Man, what a day. Beware, garden geekery below:

Up early to hit the Farmer's market and buy seedlings. Man, if I'm able, next year, I am so totally starting my own seeds again. It was really hit-or-miss finding what I wanted, and some of my usual vendors sold out of the varieties I wanted last week! I wound up having to get some hybrids to round out my total, which kind of bums me out because I usually try to go with nothing but Open Pollenateds or heirlooms.

Anyway. I did score a Brandywine, a Cherokee Purple, a Sweet Pea Currant, something called a Federle that sounds really good, a big healthy Roma that I'm hoping is OP, a trio of a tomato I'd never heard of.... trying to remember the name... Bergher or Burbank or Berwick or something. Gotta recheck the tags; I don't think it was anything heirloom because it had professionally printed tags with a photo of the tomato on it; that usually indicates professional growing, ergo, hybridized.

The peppers were also kind of a wash; I found one heirloom called Healthy Pepper, which sounded too good to pass up, bought two California Wonders, and got two bananas and an orange bell from the same guy who sold me the forgotten tomatoes, those are bound to be hybrids as well. Nora's daughter Rachel gave me two sweets and three hots; I planted the hots in the front herb wheel and something ate them all, but somehow left alone the two sweet peppers in their little pots. Odd.

Also picked up some basils and an oregano to reside with my struggling holdover oregano from last year.

Then Zoe and I ran all sorts of errands: Food Co-Op, Biodiesel pickup, Pharmacy, the Vet for her Frontline, and then finally out to Paul's folks' house for the gardening frenzy.

The Sizers have this really super wonderful farmhouse about 20 minutes outside of Kalamazoo, and whenever I go there, I'm totally in hog heaven. Lots of outbuildings, fruit trees, an old milking barn with attached milkhouse, silo, and marks on the floor where the stanchions used to be. Marcia has a huge flower-and-herb garden spread out around all the buildings, and a centralized, fenced-in garden area for vegetables, grapevines and the like. She used to have a friend who shared that garden area with her, but said friend moved away last fall, so I inherited her plot! Woohoo!

Since I have only 4-6 hours of sunlight per day (and that's on the *bright* side of the house), I needed someplace to plant the stuff that a) needs full bright sun, and b) doesn't need to be harvested or tended much until late August. And, speaking of full bright sun, I sure picked a crazy day; the heat was over ninety degrees. I stopped midday for some sunblock, but even then, I think I burned the back of my arms, or what Craig Ferguson refers to as "Bingo Wings"; the wobbly bits that flop around on old ladies' arms when they yell "Bingo!" Ow. Pass the aloe, please.

Anyway, back to the planting. Marcia (Paul's mom) long ago gave up on weeding and just plants through holes in black plastic. This, as far as I'm concerned, is utter genius. So Marcia and Jack kindly helped me spread out the tarps and weight them down, and hammer in stakes and secure the main plot with chicken wire to keep out bunnies and moles and the like. Marcia was super kind and rototilled my areas when they did their garden, so the dirt was beautifully loose and soft. A neighbor had delivered a big load of beautifully composted horse manure (black gold, I tells ya!) so I turned two wheelbarrows of rotted horseturds under the soil. The plants should take off like lightning.

In addition to the aforementioned tomatoes and peppers, I also planted a companion garden; a single 20-foot row of corn (Country Gentleman and Thanksgiving Popcorn) bordered on each side with bush beans for drying (one side Calypso and the other, Black Turtle). Marcia had a small plot with three holes for ground vines, so I planted the ends with small sugar punkins and the middle with Moon-and-Star watermelons. I also planted a triple row of Royal Burgundy bush beans, my favorite kind.

Just as I was finishing planting, an ominous storm rolled in from Paw Paw (now that's a sentence you won't read anywhere else) and Marcia very kindly helped me finish up and get in before the lightning hit. Now I'm home, showered, rested, fed, and relaxed. I got my garden all set, Zoe had a great time frolicking around and rolling in the grass, and a good deal is right with the world, even with burned Bingo Wings.