Today was not much of a gardening day for me. It rained this morning so the outdoor bed in Patch, the Topsy Turvy, the spinach and the 5G strawberries was watered sufficiently. By the time the rain had stopped the heat had broken. It did warm up quite a bit from last night's chill but it wasn't even close to the 90's. The cooler weather isn't meant to last which is okay with me because the watermelon seedlings like the heat. The rest of my plants can tolerate the kind of heat we're looking towards; high 70's and low 80's. As I was putting out the greenhouses and checking on things I noticed that there were 4 watermelon plants. Three in one neat row and 1 in another newspaper pot. It was interesting to me that they sprouted where they did. They sprouted in 1 row to the far left of the pot.I'd originally planted 4 seeds in each corner but my guess is that the first watering washed them around. I take care to water gently when planting and otherwise so that I don't over-water but it seems that didn't matter much in this case. Like I mentioned before, the watermelon seeds actually germinating were my "reach." I told my mom this and she said that, that was weird because "in Honduras people spit [the seeds] out all over the backjard and they grow, with a lot of melons." I replied saying that was probably due to the heat and of course her reply was "well I used to see them growing all over the mountains where it was cooler and they were so big the men had to carry them on the shoulder." I'm still excited though and feel like the seeds germinating proves my green thumb but disappointed about the fact that they've germinated lined up in one tight row because that means that I won't be able to separate them to give the extra's away. I'll have to transplant all 3 and thin the weakest. The 4th germinating seed, in a separate pot, unluckily isn't looking very strong, which makes sense, I planted four seeds in that pot and only one has shown its little face or large face, if you're thinking comparatively. I forgot to check if one pot was primed and the other wasn't if so I'll let you know the results in tomorrows blog.
Topsy Turvy...
Everything else seems to be doing really great except for the Topsy Turvy. One plant died and the other I was able to revive but the ones that are in there and not dead aren't looking too good. I feel like all the roots were dragged down out of position when I added the layers of soil and watered. I am so happy that I got extra's. I knew that the strawberry was the one thing I wanted results from because they're my favorite fruit and because of last years death. So the extras were a must and I am so glad I did buy them. If the Topsy Turvy doesn't end up working out (predicting that will be the case) I'll get at least (hopefully) 5 pints from the 5G bucket and 2 from the other container I plan to fill with the remaining plants. That should be enough to satisfy me, this year anyway.
Home Depot...
Hours after tending to my gardening at home I made a trip to Home Depot for Mike's dad. He wanted to get the other 4 raised beds that he needs for his garden, Potagar Schoultz. I offered to do it so I did. I went to Home Depot asked someone where they were and once directed headed out to the Garden Center to get them. I thought they would be much heavier so as I looked for the right size I was plotting how I would get them on my cart and into the car. They turned out to be extremely light. So light I was able to carry two at a time up the hilled driveway when I got home but we're not there yet. I found the right size in 2 places and picked the spot where they were on the ground to choose from. I picked one and noticed that the grooves weren't cut out all the way so I put that one back and carefully looked through each one, picking the 4 best I saw. Once I had them on my cart I went over to the vegetable plants just to have a look. It turns out that Home Depot has recently switched from cool weather to warm weather veggies. The last trip they didn't have squash, cucumbers, zucchini, or cantaloupe. This time they had all of that and a million tomato varieties. I wanted so badly to pick up a squash or zucchini plant and maybe even a melon plant but I resisted. I knew that I didn't have space in my garden and Mr. S didn't say I could pick up anything for there garden. After taking a look at everything and really just admiring the plants I headed inside to take a look at the seeds. I figured if I couldn't grow any of those seedlings because I don't have the space I could at least test growing them from seeds. I've had such a great time testing everything. So I picked up a packet of zucchini seeds and kept looking. I realized that zucchini needed 36" so I put them back and grabbed a packet of crookneck summer squash (only needs 18') I figured maybe I could find a space for one 18 inch plant if it did germinate. I just couldn't resist. So I grabbed the packet and forced myself to leave because if I'd stayed I would have ended up picking out 7 more seed packets to "test."
I headed over to the indoor garden space at the front of the store where they keep the Perlite. I know, I know I said that if the Bulk-man said that Mr. S. didn't need to add Perlite then he shouldn't waste the money. The thing is I tested some of the compost and it didn't have a drainage problem, not at all, but I could see it happening. So if Perlite can only help and not hurt then I figured it was better to be safe and add/buy the Perlite. For all of that compost he would only need 5 bags at $4.00/bag. I think the $20 is well spent considering that the beds were like $300.00 and the compost was $118.00. Why potentially waste all that money plus all the money on the 72 individual plants needed to fill Potagar Schoultz when $20 on Perlite could eliminate any potential problem with drainage. Plus, I think the Perlite makes the compost look more aesthetically pleasing, again worth it for $20. You put all this work and money into making something produce well and look nice so why not?
I paid loaded the car and got everything into the backyard, or like my mom would say the backjjjard, all on my own. I was happy to do it and happy to be given the task. I've been getting so used to having a lot to do outside that today would have been a little dull without it.
Bush Sugar Baby, planted in 4 corners, germinated at 7 days in a row.
Single Bush Baby in 2nd pot.
Revived strawberry plant from near death in Topsy.
March 29 - April 10, 2013
Seascape, died in root dragging dry-out during Topsy transfer.
Greenes Fence cedar raised beds, 4ft. x 4ft. x 7in.
No comments:
Post a Comment