Tasks:
Weeded, composted, and mulched asparagus
Weeded and mulched raspberries
Took patch back from brambles
Created path through wild blackberries
Mulched and pruned the larger tomatoes
Mulched rhubarb
Fixed Helios
Dug in Orchard Monument
Planted pumpkins, acorn, butternut, zucchini, drying gourds, and melons in mounds
Planted cucumbers under fencing
Sowed cucumbers, root crops (radishes, turnips, beets), spinach, romaine, bush beans
Seed blocked broccoli, basil, brussel spouts, rosemary, parsley, drying bush beans, and kale
Cut and hung mint and oregano
Found windows for the new greenhouse and took preliminary measurements for it
Weeded the greens beds
Notes:
Row Covers: Place the hoops every four to five feet. Placing them any farther apart does not give enough support to the cover and thereby damage the plants. Place a brick at the base of every hoop. DO NOT USE THE STAPLES! They do not hold and they rip the row cover. Using bricks will give you better security and will make the covers last much longer. DO NOT SHARPLY BEND THE HOOPS! Doing so will leave them nearly useless for the following years; they are very hard to bend back into shape. Try to interest the poles into the ground so that they maintain a natural tension. When you take them out of the ground, after you are done using them, they should be nearly straight.
Saved Beans: Seed block saved beans. This will insure that you don’t waste your time watering and weeding something that will not grow. In our experience bought beans grow significantly quicker than saved beans.
Bean and Pea fencing: Plant climbing beans and peas in single rows and cover them until sprouted. Once sprouted carefully place the fencing up against them on the northern side; they will grow towards the fencing. In the past we planted two rows and then tried to put the fencing up after they sprouted. We ended up damaging a large portion of the sprouts. We also didn’t cover the seeds right away; rain left them exposed and birds ate them.
Flowers from seeds: Seed block! The flowers we planed in the ground have not even sprouted.
Hoes and shovels: Do not work with dull tools. Sharpen them before every use. This also requires that you not work with dirty tools—after every use, all hoes, trawls, and shovels should be cleaned with a wire brush.
Pruning tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and other plants with similar structure: Prune off the stems that develop at the joints, or leaf axils, of the main, original branches. These are suckers, and will eventually turn into entirely new plants; pruning them off will make less fruit, but bigger and better quality. The plant will be stronger for the pruning. As the plant gets bigger, keep an eye on what and where you are pruning: fruiting stems emerge midway on the leaf stem and have buds instead of leaves—do not prune these!
Watering: Just suck it up and water everyday, especially the seed blocks that are newly planted.