AHHHHHHH! More Rain

Tropical Storm expected...

So for the last two days its been dark cloudy sunny and raining. The weather changes every 15 minutes so getting out to check on the garden is a game of chance. I got out today for 5 minutes before the sky turned so dark it looked it it would fall but I did pull a handful of strawberries and check on everything. The radishes have repaired themselves. A few weeks ago I noticed that all the roots of the second round were twisted and exposed. I covered them with soil and waited to see what would happen. Well they've started to bulb. One has been eaten to almost nothing by a very well camouflaged worm. I almost touched it. Gross. But other than that they are doing well. 

Once I was done checking on everything I took my berries inside and rinsed them off except for the too that were completely molded by, what seems like, the rain. I cut them open to check if some insect was inside, I was praying there wasn't, and thank God there wasn't. So it must have been the excess moisture. Just like when you wash all the berries at once and put them back in the fridge, they mold twice as fast as if you wash what your going to eat only. Anyway, once rinsed and ready to try I did just that most were tender and juicy but only one was truly sweet and delicious. The smallest one. I guess I'm plucking them off too soon and I thought I might but I rather eat semi-tart berries than throw out moldy ones. 

What I plucked off the 3 separate containers. 

Inside of the berries mostly looked like this. 

One of the molded berries. 

Slippery Roots

Planting Slips...

I went outside this morning and thoroughly watered everything. It was unbelievably hot out and the plants needed the max amour of water they could take for the week. Watering was not much easier today with the hose because I had to unroll it and only water the roots. If you water the plants leaves in very high sun and heat the leaves can burn. The entire plant can burn. So I made sure to water very carefully at the base at each plant and around the soil. Once I was done with that I filled up the watering can and walked into PM and watered everything liberally at the roots. I then went back to refill the watering can, another 2 gallons, and saw that the roots on the slips had developed a little but the leaves were dying so I decided to plant them. Mostly because I didn't think they would produce great roots for much longer without completely dying out. So I grabbed the glass and went into PM with the slips, shovel, watering can, and basket. I planted the 4 of 5 slips that had roots, a bit. I figure since people plant slips without rooting them first that mine will make it especially since they have a few nice and thick roots already starting. The raised bed in Patch is officially filled except for the one little, very little, strip plot which I'll fill with radishes. I had but they didn't germinate. I filled the watering can once more and watered the spinach, watermelon bin, cucumbers, and seedlings yet to be planted then I went inside becAuse the heat was unbearable. The garden will look completely different at the end of this heat wave. It won't really end because we're about to be in June but it will go down to the high 80's put of the mid-90's and the garden will have flourished. Already is...

Monsoon Patch

Rain and Hail...

Today was a hell of a weather day. It was sunny and beautiful out all morning and early afternoon then all of a sudden around 3pm a monsoon hit us. We had rain pellets the size of dimes coming down along with hail the size of gum balls. It seemed like the rain was going to last forever... I stood at the sun room door watching and by the time I got downstairs I saw the sun shining like crazy but it was still raining. Fifteen minutes after that the rain had stopped. 

Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy the beautiful part of the day because I had a pounding headache. I've never had such a bad headache in my life, it truly felt as if my head was palpitating. Between the monsoon weather and the headache I got absolutely no gardening done because after the headache and rain had stopped and I headed out it started raining again. I was lucky to get the pictures I did. The rain has done the garden well. I think it's the type of rain we've gotten. It'll be sunny for hours then pour in the afternoon. Natures done all the work for me the last few days and well. Everything has really started to shoot up, especially the spinach. 

Burpee...

Finally the sweet potato slips were delivered. They never sent me an Email that they were coming, like with the strawberries, so I wasn't checking for deliveries. Mike came down with a package and said "hey you got something but its all soggy and wet." I knew instantly what it was and that it'd been sitting out in the rain for awhile. I opened the strange box that said "live plants" on the side and inside were roots wrapped in damp paper, I'm not sure if they came that way or if that was from the rain, and a rubber band. They look funny, it's hard to explain so I've included a picture below. All I can say is that they don't look anything like the slips I'm growing on my sweet potato in the glass. If I'd know those would work out so well I would never have ordered these. Not because they look bad or dead, they do look weird, but because I would have like to save the money and I'd rather use what I started from scratch. Since Potagar calls for 7 sweet plants we would have needed them anyway but I'll only be using the ones I've grown from a potato in Patch. If you can grow plants from a seed or scraps due so... You know they won't infect your garden. You know how they've been treated and you feel a much greater sense of accomplishment. I can't wait to pull the growing slips off the sweet potato, put them in water, and watch them grow roots. Once, that happens I'll be able to plant them. It'll be a little later than recommended but according to the upcoming weather reports the temperature is going to get down below freezing, at night, for a couple of nights. After that, we should be all warm weather sun and blue skies for awhile. That is the type of weather sweet potatoes need to grow big tubers. 

