In the last few weeks the garden has realy exploded. It has been cool and moist, perfect plant growing weather. The spinach and greens are ready to pick a few leaves, the peas are flowering, the lettuce, carrots, cauliflower,and onions are growing fast.

We planted a few tomatoes very early for television reasons. Over the weekend there was a frost warning, so we had to cover them up to protect them.  Because the only time I could get to the garden was the middle of the day, I did not want to use plastic because the plants would have been cooked in their little greenhouse. So I used a piece of fabric we had laying around. I put stakes in the ground by the plants to keep them from getting crushed and held the fabric down with stones and bricks we had lying around. Before I covered them, I watered using cool water. Water holds a lot of heat that will be released as the temperature drops. It worked and the plants are still alive.  The forecast looks clear of frost for the next week or so, but we need to watch it closely. We are still two weeks from the average frost free date here in Memphis.

Looks like they came though just fine. We'll be ready if it gets cold again.

We just got done taping some segments on planting tomatoes with Alainia Hagerty from The Tomato Baby Company. Keep in mind it is March 21st here and we still have about two weeks until the average frost free date in Memphis, so it is way to early to plant tomatoes. We planted now so that by the time the TV segment airs on April 16 it is timely. (Also on April 9 she will be talking about a whole bunch of tomato cultivars)
Alainia showed how to plant them laying down just under the surface. That puts more stem in the ground which allows the stem to root all along the underground portion. Pretty neat.
Hopefully there will not be a frost, but I'm not betting on it. We will have to be ready with the plastic just in case.