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Summer begins

By the first week of June, the soil has dried out, and no precipitation is in the weather forecast.

Watering is mandatory, and the Israeli melons in the field require it daily, as do the raised beds.

In my raised beds, several tomato plants have died because I wrongly assessed that they were getting adequate water. They were not. I've made this mistake before, but I did not learn from my past failures. I simply must stop overestimating how long a good rainfall as we had in the last weeks of may will last.

Last year, I started pumpkins on July 4 for an October harvest. I did harvest a few pumpkins in October, but most were ready in the last week of October or the first of November. In order to harvest pumpkins this year in time for Halloween buyers, I must plant them by the first week in June.

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