I don’t know about you but I am having trouble getting my plants started in my garden this year. I was late in setting them out as the ground was so soggy that I couldn’t rototill my garden until the day after Memorial Day. I bought the plants a week early and then I like to harden them off on the front porch which is shaded for half of the day and also just in case we have a late frost in the Finger Lakes, they will be protected from the overnight cold. As soon as I rototilled the garden, I planted the tomatoes, zucchini, and summer squash plants.
It’s been two weeks now and the tomatoes finally look like they have taken hold and their leaves are starting to take on a healthy green color. But it has been a real struggle for the zucchini and summer squash. No sooner than I had set them out and some of them started to droop so I poured on the water in hopes of keeping them alive. Some look like they will make it, but half of them have “given up the ghost” as my mother used to say.
For sure, these plants were raised in a greenhouse which undoubtedly had just the rights amount of sun light, the right temperature, and plenty of water so that the seeds would quickly geminate. The plants are raised so that they would b ready to set out around the middle of May. But I don’t think that my plants were ready to face the cruel world here in the Finger Lakes where our soil is still cold, many of the days are overcast without sun, and when we do get sun, the plants aren’t ready to withstand the strong sunlight all day long. So, if I can find some more zucchini and summer squash, I will replant.
Since I wrote this article early Sunday evening, we had a nice rain. The lawn was turning brown in the usual spots which first show stress due to the lack of moisture. And I am sure that it made a big difference for all of my garden plants! One good rain from heaven is worth 100 buckets of carried water!