Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day...

I'm glad I wrote two entries yesterday because I didn't have the time to garden today. I spent the better part of my day with my mother. We spoke about the garden and why I hadn't brought her the radishes I'd harvested. She didn't realize that only 2 were ready to harvest and harvested. My older sister, Angela, apparently loves to snack on radishes so the Cortes family will definitely be getting the full harvest. I knew my mom liked them but I had no idea my sister did. Good to know because the two I harvested and put in the crisper here are still just sitting there along with the lettuce. I probably should have taken them over just so that they wouldn't go to waste. It may have been a tease, one radish each, but at least they would have been enjoyed. 

               My mom (L) and Tia (R).

Windy...

It was windy all day but around 6pm when I got home from celebrating with "la mama" the wind picked up even more. I was sitting in the basement reading when I heard a "thwack." For some reason, I immediately thought of my Topsy Turvy. I looked out the window in, which happens to look out onto Patch at ground level, and didn't see the TT bobbing in the wind. I looked down and saw it sitting on the sidewalk. I grabbed my coat and ran outside, it was a cold wind, to find the Topsy Turvy sitting on the sidewalk unharmed. The shephard hook had buckled but because of the weight it slowly lowered the TT. Thank GOD! It seems that all that rain had weighed even heavier on the TT and caused the earth to soften significantly, so the hook didn't hold in the wind. I took the Topsy off the hook and re-positioned it. Then I tried getting the Topsy back on the hook, no luck. I ran inside to grab pliers and another type of hook. No go. Finally, I asked Mike to come out and help me get it on. He was able to help me but the earth was too soft and the hook didn't hold. In the midst of trying to get it on the hook I broke a few stems, I'd feared that exact scenario. I had to resign to taking it off the hook and leaving it on a chair. I could have left it on the sidewalk but I figured I can avoid some pests if I leave it up a little higher. Oh, and when I went to look at the hook it was basically bent in half, I'd loosened the rusted adjuster with the pliers but I didn't think it'd done anything because I couldn't adjust, at all, it had weakened the hold though allowing it to bend. That hook is done for... I'm going to have to figure something else out for the Topsy before I break every stem on the darn thing and never get a berry. Topsy Turvy's should only be used if you have a solid place to hang it, in a sunny place, like a support beam.

Georgia's Don't Jet...

Sadly, when I was running back and forth, to Patch, dealing with the Topsy I noticed that the sweet potatoes haven't made any progress. They look just as limp and dead as they did when I planted them, maybe even more so. I planted them on a good day but at a bad point, weather-wise. I had no idea it was supposed to be so cold today. I mean, technically, it was 73 and sunny but the wind chill was serious. It didn't feel any warmer than 55 degrees and sweet potatoes like warm/hot days, leaning towards the HOT. We have a few extras and can buy some plants with "shoes" at Home Depot if we need to replace them. It won't be a waste either because Burpee will reimburse us if they all die. That's why I take the chance ordering from them.

                 Still not looking so hot. 

            

Wawa-melon: Second Shift

Shift Work...

Because I wrote my entry so early today it didn't include all of my gardening, so I decided to write a second entry. I haven't been able to do much work outside because of the crazy weather but I was able to sneak in some gardening in two shifts today. For the last few days the rain will pour down for 15 minutes then the sun will come out for an hour. I took advantage for the hours of sun we got before the 7pm downpour that's last until this point, 12am. I'll be picking up where I left off in my last entry.

Amending...

I amended the beds during the second break in the rain. I filled the wheelbarrow with compost and added perlite, just like before then created hills for the 7 square foot plots assigned to the sweet potatoes. I had to scoop the compost mix into the bed, rather than pouring, because it happened to be the one bed with completed fencing. It probably ended up helping me out because pouring would have been a mess and could have crushed the tomato-berry plant taking up the rest of the bed. It's interesting that the smallest fruit, tomatoes, take up the most space. The tomato-berry plant needs a 4x4 space compared to the 2x2 space the Parks Whopper and Atkinson needs. Once I completed the hills I grabbed the recycling bin and added the rest of the compost mix from the wheelbarrow into it. It really looked like I'd have enough to fill the bin but it didn't even fill a fourth of it. I went back for a second filling and Perlite addition. Instead of topping off the recycling bin I went straight to Patch because I didn't want to fill the barrow a third time to amend my plots. I had to scoop into the four plots allotted for sweet potatoes in my bed because it wouldn't have worked any other way. I added a scoop to each square foot then mixed it into the existing soil and scooped another 3-4 inches of compost mix on top. Smart Gardener recommended that I amend the top 8 inches of soil with compost so I mixed one large scoop at least four inches deep then added another 3-4 on top. I think this will give my sweet potatoes a great start. Once I'd added the extra few inches of compost to the plots the twine dividers were covered so I pulled them up and pushed the sticks holding them down just about an inch or two so that they would show but not look out of place compared to the other dividers. When that was done I smoothed everything out and cleaned up all the stray compost I'd spilled. I was careful not to make too much of a mess so clean-up was quick. Since I was already clean I decided to get rid of all the weeds I'd pulled and left collecting insects about a week ago. I wasn't able to get rid of them early because of the weather but I've wanted to so I gathered my pile and tossed it. When I cleared everything I noticed that the spot on the path that housed the weeds was covered in worms and potato bugs or rolly-pollies. The worms instantly started inching their way to the nearest soil and the "rollies" began to scurry. I quickly ran to grab anything to smash the RP's with, I found an old tree stake and started to smash away. I think I got most of them and it was kind of fun. I'm starting to think that RP's are much more dangerous and reproduction-happy than I originally thought. They are everywhere, everywhere. 

Georgia...

I finished smashing grabbed my wheelbarrow with some remaining compost and my shovel and headed back to the Georgia Jet bed. I wheeled the barrow past the gate into the drive way then went inside to grab my trowel, planting gloves, and the slips. I poured the excess water out of the Slip cup and headed back out to plant those babies. We ordered 12 plants but only had enough room for 7 in that bed, and I'm using my home grown slips in the 4 plots in Patch, so I rifled through the lot to find the best looking ones. I set them aside and started marking off 12 inches for each plot. Once I'd done that I planted them as high on the compost hill a I could and as centered as possible. I watered them very lightly because I knew the rain was coming and time was running out on my second shift. 

Seven Georgia Jet slips planted on hills. They look bad but the pamphlet said they would and that they'd survive & thrive.

Wawa-melons...

With the remaining compost mix I topped off the recycling bin and decided between peanut plants and watermelon plants. Since peanuts are a root legume I went with the watermelons. I used the 2 plants, planted from seeds on April 3, that were together in 1 newspaper pot because the recycling bin could only hold two, max. I noticed that a mushroom was growing in the pot. So I pulled it out, took the newspaper off (didn't have too), and planted them in the center. I can't wait for them to produce fruit. I love tiny things and seeing the first mini watermelons will be a thrill for me, haha. I finished planting and getting everything I needed inside right in time for the rain. 

Mushroom in my watermelon seedling pot. 

Two watermelon seedlings planted, May 11, 2013.