While the rest of the world swelters, we in the Northwest seem destined to rust. With all the rain and cloudy days here, our temperatures have plummeted into the high 50s to the low sixties. Cupcake had to knit little wool coats for all the corn starts. 14 rows X 43 starts was a lot of  little coats. Well, would you believe I used  8″ X 12″ clear plastic  containers that Costco sells veggies in. I call them mini-greenhouses.

Where the tomato crop is concerned, I was hoping for deliverance from the VA’s ILP program. That hasn’t happened yet but I never throw in the towel on this puppy. The program runs for a year so I have plenty of time to work it in. In the interim, I’m stuck with a globally abnormal predicament which is anathema to tomatoes. What to do?

Why, ne problemo.  Ask Cupcake if I can borrow one. When you are the former owner of a construction company, you simply ask the new owner if you can requisition some scaffolding and planks and erect a “Habitat for Humidity”. This structure holds back the elements yet permits the passage of the meager sunlight available. It’s a poor substitute for the real thing and is not impervious to temperature extremes. Nevertheless, it prevents the dreaded mold everyone else at the nursery is bemoaning. Behold what Nod hath wrought.

50 very dry happy tomatoes.