My Babies are in the Dirt

Today was a blue sky, hot (90 degrees) summer day.  Thunderstorms are forecast for tonight.  We haven't had rain in two weeks.  I had to get my tomatoes in the ground!  I put in about 150 plants today and about 60 yesterday.  All started from seed, all heritage tomatoes.

I had put black plastic on the beds and it made a world of difference.  The prep for the eight beds today were so much easier than the three without plastic.  I am a fan of black plastic!  I'm growing organic, heritage tomatoes and love using petrochemicals in big black sheets to destroy weeds.  These garden vampires (weeds) actually are killed be eliminating light.  Kinda the reverse of real fictional vampires.  Does this make my garden an alternate dimension?  Do the weeds have tiny goatees that I can't see??? I digress.

It was a long, hot day, but, of course, there was a "gentle" breeze to cool the brow.  A steady breeze of about 30mph with gusts that actually moved my heavy wooden greenhouse again!  Not during a storm, just a blue sky, fair weather day.  Watching the huge greenhouse, that normally takes a forklift to move, glide across the cement like a bird on the wing was surreal.  I was in awe until I notice it heading directly for a building.  Yikes!  Thank God it stopped before it hit the building.

It started by the fence on the right hand side of the photo.

I was unnerved by how fast the greenhouse moved....and then I realize I had to get what ever survived out of it.  Will it move again while I'm in it???  It would easily break my legs.  Actually everything survived and no bones where broken in the extraction.  Huzzah!!!

I had my hair back in a ponytail for the day of work and a few strands actually stayed in the ponytail during the stormless hurricane of a day.  I was wearing shorts and the dirt line on my legs from the blowing soil was impressive.  You can even see the dirt marks from the air vents in my tennies!

As the wind picks up (yes, gusts up to 50 mph) in front of the in coming thunderstorms. Every thing is ready.  The clear plastic (to keep the moisture in the soil for germination) is off the carrot bed.  My baby tomatoes survived the USS Greenhouse and they are tucked in the rich black soil of Iowa.   Finally all the dirt has been washed off the limbs.   All in all, it was a productive day.