Lots o' Pots

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, it was a day for repotting the tomatoes into their largest pots of the season yesterday. Mission accomplished.

This is the first year I've ordered live plants from Territorial Seeds, which is a local company. I like getting seeds and plants from them because they are grown in Oregon, and suitable for our local climate. With farmer's markets closed, it seemed like a good time to give it a try. These tomatoes are doing great! I only just received them less than a month ago, and repotting them, I noticed the roots were already reaching to the outer limits of the smaller pots. These are all romas for making sauce. When I had the job all done, they were ready to have their drip irrigation hooked up.

If you're wondering why we grow them in pots like this, it's because our growing season is almost always too short for tomatoes. I end up with beautiful, luscious, fat green tomatoes. It breaks my heart. And so we added a greenhouse around ten years ago. Now the tomatoes get their own room for growing.

Frustratingly, we thought we'd caught all the naughty greenhouse-invading squirrels. The trap was removed because it was in the way. Then, yesterday, I noticed they tunneled in again from the same place. There isn't much left in the greenhouse that they desire. However, they are sampling the lettuce and preventing it from getting to a size we can harvest and use. Also, as I went digging through the dirt in the bin, I noticed they'd "planted" some peanuts there. This is in spite of the fact that the bin is kept covered. No problem for them...they just shove the cover aside and do whatever they like. So, I guess we're back to trapping.

Back outside, the deer left the rose bush alone long enough, and it is covered in flowers. It's unfortunate we've had so much rain the past week (and forecast for the week ahead). The flowers are beaten up by the rain, but they are still very fragrant.

Here's one strawberry the squirrels didn't eat. It was hidden under a rock. I washed it off and ate it straight away.

Smitty caught yet another squirrel yesterday. I think he's fairly wiped out the grey diggers inhabiting the planter area outside our dining room. 

Smitty 5; Squirrels 0 

After feasting on squirrel, he's always ready for a nap on his kitty pole.

He's blissfully unaware of Sadie plotting to topple him from his perch.

 

Just looking at that picture, I started thinking the kitties need a toy box. I wonder if asking kitties to put away their toys would work any better than it did when my kids were little. Nah...probably not.

The only sewing I did yesterday was to finish the stitching in my hoop.

Then I moved it to the far right of the piece. It's about 2/3 finished at this point.

Even though it will probably be several days before I finish, I have the next block for Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs ready to go. The top-stitching was finished up yesterday, and so only hand embroidery remains. This block is called "Bright Ideas and Plum Jam."

This morning I'm heading out for a quick trip to the grocery store. I have food for about four days, and then we'll have to go again. For now, I'm just stocking up on things to get us through the weekend. There's a little housework to do when I get back, and then I'll get to work making another row of blocks for Jenny's Flower Garden.