What kind of tomatoes have you got, PB? We have some "original" Rutgers, Cosmonaut Volkovs, and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye. I've never grown the Berkleys before, but the Daughter wanted to have them, so we do. All are still tiny plants, but seem to be doing well.
Looks like, from what I can tell peering out the window blinds while my tea is in prep, we've got similar weather to yours this morning. It looks like Scotland out there - very green, very damp, kind of foggy. We actually had a good solid rain all day yesterday. For which I was thankful as I had dug over a new plot in the allotment and the soil basically acted like shovel-shaped adobe bricks when I turned it over. I had to beat it severely with the shovel to break them into smaller bits. (Lots of clay.) I did the two-foot by twelve-foot bed as best I could and then put three wheel-barrows full of compost on top of it, and raked it all out. I need to turn it over to mix it in, but it wasn't going well with the soil below still staying in big clumps. So hopefully the rain will have softened it a bit and I'll be able to take care of that in a few days. I need to get a bag of aged cow manure (when the kid was little she thought that meant from elderly cows) and work it in, but it looks like that will not be today. Later today we are under a high wind warning and it's supposed to gust up to 50mph. I'm not shoveling sh*t in those conditions.
Friday Five:
1) Got a new row cover for the garden to replace the one that got shredded in the last wind storm. Have heavy pavers holding it down over its hoops. Am going to stop by in an hour or two and criss-cross it with hemp twine tied down to stakes driven into the ground, for good measure. It's supposed to start getting breezy at about 11:00am, so I have a little time.
2) I needed a garden fence, so got a roll of 3' tall chicken wire and several packages of 6' tall, thin bamboo stakes at the garden center. I threaded/wove the stakes through the fencing and then shoved the stakes a good foot and a half into the ground in a line every two feet along the perimeter of our plot, in a shallow ditch that I later filled in. I then wove bamboo stakes in borizontally along the top of the wire and secured them to the vertical stakes. "The Rules" say you shouldn't put fencing up any closer than six inches to the boundary lines, but the prior user of the plot sank six raised beds a square-meter each literally on the line on one side, so the fence lays right on the side of the boxes and hopefully won't raise the ire of the coordinator. The fence observes the six-inch boundary on the one side of the plot that wasn't already fenced by prior users, so he can't say much about it, I think. It is more for growing morning glories and sweet peas on, and hopefully deterring bunnies as a bonus. Very few people have fenced out there, but several have told me they have a problem with bunnies and voles. Voles there's not a lot to do about - they get through anything. I am hoping that it'll be enough of a deterrent that the bunnies go to an un-fenced plot. Also hoping the fact that it's bamboo and chicken-wire will mean it is less likely to be damaged by high winds since here is very little surface for the wind to push against.
3) High winds. It's been in the 50sF and 60sF here for the last week or so. The trees are all flowering like mad. When we checked the long-range forecast a couple of days ago it was very promising, so the Daughter put out some sweet peas and morning glories at the garden, and filled and hoisted up the planters we have that sit over the railing on our balcony. She was very precise in making sure they were true and not leaning at all. Two of them are planted with pansies and petunias, two were to be filled today. She used carpenter's shims to make sure they were not at all wobbly. So last night the weather radio goes off with the "high winds up to 50mph" warning and a freeze warning for tonight. So the planters have to be taken down again and brought in the house to protect the plants from the cold (and blowing into the next state). Oh, well. At least we had the warning and won't wake up tomorrow to wonder what happened! (The sweet peas should be fine, I think, out in the garden. Dorothy Eckfords, and they are lovely when they bloom.)
4) Hunting for a doctor is taxing. There are so many to choose from. My medicare kicked in and my old insurance is ended, so now I will have only a small deductible each year (I got a supplement plan with the HSA my former employer provides) and don't have to hold off on going in for care when it's needed. But I have to find a PCP now from several long lists. I guess I'll spend some time later today reading all the blurbs and selecting one to try out. At least I have the option to switch to whomever I'd like if the first one doesn't work out. The Daughter has been nagging me to go get my lungs checked out.
5) Travel. New York City is supposedly "Opening" on July 1. While I don't think I'd go to NY in July in a good year because of the heat and crowds, I'm definitely not going down there in July in a Covid year even with thinner crowds. Maybe it will be safer in the fall. I'd really like to go see the museums again - haven't since I was in elementary school. Need to go visit some family graves in May, though, in a nearby state. It's their birth or death (depending on the person) anniversaries in May. I used to go every year with my grandmother to tidy up around the stones and plant red geraniums. I would imagine nobody has gone there in fifty years to do that for them. Have to check with one of the cemeteries, though, to find out when they have their big visitor day - with lots of security present, so the car doesn't get stolen and we don't get mugged. (It's in a horrid area - wasn't when my people lived there, but times have changed.)
I wish I could still drink coffee - it's best for the brain fog - but a good cup of tea is the next best thing! And the kettle has been singing to me for a while so that cuppa is imminent.
