Cherry Bellby

Patch Cherry Belle...

I went into Patch for an hour today, about the only hour of sun we received. I looked at everything and checked for pest damage and then had a good look at the radishes. I went online last night and googled "cherry belle radishes" so that I could get some idea of what they were supposed to look like at harvest time. I was relieved to see that the harvested and size able radishes pictured were not much bigger than my biggest plants are now. So when I was making sure all the radishes were about 3" apart today I thinned one out next to my biggest plant. I wanted to make sure that it had enough space. It was a little plant and shaded by the others from the sun. I pulled it out and found a tiny baby cherry belle at the end. I wished I hadn't thinned it at first but it actually gave me confidence in the bigger plants. They are definitely growing a root veggie. 

Five Gallons...

After inspecting and pulling that one radish I took a good look at the 5G bucket. It's caused me some major concern because it was growing the strongest plants but with absolutely no flower buds and no signs of buds to come. On closer inspection today I saw signs of flower buds to come, finally. I have a feeling that even though they were the slowest to flower, that they will produce the most and best fruits. They really took there time to set up good roots, I'm guessing, and a good plant base so why wouldn't they set up good fruit. Confidence in Patch has returned! 

On an unrelated but interesting note the green beans I thinned and put in water have grown in the cup. I'll be planting them in a small container as an experiment tomorrow. 

Breaking Bad-- TEA?

Compost Tea...

Today, I did a couple side dressing things. I don't know what the difference is between side dressing and just overall care but that's what the label is on Smart Gardener so I am going with it. I don't use the exact side dressings recommended on Smart Gardener because I've done an enormous amount of reading on gardening and growing veggies so I wanted to try a few different things. I started with the compost tea, which was a recommendation, but I didn't do all the crazy stuff they list online like using a bubbler, strainer and extractor. To be honest it reminds me a little to much of Breaking Bad I didn't want to make the equivalent of Blue Sky compost tea. All I wanted to due was add some of the nutrients from compost into my already planted but not composted crops, like my spinach. Smart Gardener suggested that I side dress with compost tea every 3 weeks after the plants are 4 inches tall. Because my plants are supposed to be  harvest-able in like 30 days and there not even close, I decided to add compost tea at 3 inches. See I planted the spinach in the MG garden soil, no perlite. I think it definitely lacks something. So I went about brewing tea. I made a little sache garni with some old cloth, compost in the middle, folded up the ends, and rip tied. I put it in a 14 oz. disposable plastic (heat resistant) cup and poured boiling water over it. I let the "tea" steep for 4 hours as it cooled outdoors and then poured half of the mixture over the soil in my spinach container. I was very careful not to get it on the edible leaves. I only poured half of the mixture because the container didn't need 14 ounces of water. It is probably better to make it a couple days before you need it and water very infrequently before pouring it over so that the most nutrients are absorbed. Anyway, I poured the remaining half into 5G strawberry bucket because it is a "Heavy" fertilizer need plant.

Although, I used the steeped version of compost tea I made an even simpler version. I put a tablespoon of compost in a plastic cup, opened the tap over it, filled, and mixed with a kabob stick until most of the compost had broken down. The mixture was much darker had very little to b strained and only seemed to get darker and darker as it sat. I let that mixture sit for a few hours as well although I'm sure I could have poured it in almost right away. I really only used the steeped version because I'd put more work into it. The chocolate milk version really seemed richer and was much easier. The point of compost tea is to add nutrients that the plants roots can absorb like water. Very simple. You don't need a double bubble, strainer, tubes, Bunsen burners and all that crap. Just water and compost or water cloth/paper towel string/tie and compost. Whichever you like more. 

Epsom Spray....

