Bed complete!

Headed to Lowe's for more seeds this afternoon:

• Carrots: Sweet Treat Hybrid, Burpee
• Carrots: Petite 'n Sweet, Burpee
• Leeks: American Flag, Ferry-Morse
• Basil: Summerlong, Burpee
• Parsley: Single Italian Plain-Leafed, Burpee
• Nasturtium: Vesuvius, Burpee
• Eggplant: Black Beauty, Burpee
• Bell pepper: Chinese Giant, Burpee

Total cost: $12.86.

I'll start the eggplant and peppers indoors and put them out in place of some harvested spinach or lettuce. (I'm counting my greens before they grow.)

Also picked up a couple of tomato plants at $3.48 each:

• Tomato: Red Beefsteak
• Tomato: Goliath Hybrid

And a rain gauge for $1.98.  Total with tax, $23.86.

Got the 2 tomatoes and all the seeds in, and the rain gauge installed.  Here's the result, with a couple of unhappy-looking tomatoes:

I watered them in a bit better after this was taken in hopes they'll perk up. Neighbor Mack warned me in no uncertain terms that it's too early to put tomatoes out, but the 10-day forecast looks fine, and I'll eat the $7 if I can't eat the tomatoes. The mud patch on the lower right is where I left my overturned sod on my concrete porch to dry out and die. After a rainy couple of weeks, there still seems to be plenty of life in it. Need plan B.

I marked up a copy of my plan so I'll have some idea what went where:

For now, at least, I know what it means.

Now lets hope the wildlife doesn't chow down on the tomatoes before I get them protected. Looked for semitransparent garden cloth at Lowe's, but they have none. Might try bird netting, but the garden cloth keeps out bugs too, and still lets in plenty of light and rainfall. Need to give this some thought.

Also calculated how much water I need to give my bed an inch of rain. 11 gallons (thanks Google).