Tilling And Planting In Pouring Rain At The Off Grid Homestead

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• published: 28 May 2014
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Saturday it was raining hard the whole day. I finally got tired of just waiting around to plant. It has been raining every day since I got back from Florida. We had frost up until a week ago so I could not plant earlier and not it is the rainy season. In the morning we had a light rain but it was not too bad. I took my landlady out to the town wide garage sales and we had a fun time up until lunch. We both found a lot of deals. Most of the homes had tents set up but the rain went away for a while for us. I brought back some nice things for the off grid homestead. I found some hand crank kitchen utensils which will be very helpful this fall during the harvest season. I also got some electric fence parts for a good deal. There were a bunch of tins and containers of hardware for a dollar or less which will help out here with my projects. I also got some nice fiberglass marker stakes for a couple dollars which will help around the property. There was a short period with no rain so I got my lawn mower out and literally mowed my garden. The weeds and grass had taken over very badly while I was gone and it had to be cut down before I would work in the garden. I decided to just get out my rototiller and till the garden in the rain anyway then. I was pouring rain when I started working the garden with my rototiller. I had my rain gear on and just got to it. It was raining so hard that the trenches behind the tiller were filling up with water as I worked. I cant believe how much rain we got so fast. I tilled all of the areas where I had previously broken earth with my tiller. These needed another pass due to grass and weeds growing back up. I also retilled the areas where I had not yet planted but where weeds were coming up again. I started to till the untouched grassy area on the far right side of the garden and was going to till the whole garden on this day until the belt slipped off the tiller drive pulley and I called it a day. Both the tiller and I were a total muddy mess but I got it done. The sun can be quite intense here when it is not raining so I decided to put mulch around my fragile lettuce plants to protect them from the sun and the heat of the day. I used some pine shavings and put it all around the base of the lettuce plants. This should retain moisture, protect from the heat of the sun and keep the plants clean and free of dirt. This makes it easier for me to wash them for eating. I hate dirt grains in my salad. Some people say you should not use mulch on your plants while most experts say it is very good. I will go with the majority and use it. This is the beginning of the back to eden method anyway and eventually my whole garden will be based on compost and mulch. I also mulched around my tomato plants to protect them from the summer heat. Last year my tomatoes were wilting on sunny days. This year hopefully they will do better. The chickens were having a great time after all the rain brought out hundreds of worms for them to snatch up. The chickens were scattered all over the place eating happily. Follow my daily progress on the path to self sufficiency on my off grid solar homestead. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUzPxYD3Ngr8yJw88YYZYzCSC8G3W0O2 Please donate to help keep The Off Grid Project going: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted;_button_id=3TQSWXLLRZ6HW Join The Off Grid Project and The Do It Yourself World forum and share your ideas, tips and projects. http://www.thediyworld.com/forum The Off Grid Project is presented by The Do It Yourself World. http://www.TheDIYworld.com Experiments and projects in off grid living, alternate energy, survival, hiking and more.