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Diary. It is claimed that the weather in Bend, Oregon, can have a freezing night any day of the year. That’s a problem for me because I now have a large investment of time, energy, and money into the tomatoes in my back yard, and they die when it freezes. I built a greenhouse and put 18 cubic yards of topsoil into the back yard. Several months ago I planted 70 yogurt pots with various seeds, set them in my living room south-facing window, and succeeded in bringing most of them to life. While there was still frost in the morning, half of those plants were transplanted into the greenhouse I built, and half were kept inside for a reserve for replanting if the first ones were frozen to death.
There were about ten freezing nights, but with the weather forecast, it was possible to take a 1500 watt space heater and warm the 13 x 30 foot greenhouse enough that all of the plants survived, and are now thriving. The ones called tomatillos are now about eighteen inches tall. I considered removing the special greenhouse plastic covering today, but six days from now the temperature is predicted to go near freezing for two nights. If the ten-day forecast at that time indicates no freezing weather, the covering will be removed.
Today was spent trying to cope with the problem of the tomato plants getting so big they fall over, and also how to support them during occasional encounters with stiff winds. The cheapest individual wire cages cost about $7 each, and the solid-looking ones can cost $50. What to do? Remember that I am not exactly poor, but I am very frugal. Perhaps it’s because the first seven years of my life were during the Great Depression. That makes me wonder how people who are now young are going to develop patterns that will be considered strange when they are geriatric. My solution to the tomato support problem was to drive cheap rods vertically into the ground and run a strong string from one to the other along the whole group, tying them together and attaching thin strips of lath between them to hold the upright poles apart, stiffening the whole flexible structure. Three layers of string about a vertical foot apart should provide enough support for the branches of the tomato plants.
About October first I will probably be a wiser but sadder man. Either too many tomatoes for anyone to cope with or a big mess in my back yard. Now is the time to start watching for canning jars.
I guess what Candide found in his garden was purposeful activity with daily progress toward a worthwhile goal.