Sweet like Syrup

Strawberries...

Mike got home from Atlantic City after making 11th place out of hundreds in the tournament. He took the 4:35am train to Union Station and got home at 9am. So he woke me up on his way in... I spent a good part of the early/late afternoon resting then went out to "Sea Magic" all of the plants. I attempted spraying the tomatoes but they are so huge it's impossible so I watered them, sprayed everything else, and lightly watered the strawberry containers with the magic. Then I picked a few berries. Mike helped and got to try his first ones. Two were sweet but not as sweet as the last. The last one was as sweet as strawberry syrup. It was amazing. Of course it looked slightly mashed but that's how the farmers market strawberries look too. So it was the best one as of yet. Amazingly sweet an the best I've EVER tasted. 

Everything else needs to be weeded, badly. Slugs are arriving and the garden just needs to be tended to in general. I have my work cut out for me on what is supposed to be the hottest weekend yet. If I don't maintain things will start to go to seed and die. So I've got get on it, just not today. Too tired.

The darkest one was the syrup one. 

Tomatoes everywhere.

Green bean plants and slugged lettuce. 

Six Trellises

Dollar Tree...

This afternoon I maintained the garden mostly. Pulled a few weeds and watered. Nothing too crazy. Then around 5ish I went out to run some Potagar related errands. I stopped at the Dollar Tree up the street to get some cheap, large, plastic containers. I thought they sold assorted neon color 2 ft tall circular bins with rope handles. They didn't, I asked the clerk and he said that since I'd asked he'd order them but in the mean time I picked up three, 2ft wide and 1ft deep, containers. They weren't a dollar but they were much cheaper than the plastic planters they sell at Home Depot. After I went to The Dollar Tree I went to Home Depot for a few things and made a point of comparing prices. The same size containers at Home Depot were $13.95, more than double the price.

Home Depot...

At Home Depot I grabbed 6 wooden trellis all about 4ft high and 2ft wide. They look a lot better than the ones I made and are much sturdier. I'll use the bamboo to make container trellises. I got a bag of mulch and then went looking for preemptive weed killer made if corn gluten and organic weed & grass killer. The corn gluten doesn't allow seeds to germinate but doesn't kill existing weeds. The organic spray kills existing weeds but doesn't stop them from coming back. So I needed both. I looked all over the garden center and to be honest didn't see but 3 super toxic versions of weed killer. Finally, I asked an employee and they told me that they kept that stuff inside. Duh! He walked me in and I found the EcoSmart Weed and Grass killer. It wasn't the exact one I was looking for but it worked the same way. Then I looked for the Corn Gluten. They didn't have it. They were supposed to have it but they didn't. Online it said they carried it in stores. In the same aisle they stocked weed killers they stocked pesticides an I found a spray bottle of Captain Jack's organic pesticide. I was so psyched to see it. I like the dust but it washes off in a heavy rain and you cannot reapply for 2 whole weeks. I grabbed a bottle and headed to check out. 

Tomorrow ill work on setting up the trellises, poking drainage holes in the containers, planting the plants that don't have bed space assigned to them, spraying Captain Jack, and most of all doing it with La mama. She has the day off, so we'll lunch then work! I'm excited to work in the garden with anyone but especially her. Usually I garden alone. 

One a Penny

Baking soda...

I went out today and made sure that everything was still moist and didn't water. I've been trying to control myself when it comes to watering. Part of the reason my strawberry plant died last year was that I over watered it, burned it with garlic water "insecticide", and lacked drainage. So I am trying to control my impulse to water more and more. 

I went into Patch after checking on everything in Potagar and noticing that a bundle of weeds have grown in the empty bed. I checked on everything in Patch and then noticed that there were little holes in the radish leaves. Not all of them but some of them. Something tiny, like an insect, is eating my radish leaves. I don't know that, that means that my radishes are unhealthy but that will definitely make them unhealthy if they aren't already. All of the references have said that healthy plants mean less bugs but I don't see any unhealthy signs except for the holes caused by the bugs. So I went inside and made one of the sprays I read about. I mixed half a tsp of detergent and 3/4 a tablespoon of baking soda with a gallon of water. I mixed it up and then put it into a spray bottle. Since the radishes were getting eaten before I could test I diluted the spray with a little extra water and sprayed all over the radishes. I'm hoping that a diluted version will rid the radishes of the few bugs there are now and won't burn my plants. 

Pennies and Vinegar...

After I finished doing that I went inside and mixed up a batch of 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of detergent with a gallon of water. I grabbed the bag of pennies and mosaic glue. I put the mixture into another spray bottle and took all of the things I'd grabbed outside. I sprayed the weeds in the empty bed with the vinegar spray. I spray them liberally, hoping, that would take care of them for awhile. Then I went into Patch sat down opened the bag of pennies and glue and started gluing pennies to the side of the 8G container. I was putting glue on the back of each penny, at first, but that was taking too long so I spread the glue out in a straight line around the entire bucket and started sticking the pennies on. Before I did any of that I sanded the bucket a bit so they would stick on better. When I was done it looked festive and it'll keep the slugs/snails off my strawberries. I've read, in several places, that copper and snail/slug slime cause an electric shock for the bug, so they avoid it. I initially looked for copper tape but the hardware store and Home Depot didn't carry it, in stores or online. I looked online to buy some but I couldn't find it. I'll have to look again and more thoroughly for the Potagar beds but for my buckets pennies were just fine, better than fine, they go with my low cost theme. I moved on and completed the 5G bucket. I was going to glue a couple around the base of the Shephard hook holding the Topsy but I thought again. I'm going to wait until I find the tap for that. I don't want to add even a gram of weight to that thing. 

I gathered everything up and went inside. 

Gluing pennies on to the 8G bucket. 

Completed 8G bucket. The glue will dry clear.

Both buckets finished. I think they look decorative.