This year I built a new vegetable garden.  I tilled up a 35’ X 20’ area next to my orchard and berry trellis.  Because of this, I was extremely excited.  I had grand plans for an early planting of mature tomatoes that I had grown from seed.  However, as we all know, if you get too excited about something in life, life is bound to throw you a curve.  My curve came in the form of bad weather.  In the past two weeks I have suffered through a hail storm and a late season freeze. However, in spite of all of these set backs, I finally got to plant most of my garden yesterday

You really have to love Craftsmen tools. My Craftsman rear tine tiller set unused in my garage for the past three years. This year, when I needed it, I added gas, pulled and started tilling. Amazing!

The hail storm that I mentioned literally pounded my etiolated tomatoes into the ground.  So, in order to have tomatoes this year I went to K&S Farm and Ranch Pet Center to buy my replacement plants. K&S is a family owned operation in Brenham that I frequent quite often.  When I say that K&S is family run, I mean family run.  Like Sally and I, Keith and Suzette Evans have a whole bunch of kids.  Every member of the Evans family has worked together to create a great little place to do business.  Through the years, we have enjoyed dealing with some of the nicest kids in Washington County (and the parents are really nice to deal with too).

Lemon Boy image from Homestead Nursery @ http://www.homesteadnurserywi.com/

Even though Keith and Suzette sell feed and pet supplies at K&S, they are really gardeners at heart.  Because of that, they keep a great selection of seeds (and grow them in their home garden) and sell a wide variety of transplants each season.  I bought a six pack of Early Girl, another of Lemon Boy and a couple of big Celebrity plants.  I also got a six pack of TAM jalapeños, a couple of yellow bells and four poblanos.

Mulching the rows of the “New” garden. If you are going to garden in blackland soil, mulching the walk pathways is an absolute must!

I stayed out in the garden planting until almost 8:00 last night.  Thank God for daylight savings time.  In addition to the tomatoes and peppers I also planted contender bush beans and lima beans.  This weekend, barring bad weather, I will finish planting the “new” garden by adding cucumbers and corn. At least that’s the plan.  Who knows what else mother nature has planned for my 2013 spring garden!