender and fresh tasting. We only get just a little at a time, but it's worth waiting for. The purple seems to be the fastest growing, and is very sweet.
I have planted a tiny spinach patch and a tinier kohlrabi patch in the spot next to the house. We decided to also till a long patch behind the end of the garage for tomatoes, peppers, beans and spinach. The squash, melons, and pumpkins will go behind the long side of the garage, which won't get tilled, but is now mulched heavily.
Speaking of mulch, have you ever heard of freecycle? It's a yahoo group that is local to your county if there is a willing moderator in your area. People offer things they have that they can't use to keep them out of the landfill, and other people take them off their hands. No money changes hands, courtesy and respect are the rules, and everybody wins.
I mention freecycle because I landed a great pile of haybales perfect for mulching the longside garage garden. They were wet and heavy, and had previously been the winter home of an unspecified domesticated animal. They are now laid out section by section in a carpet over the sprouted weeds where soon the pumpkins and squash will be. I've done this before, and it works wonderfully, but usually I've had to pay for the hay or straw, even moldy stuff set aside as useless by the stable. Free is good. I get my freecycle listing every morning, and like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to find in there. Last week I gave away a bunch of fishing rods that I've stored since the ex-boyfriend moved out that he left behind. They were still useful, needed cleaning and reel grease, and the gentleman that took them was going to teach a friend to fish.
Anyhoo, we decided to till a larger patch in a prime sunny area for tomatoes and peppers mainly. We asked the next door neighbor and they said they would be happy to till for us, since they have a tractor. They are waiting on a part for it. I have three maple saplings that have decided to grow there and are about 8 feet tall, just sticks mind you, but tall sticks. If I don't move them now, they will be a problem for the foundation of the garage. One is a bronze maple, and would cost easily $50 if we wanted to purchase it at a nursery, but I have nowhere else to put it. I will have to ask around or offer it on freecycle.
We purchased wire tomato cages in preparation for planting the tomatoes. I like to stick the cages on the plants right away, so that I can guide the plants right up through the cone of wire. It never fails if I wait to put the cages on, the plants have a growth spurt and then I can't get the cages on at all. They used to have the small end of the cone at the bottom, with the wires to stick in the ground at the small end, but these have the wires to stick in the ground at the large end. I think that would be more stable as the plant gets heavy with fruit anyway.
My seedlings have behaved beautifully, no legginess yet. I will probably start taking them outside on the front porch during the day to come in at night for a week here, then leave them outside under a window pane at night for another week before transplanting. I might make cone covers for the new style of tomato cages as well. I have heavy clear vinyl that will work really well for that. The target date for transplanting is May 24th or 30th, depending on the weather. Things have been warming up nicely here in Zone 5. I would have planted the squash and melons tonight, but it was getting too dark to see what I was doing, so I just spread the soggy hay out and turned the compost pile. It's supposed to rain on and off all week, so maybe I'll get some time Sunday after the farm market. We're supposed to have nice weather Sunday.