Planting Georgia Jets...

In the direction pamphlet that came with the Georgia Jet sweet potatoes it says to wait until the evening to plant the slips and that it shouldn't be windy or rainy. Since it is both of those things currently, I won't be planting tonight. In part, I can't plant tonight because I didn't know they were coming and I need to add compost and hill the plots that will hold the tubers. At the moment the plots meant for the GJ's is shallow and will not produce a good size potato. So tomorrow during the day I'll amend both the Potagar and Patch plots meant for sweet potatoes. I'll be amending Patch not because it is a shallow bed but because it was recommended on Smart Gardener. It said that I should amend the top 8 inches with compost. I also want to make the bed even deeper than it is so I give the tubers even more space to grow. Rather than completely mixing in a few scoops of compost I'll add 8 inches and then mix a bit so the plants are planted in hills. Since I can't plant them in Potagar until tomorrow night I've but them in a cup of water with the moss they came wrapped in... it said in the pamphlet that this would keep them for a few days.

Green beans that I've thinned and kept in a cup with water. They've actually grown.

Cucumber plants in a container. Planted on May 7, 2013.

My prized radishes. These are the tallest in Patch so far. You can see the fuller root at the soil line, that's the radish.

First real flower in the 5G bucket. Surprisingly it is on the "grindylow," the plant that isn't supposed to make it.

Georgia Jet's delivered like this. Looking pretty dead but it said that should be the case and they were still healthy.

Sweet potato roots covered in the moss they were shipped in... I'm fairly concerned that there aren't more roots.

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. 

Easter Miracle

It was gloomy and rainy out today so I didn't put my strawberries out. I didn't want to get the greenhouse all water logged. I instead sat them by a window so that they could get some sun from the light between all the clouds. I set them out on the coffee table in the sun room and watered the cups that felt extremely light. The ones that felt heavier I left as is... And firmed the top on.Then I got ready to go to Easter lunch with my family, checked on my seedling testers and left.

After lunch...

I noticed that some of the strawberries had sprouted new growth, just a few hours, after I'd checked on them. The growth rate is incredible. I sat on the floor and just sort of stared. After a couple of minutes I started to count which ones had made progress and how many hadn't. The results came to 25 of 27 alive and well or progressing. Even the little baby "grindylow", as Mike referred to it, had some green. It was actually really satisfying to know that out of the 27 I received the original 25 I'd ordered were alive.

I opened the greenhouse up and added the sweet potato glasses to the mix. I realized that 1 of the glasses (whole pot) had long roots with tiny roots starting to sprout off of the main root. It was another very satisfying realization. The sweet potatoes were slipping and the strawberries were a-growin'. That is my Easter miracle, especially since the spinach and tester seedlings have done absolutely nothing. Those were the 2 things I expected to see results from first when I didn't I was so depressed. The seedling testers technically still have a day until its DOA but I don't think anything is going to happen there. Seed tape is going to be my next test.

I started making seed tape strips this afternoon and hopefully they'll be the answer to getting the spinach, radishes, and carrots to grow. I haven't tested the carrots but was happy that I choose to make tape for them when I saw how unbelievably tiny the seeds were. I would have never been able to sow them properly with a guide.

Boo on the testers and spinach and YAY for the miracle of some growth! FINALLLY!!!! Happy Easter to me... And all!

Barefoot Berries

Shipment Arrives...

My strawberry plants came in the mail today. They were shipped out yesterday and I received an email from Burpee telling me to expect them the next day. I had plans out for the day so I made sure that Mike was checking for them every hour. I didn't want them sitting out in the cold. It wasn't very cold this afternoon but I knew it would get colder as the day went on. Mike texted me around 2pm to let me know that they had arrived. A few hours later, around 5pm, I arrived at home and grabbed the package.

The first thing I said was "Wow this is really small. This is 25 plants?" Mike replied "I don't know. I didn't know what it was suppose to be." So, I opened the package and inside is a plastic bag knotted at the top with what seems like a ton of roots in it. I opened the bag and realized that the roots had crowns but no stems. This was not at all what I was expecting. I knew they were supposed to come barefoot (without soil) but I didn't expect them to have no stems or leaves. I still have no idea if any of them are actually alive and didn't then so I was a little disappointed. 

Planting Begins...

