DO OVER

   Mary, Mary how does your garden grow? Well, right now mine is growing with a few gaps in my rows. I don't know what happened, but there were long gaps in some of the rows I have coming up. Some rows have only one or two plants missing in the row, some have two or three feet of plants that just didn't come up from seed. I'm not sure if it was bad seeds or maybe some type of critter came by and ate my seed after I planted them.

   Either way, I just got through going back and re-planting the seeds I needed to fill in the gaps in my rows. I had to add black-eyed peas, butter beans, and some cucumbers. While I was out there I started breaking some more of the garden ground up to put in my corn and watermelon patch.

   Even though it's only the first day of May it already feals like summertime here in Dixie. It is suppose to be over 90 degrees today. Even though it's still morning time here I already appreciate stepping into the shade for a quick cool down from the heat. It is amazing how going only 2 or 3 feet, from sun to shade already feels like a 20 degree difference in temp.

   We need some rain badly. It has been around 3 weeks without any and the ground is bone dry. I try to water my garden early in the day, so hopefully the plants get to absorb the moisture before the sun can boil the plants. As I water the soil naturally turns dark, but within a couple of minutes of stopping, the ground is gray and dry again like I hadn't even watered. I'm afraid it's going to be a long hot summer! Even our WORLD CHAMPION MOUSER Sissy-girl found a cool place to crash out of the sun. She seemed to say " you think your hot, try wearing a fur coat all summer bud" !!!

   Stay cool folks were just getting started.

Jim Cobb Coleman