When I got up I ran straight upstairs to take the tops of the greenhouses because I'd left them outside overnight. The air conditioning has been on in the house since the weather's hit the 80's and 90's. I thought the warm night air would be better for them then the cool fake air. I probably should have made a point to get up earlier because when I got out there it was already sweltering. The tops weren't 100% on because I didn't pin them down, hoping the wind would pull them up if needed. I took the lids off and checked on everything watering as I went along. When I got to the topsy turvy I noticed it was still draining from the day before but that the top was dry so I added just a little water to the top and moved it to a sunnier spot, on that would heat the whole planter evenly.
Then I went to go check on the raised bed in Patch. I noticed it was dry and nothing else until I came back with the watering can. The radishes had germinated, 4 days exactly, but only in the bottom row. So I watered and hoped that the others would germinate by tomorrow. I basically ran back inside after that because I was burning up.
I took a shower changed into a cool light weight dress and went back outside to take a picture of the raised bed. On my way out I called the Bulk-man about the compost. I had gotten up early awaiting his delivery but he hadn't called. I wanted to make sure I'd gotten it right... he answered and said that I had but that they were running late and would be here to deliver the compost in the afternoon. I said ok and hung up as I reached Patch. I looked down and noticed that in the few hours I'd been inside the other plot of radishes germinated. I was so excited and still am. I had mixed feelings about my bed because I'd used garden soil instead of potting mix. I'd amended the mistake myself and haven't been that confident about it until I saw the other radishes. Once I saw those I decided it was warm enough and would get cool enough to plant my heads of lettuce. I grabbed the bag of compost a shovel and all four cups with my lettuce seedlings in them. I dug into the top two plots of the raised bed and amended the soil even further with compost then I picked the best looking two of the four and plants them. Unlike the strawberries the roots had spread throughout the soil I'd added in the cups and really looked strong and healthy. After planting I watered and went back inside.
I went back out around 6:30pm to check on everything and noticed that even though the lettuce had been in the sun all day it was nice and crisp not wilted. The hot sun wilted it in the cups to extremes. I am happy I chose to plant them today and believe that they'll give me a continuous harvest all the way through the fall.
Later that evening...
At around 7pm when I was just sitting down to dinner I texted the Bulk-man and asked if he was going to make it. He texted back saying that he had just loaded the truck and would be here within the hour. I asked if he'd rather come tomorrow and he said no that they were fine to make the drive and drop. Exactly an hour later as I was heading outside to wait for them Bulk-man, John, called and said that they were out front. I raced outside, letting Mikes dad know they were delivering on the way, and asked if they could back up the driveway. It took them awhile because the driveway is on a bit of a steep incline but they were able to get pretty close to the backyard and then they lifted the bed and dumped 3 cubic yards of "black gold." At first it didn't look like much and I was thinking, OMG maybe we should have had them deliver the full 4 we paid for and not just 3, but once they were done I was like NEVERMIND this is way more than enough! When they'd pulled the truck out of the drive John stopped to chat with me as I handed him the check and thanked him for the delivery.
I told him about looking for compost for my small garden and finding nothing. Then going to craigslist two months later and letting Mikes Dad in on there service and how much he'd saved by using them compared to Home Depot. Finally, I asked him if I should mix Perlite into the compost to make it a little lighter and assure that there are no draining issues. His reply was, You can if you want to. A lot of people claim that compost has drainage issues but it doesn't especially if your using raised beds. You can add it but it would really just be an extra not a necessity. My uncle has won awards for growing crops in Connecticut that weren't supposed to be able to grow there and he grows in this compost 100% without any amendments. That was all I needed to hear. I'd read that the best gardens came from 100% compost but that it was even better to amend with some Perlite and even some Vermiculite. I also read that 100% compost was "black gold" that you couldn't get a better garden and that adding Perlite was a waste of money and time (mixing it in). From everything else I'd read I knew that growing in 100% compost was the best but hearing it from someone that KNOWS compost and knows great gardeners solidified what I'd already gathered but doubted. I am extremely happy with the service we received and when our veggies grow I'll let you know if we'll use them again but from the looks of things I think we will. Especially since he ended up being even cheaper than I'd calculated. The compost was $100 and it was $2.50/mile after 20 miles, one way. I'd calculated an extra 10 miles and the total was $112 but because we paid with check $6 was added making the total $118.00 rather than the $125 I'd expected if not a little more. Really great nice guy and there product is rich, black, they don't use lime, or other accelerators.
THANKS BULK MAN!!!
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