I read the insert it came with and made a decision I would plant them like the Bonnie plants in seed starting pots (in my case paper cups) and let them get rooted so that I could transfer them to the Topsy Turvy in a few weeks. The other option was to wrap the roots in damp paper towels and store them in a shaded place for 1 to 2 weeks which wouldn't give me any real time or not the time I needed. The last frost date is April 16 2013 and even though these are day neutral, able to withstand temperatures between 55-90, the weather outside has been jumping from high 50's and 60's to the high 40's. I can't take the chance of putting them out yet. 

Once I decided what I was going to do I grabbed 2 cardboard trays, 25 paper cups, a pair of kitchen scissors, a needle, and a kabob stick. I grabbed the the Vigoro Organic potting mix too. I lined the cups up on the cardboard trays upside down and started poking holes in the bottoms for drainage. Once, I was done with that I filled each cup with dirt except for 1. I put the barefooted plants into another cardboard tray and took them outside to trim the roots down to three inches. For this task, I'd need a measuring tape and the scissors I'd brought down with me. I sat out on the cement path locked the measuring tape at 4 inches and started measuring 3 inches out on each plants root system and cutting. I probably could have cut a few at a time but I wanted to be extra precise. That took me about 20 minutes then I went back inside to plant each plant in it's cup. 

I had a little trouble spreading the roots out and getting them to stay spread but I finally did by shaking each one upside down first and starting the process with only about an inch of dirt in the cup. Then I filled in the rest with the cup I'd left empty to pour the extra dirt into. Each one took me about 4 minutes. Once I had completed them all, doing a few twice because I'm a bit clumsy when I have a lot around me so I spilled a few and had to redo them, I needed to line the cardboard trays and water them. I ran up to the kitchen and grabbed some parchment paper. I lined each tray with the glossy side up and started watering the new plants with a pre-filled water bottle. I over watered a few to make sure that the needle and kabob stick points were big enough to allow for drainage. They were. 

Praying for Life...

Once everything was watered and on the tray neatly I placed them by a window in the sun room. Hopefully, they'll either stay dormant and alive or get enough light and warmth to grow some before I am able to transfer them. Like I said before I don't know that they are actually alive at the moment. I don't know what a "good" barefoot looks like but I'm praying they are alive and that they'll actually start taking root in there little homes so that they are easy to transplant. I didn't really know how I was going to get them to stay in the Topsy Turvy without the shoe. It would have been pretty, pretty, pretty (said Larry David style) difficult. 

Slippery Sweets

Bored...

The last 2 days I haven't had that much to do concerning P.M. because most of the plants I have chosen to grow are warm/hot weather plants and I hadn't planned on growing my own seedlings. The spinach still needs to be tended to on an every other day basis and checked on everyday but it has yet to germinate. Not that I was expecting my spinach to be super spinach or anything but at the moment the container and faerie plot are a bit on the boring side. I did add the markers to the empty garden, mostly because I am impatient but also as a test. I wanted to make sure that all of the nail polish products used would withstand the rain. Now that they are completely dry I may add a topcoat of clear polish to ensure there survival. Other than that I did a little sweeping, tossing of old plant material, and mulching in the area next to my little garden just so that it all looked uniform and neat. That turned out fine. Just fine. 

I found a few old but beautiful tiles laying behind a bush in the driveway and grabbed 3 of one design (yellow and white swirl) and 2 of another (unsure of how to describe). I cleaned them up with a little all-purpose cleaner and laid them out in a left-right upward pattern on each side of the bed. I placed the spinach container on top of the first tile to the left. I think they add a little something. That took all of 30 minutes and then it was back inside. 

Slips...

I was going through Pinterest while watching RHoBH. I usually go through the garden section before bed just to get a few ideas or read about interesting projects people are trying. As I was going through Pinterest I saw a pin that said "Start garden with kitchen scraps." I didn't click on it to see what the article had to say but the title got me thinking. As I thought it came to me that they must be talking about veggies that get old in your pantry and start to sprout roots or stems. That made me think of onions, garlic, and finally sweet potatoes. The last being an veggie I plan to grow. 

Memory...
I remembered that one day about a year ago Mike and I were going through the kitchen to find something to munch on and found a few sweet potatoes with funny looking "roots." At the time we were both saying things like "Look at this" and "weird" and "Bah" (toss in face). We had a good laugh then tossed the "ruined" potatoes in the garbage. 

Little did I know...I went upstairs to see if we had any sweet potatoes in the pantry with "roots" on them. I hadn't yet Googled "How to grow sprouted S.P's" or anything. I just thought I'd need a couple sweet potatoes with "roots" if I was going to experiment. I found 3. Then I Googled. I found out that you can start with any sweet potato no, what I now knew are slips and not roots, needed but that if they do have slips starting already that you were in better shape than if not. So I read on and found two different methods of creating slips from grocery store sweet pots. 1) using tooth picks to suspend the S.P. submerged halfway in water in a glass container with the slip end up 2) set the sweet potato on top of a little moist soil slip end up. 

