Gardening Journal
Okay, so it's been billions of years since I've posted one of these. Life is keeping me very busy, as is the day-to-day maintenance of the garden. Writing is a distant third in my priorities. :)
I bought way too much at the Friends' Plant Sale, as always. Some of it is still waiting to be planted/repotted; more on this to come, no doubt. I am particularly delighted to have found a nice little bay laurel. I also got a pomegranate. It claims to be self-fertile; if I'm very lucky I may eventually get edible fruit out of the deal.
We had one cold night during the second week in May and lost a tomato and a cucumber. The tomato I replanted, but I was out of cucumbers. The basil lost it leaves but there was enough root there that it's leafing out again (although we did replant one of the three Genovese basil with one we had started in a pot). A couple of the peppers looked rough for a bit but have now recovered.
In fact, almost everything is looking fabulous. The sunberries are unbelievably vigorous; I hope they taste good, too. The broccoli is amazing, as is the parsley. Most of the tomatoes and peppers look grand. Everything is going like gangbusters except the cucumbers and rosemary, which are getting kind of a slow start. For rosemary, of course, that's just the nature of the beast.
I got myself a very nice hoe - the compact triangle-head variety, which is fantastic for a small garden like mine. I love it; I can't imagine trying to do all this weeding by hand.
The peas are in blossom, but nothing else is yet. However, I've already harvested half the radishes. We re-seeded with carrots because I think we'll end up eating many more carrots than radishes. It surprised me how much spicier the radishes got after just a few extra days' maturity - these claim to mature in 21 days, and they're not kidding.
Lessons for next year:
I haven't managed to deliver plants to everybody who spoke for them, but I do still have them!
I bought way too much at the Friends' Plant Sale, as always. Some of it is still waiting to be planted/repotted; more on this to come, no doubt. I am particularly delighted to have found a nice little bay laurel. I also got a pomegranate. It claims to be self-fertile; if I'm very lucky I may eventually get edible fruit out of the deal.
We had one cold night during the second week in May and lost a tomato and a cucumber. The tomato I replanted, but I was out of cucumbers. The basil lost it leaves but there was enough root there that it's leafing out again (although we did replant one of the three Genovese basil with one we had started in a pot). A couple of the peppers looked rough for a bit but have now recovered.
In fact, almost everything is looking fabulous. The sunberries are unbelievably vigorous; I hope they taste good, too. The broccoli is amazing, as is the parsley. Most of the tomatoes and peppers look grand. Everything is going like gangbusters except the cucumbers and rosemary, which are getting kind of a slow start. For rosemary, of course, that's just the nature of the beast.
I got myself a very nice hoe - the compact triangle-head variety, which is fantastic for a small garden like mine. I love it; I can't imagine trying to do all this weeding by hand.
The peas are in blossom, but nothing else is yet. However, I've already harvested half the radishes. We re-seeded with carrots because I think we'll end up eating many more carrots than radishes. It surprised me how much spicier the radishes got after just a few extra days' maturity - these claim to mature in 21 days, and they're not kidding.
Lessons for next year:
- I think I already mentioned that I intend to start all my indoor seedlings in the large pots (36 per tray).
- Start peppers and tomatoes just a bit later - Mid-March should do the trick. Start rosemary very early and cucumbers very late. I know that various organizations provide charts for this, and I'll use them this time around.
- Remember to put the darned calcium in this time.
- Make sure to put the broccoli where it can't overshadow anything. It's not tall, but it's dense!
- The vine on the south fence is incredibly vigorous; I'll have to remove it at the source if I intend to grow anything sun-loving near it.
I haven't managed to deliver plants to everybody who spoke for them, but I do still have them!