Laboring on Labor Day

I keep some old sheets of tin that I salvaged when demolishing the chicken tractors and they come in handy as being a type of "mulch" that covers the ground to keep weeds from growing until it is time to plant.  Finally the ground dried up a bit and it was time to plant tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts.  So I removed the tin so expose soil with no weeds and the ground underneath soft and pliable.

Unfortunately, the tin doesn't cover much more than two rows.  For the area that I'll plant today, I used a weed-eater to knock the weeds down to dirt level.  I burned it right down to the ground and will plant without tilling.  I have the tomato seedlings all ready to plant.  Due to the rain delaying planting, some of the tomatoes are root-bound and some are yellowing, but most will survive and do just fine if I can get them planted today.

I separated them by varieties and got busy.  I simply took a hoe, dug a hole, filled it with some organic garden soil and popped the tomatoes out of the Community Coffee cups that they are in and planted them. Caffeinated tomatoes, perhaps?

They aren't beautiful tomato plants, but as you can see, the newest growth is green, vibrant, and healthy.  We'll see if we can keep that going, shall we?

When finished I have 36 heirloom tomatoes planted for the fall crop.  We'll see how it goes and if I'm able to harvest some fruit before the frost gets them.

Once I finished that, I planted 3 varieties of cabbage seedlings, 2 varieties of broccoli seedlings and some brussels sprouts.  I'll have to plant the cauliflower tomorrow as it got to be 4 pm and I had to get the bbq pit fired up.  Happy Labor Day, fellow gardeners!