Both methods required a warm spot to work. At first the fact that there were two methods confused me. One in only water and one in little water, that didn't seem right. So I found a video that really helped on YouTube, How To Grow Your Own Sweet Potato Slips/Plants. The woman in the video documents growing slips both ways over the course of about 4 weeks. Both approaches worked well. She also explained the part that the written articles did not mention or didn't explain properly... after the slips have grown (both methods) you must snap them off and submerge the bottom in water to root, then plant if it's warm enough. Without this little nugget of info my slips my have made it through the first step but they never would have become potatoes. I had all the information on growing slips that I needed and the time to try it. 

Bored no more...

I'm psyched for tomorrow! I'll set up both methods on a windowsill in the house and spend the next few weeks attempting to grow my own slips. I'll use the 3 I'd found with slips already forming and 1 without as a small test within my test. Also, that will even it out 2 for each method. If they all don't work out I'll just buy them at the local Home Depot or nursery. I'm really excited to try it either way. The potatoes with just the slips on them were beautiful and it would be great to say I started the plants from scratch, basically. Problem of nothing to do for my garden until ALFD, solved! 

Hard Patch

What I did to plan...

Like I said in my first blog I found this amazing website called SmartGardener.com. It allowed me to lay out my square foot garden in square feet, choose plants, and recommended which plants would be best planted next to each other by laying them out on the grid using pictures of the veggie or fruit. It also allowed me to choose containers in the shape and sizes I planned on using. As you know, I plan on decorating the raised bed by placing containers of spinach and what ever else germinates from a seed around it along with the strawberry topsy turvy. 

Choosing the veggies...

So I did all of the steps and choose all my veggies. Then I changed the veggies from radishes, carrots, spinach, peppers, and sweet potatoes to all of those minus the radishes add the eggplant. The site recommended varieties that would grow well in my region (Arlington, VA). So I choose shooting star eggplants, Danver 126 carrots, Porto Rico sweet potatoes (no i didn't spell it wrong) bloomsdale longstanding spinach and jalapeno peppers. After sticking with that plan for about a day I decided that the eggplant variety would be hard to find in seedling form and took up too much space for something that I wasn't really that into. Then I decided that I wanted to try cherries to be specific I wanted to try the Cossack Pineapple. That ended up needing 4x4 sq. ft. so I dropped that really quick. I looked through all the recommends for my region and space and realized that 1) a lot of the seedlings for the recommended veggies were not available 2) I didn't like a lot of them and 3) that the ones that I did like were root veggies. I wanted 50/50. Meaning that I could pick 50% of the "reward" off of a plant and pull 50% out of the ground like the carrots. 

I'm really discouraged at the moment. I ended up plotting my garden from (left to right) as follows;

00- Easter Egg Radishes 
Good part- they look pretty because they are 3 different colors
Bad part- I don't really eat radishes. Never have! My mom does though so I'll give them to her. Also they are a root. At 25%. OH! And they are a seed start... read below for why this is a bad thing. 

01- Jalapeno Peppers
Good Part- pickable and love them in salsa 
Bad Part- I cannot eat that many because I have severe acid re-flux. 

02- Danver 126 & Red Core Carrots
Good Part- since carrots only need 1x1 sq. foot to grow about 16 plants I can grow 2 different types and Mike loves carrots and blue cheese dressing 
Bad Part- I am growing them from seeds because all the books and sites say its easy and cheap but I don't know that for sure. I may get nothing out of them. Also, a root. At 50%. 

03- Bush Porto Rico Sweet Pots. 
Good Part- I grew them last year and love sweet pots. 
Bad Part- At 75% for roots. 

04- Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach (container) 
Good Part- My mom loves spinach, I can start this right away from seeds in a 1x1 container and grow 4 plants. 
Bad Part- same thing as carrots; books and sites say use seeds I never have so don't know if i'll get one green leaf especially since they are a cool/warm crop in a global warming VA spring season.

005- Ozark & Allstar Strawberries
Good Part- One is a june-bearer and one an ever-bearer. I'll have strawberries all summer/spring long. 
Bad Part- I killed my strawberry last year and don't want these to die too. Along with the carrots, spinach, and radishes. 

If all goes well I'll have an amazing crop... if all goes poorly I may have a pepper and a sweet pot. if the bunnies don't get them first. This fun hobby has become more stressful by the moment.