Is it weird I have that Willie Nelson song in my head? It feels good to be gardening again.
Lots of planting progress has been made. Last week on the 23rd of May, I popped in some nasturtium seeds (Fordhook Favorites Mix) to crawl up my metal trellis that's stuck in the center of one of the garden boxes. I soaked the seeds in water overnight first, like Mom always does w/ her seeds. The package said to nick the seeds w/ a file to scarify them but really, who's got that kind of time? I guess I could have rubbed them between sandpaper, but didn't think of it at the time. Hopefully the water soak loosened their seed coats up enough. Nasturtiums are attractive to hummingbirds and are edible flowers so I should be eating some fancy salads this summer. La tee da!
On Monday when we got back from Memorial weekend camping, I transplanted my onion sets and broccoli out of their flats finally. They are looking happier and so am I.
Then this afternoon, the Girl and I had a planting extravaganza: We transplanted the tomato plants (12 total) and pepper plants (9 total) that had still been hiding out in the basement under grow lights. Looking at the 10 day forecast showing 80's finally and even 90's predicted for this Friday, it seems the heat is finally here and they should thrive. We also planted seed for Cucumbers, Lettuce, Carrots and Radishes (yes, I know I said I wasn't growing carrots, leave it to me to change my mind), Beans, Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Chives and Oregano. (I'm pretty darn lazy, so rather than me typing them all again, you can see variety names in the Feb blog titled 'Anticipation'). The Girl's new word of the day was 'seed' and every time I opened a seed packet she came marching over saying 'help, help'. She actually did pretty well at dropping the seeds where I showed her to. She also ate at least one mouthful of dirt, but my sister says that makes kids grow and I'm going to take her word for it.
Here's the planting layout:
The circles are tomato cages that I laid out corner to corner and they look kind of cool lined up. I was going to buy some low wire garden fence and put it corner to corner in the lower middle bed to grow my snap peas on and continue the giant 'X' pattern in the four boxes, but I think I've missed the boat on planting that cool crop this year. I have planted them too late before and they just turn to junk in hot weather, so I'm not even going to bother.
This evening, I wrangled up most of the strawberry plants that were growing rogue along the edge of the patio and transplanted them into their designated potager box. They had escaped a patio container a few summers ago and were attempting to take over our one acre lawn.
In other news, our neighborhood Old-Guy-Next-Door told me today that he had a bear empty his bird feeders two nights ago. EEK! Hubby is terribly excited about it. Me, just wondering if it's safe to build a compost bin or if the bear will think it's his own private salad bar...
Lots of planting progress has been made. Last week on the 23rd of May, I popped in some nasturtium seeds (Fordhook Favorites Mix) to crawl up my metal trellis that's stuck in the center of one of the garden boxes. I soaked the seeds in water overnight first, like Mom always does w/ her seeds. The package said to nick the seeds w/ a file to scarify them but really, who's got that kind of time? I guess I could have rubbed them between sandpaper, but didn't think of it at the time. Hopefully the water soak loosened their seed coats up enough. Nasturtiums are attractive to hummingbirds and are edible flowers so I should be eating some fancy salads this summer. La tee da!
On Monday when we got back from Memorial weekend camping, I transplanted my onion sets and broccoli out of their flats finally. They are looking happier and so am I.
Then this afternoon, the Girl and I had a planting extravaganza: We transplanted the tomato plants (12 total) and pepper plants (9 total) that had still been hiding out in the basement under grow lights. Looking at the 10 day forecast showing 80's finally and even 90's predicted for this Friday, it seems the heat is finally here and they should thrive. We also planted seed for Cucumbers, Lettuce, Carrots and Radishes (yes, I know I said I wasn't growing carrots, leave it to me to change my mind), Beans, Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Chives and Oregano. (I'm pretty darn lazy, so rather than me typing them all again, you can see variety names in the Feb blog titled 'Anticipation'). The Girl's new word of the day was 'seed' and every time I opened a seed packet she came marching over saying 'help, help'. She actually did pretty well at dropping the seeds where I showed her to. She also ate at least one mouthful of dirt, but my sister says that makes kids grow and I'm going to take her word for it.
Here's the planting layout:
 |
| The Map |
The circles are tomato cages that I laid out corner to corner and they look kind of cool lined up. I was going to buy some low wire garden fence and put it corner to corner in the lower middle bed to grow my snap peas on and continue the giant 'X' pattern in the four boxes, but I think I've missed the boat on planting that cool crop this year. I have planted them too late before and they just turn to junk in hot weather, so I'm not even going to bother.
 |
| Progress... |
This evening, I wrangled up most of the strawberry plants that were growing rogue along the edge of the patio and transplanted them into their designated potager box. They had escaped a patio container a few summers ago and were attempting to take over our one acre lawn.
 |
| Notice the partially filled strawberry box in far left. Trellis in middle of that box is for nasturtiums. |
In other news, our neighborhood Old-Guy-Next-Door told me today that he had a bear empty his bird feeders two nights ago. EEK! Hubby is terribly excited about it. Me, just wondering if it's safe to build a compost bin or if the bear will think it's his own private salad bar...
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