Like I said I didn't follow all of the suggestions on Smart Gardener to a T. I'd read a lot about the use of Epsom salt and the great affect it has on plants. Epsom salt, not actually being salt but magnesium sulfate, adds nutrients to the plants leaves that produce a bushier, bigger, and sweeter crop. So I mixed one tsp. of Epsom salt into a plant spray bottle shook and went a-sprayin'. I sprayed all of my strawberry plants, the onion plants, the spinach, and the lettuce. All of them were said to benefit. I didn't spray the tomatoes because I put a tablespoon of Epsom salt in the hole when I planted them. I won't spray them for another 3 weeks and I'll let you know if it has a negative or seemly positive affect on the plants I did spray. I left my tests in the greenhouse un-sprayed to compare and contrast the results. 

Strawberry rocks... 

When I went outside to spray I noticed there were a lot of birds about. All of which I suspiciously suspected of wanted to peck at my plants. Because I am so overly protective of the strawberries as you know I ran inside, grabbed my painted rocks, and placed them about. I don't think they are going to work as I've strewn them about just because it doesn't look like they are hanging off the plants. I don't know that the birds are that smart but I rather be safe than sorry so tomorrow Ill glue them to the containers so that they appear to be hanging off the side. CRAZY PLANT LADY - ONE! 

Compost Tea- sache garni (Left) and chocolate milk type mix (Right). 

Sugar Baby!

Watermelon...

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.

Outdoor Patch & Vid2

Planting more...

This morning and afternoon I worked in the scorching weather planting more watermelon seeds, almost all of the rest of the strawberries, watering, and planting another round of Lemon Balm. 

I planted a few more watermelon seeds in the hopes that they would germinate like a few of the others have and I'd be able to give them to AFAC. I didn't plant them all in the beginning because they were my "reach" plant. If they did germinate then I'd planned to grow more. Not all of them have, yet, but I do hope they will. I planted the new pots with compost, perlite, and organic potting mix. I think the compost will give the watermelon seeds the kick they need. I also planted the seeds that were in the bottle. They weren't doing anything at all so I guess those are our results. You cannot pre-germinate scarified or any watermelon seeds. I am hoping the ones in the bottle will germinate in soil so we'll have some data on whether or not scarifying helps any. 

I planted some more Lemon Balm because I'd forgotten to plant a control group. The cups I did plant of Lemon Balm were with primed seeds that actually turned out very difficult to plant. I still don't know that I got any of them in the pots. I have a few more days until the proposed germination time is up so I guess we'll find out soon. In the mean time, I wanted to make sure I had both primed and controlled groups trying to germinate. Lemon Balm is really amazing in deterring pests, it smells great, and is used for medicinal purposes. It would be nice to have some around. 

I replaced 2 of the strawberry plants (from the top 2 ports) in the Topsy Turvy. One had completely died because the roots weren't covered and one was almost dead. I was able to revive the second by removing it from the TT planter and planting it back in a cup with mostly compost. It has perked up a lot since. I added two new plants to the TT and more compost and soil to make sure that the roots were fully covered and watering wouldn't wash them out. So far Topsy Turvy is getting a thumbs down. Because I can't rely on the TT planter, and I have extra strawberry plants, I planted the 5-gallon bucket I painted with 7 strawberry plants. I poked holes in the bottom of the bucket with nails and a hammer and planted along the rim so that the plants would hang over the edge when they got tall enough. That way I don't have to worry about rotting fruit. I'm hoping one of the two planters or both gives me a good harvest. In case your wondering, I'm able to plant that many plants in a small container because 1) I don't plan to let the runners grow and 2) the plants don't need as much space when they've got a "wall" on one side. 

After I planted and watered the 5-gallon bucket I carried it over to Patch and set it down while I grabbed 3 bricks to lay under the bucket. The bricks have 2 holes in them and will help with drainage for the planter. This will be a test of which works best... more traditional planter or Topsy Turvy Upside Down planter?

Thinning seeds after step 2 and tour of Patch Outdoors.

Making the planter hammering nails in to make holes.

Planter completed and set on bricks to help with drainage.