Preparing for rain

I knew the sunrise was gorgeous this morning because of the rose colored quality of the light coming through the living room windows. I hurried to say goodbye to Farmer D and explained that I needed to get to the roof to catch the sunrise. He said, "Okay artist." gave me a kiss and headed to work while I grabbed the camera.

Based on the other photos from today's sunrise, I was a little late but still wouldn't complain.

I think Farmer D is sweet for calling me an artist but in my humble opinion, God is the ultimate artist.

I knew I wanted to work in the garden so I checked the weather report to see if I should choose a light sweater, a tee shirt or a tank top but the forecast surprised me with 100% chance of rain.

So it was sweat pants, flannel shirt and work boots to tackle the list of things I like to do before a good rain. I knew I had a couple of hours before it started pouring so I wanted to put tools and equipment away, feed any plants that needed it, secure any vines that could be damaged in the weather and direct sow seeds in the garden beds.

Gidget says, "Get the most important stuff first!"

Gidget often gives good advice, I started by getting her, the avocados, the radio flyer and other tools and equipment inside.

Princess got tired of staying in the shadows and agreed to guard the avocados while I finished in the garden

This tomato is a black cherry variety and from last season. I cut it all the way down in preparation for replacing it and then never got around to doing it. It took right back off again, so I let it be. Today I added a little suport tape to some of the branches.

Black cherry tomato coming back after being cut all the way down.

Normally the EarthBox contains all the fertilizer you need for a season if you plant it properly. I think this plant needed a little boost because it has been in there so long so I gave it 1/4 cup of liquid FoxFarm Big Bloom in 1 gallon of water.

This pepper is also a leftover from last season. It's in a pot and I fed it some E.B. Stone vegetable food.  

The ladybugs are arriving already but the aphids have already been here. I hope the good rain knocks off the aphids but does not disturb the ladybugs. I may have to pull out the insecticidal soap if the aphids continue to invade.  

The growing season seems to be getting started so we gave the banana tree a good meal.

The spirals on these banana leaves are white fly, I gave them a good spraying with the hose.

A volunteer tomato plant in the front garden bed, I only felt bad for a second before pulling it like a weed.

I went through all the beds securing vines, pulling weeds and feeding as needed.

I planted some more carrot and some radish seeds in a few areas so the coming rain could water them for me.

I harvested the last of the mature cauliflower for tonight's dinner.

I finished up just as the first of this morning's drops were starting to fall.