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Monday, May 6, 2013

Update On The Garden 5.6.13




It has been a few weeks since my last post, but here is a quick recap:
  • Since it's been quite cold so late this season, I have put off planting the tomatoes until last week. My plants are all snuggled in a greenhouse, so one night of frost isn't going to bother them, but I have waited until the average temp has been about 60 degrees inside. I've planted 6 black Krims, 6 big boys, and 2 san marzanos in the beds, and am waiting until the tomatillos are a little bigger before I transplant them.
    • I had read online that it is best to plant the tomato plant stems deep in soil, so this year, since the stems were already nearly 2 feet tall, I planted them about a foot deep, leaving just enough room to let the bottom set of leaves droop without touching soil. In each pot I planted 1 egg shell, 1/2 cup used coffee grounds, and about 1 inch from the top of the soil I planted a banana peel. I had made a really great Dominican Banana Bread that week and had plenty of peels to plant. 
    • With any extra egg shells I've had from cooking I let dry and crushed at the base of my tomato plants. I don't have enough for all of the peppers/eggplants/tomatoes yet but I'm working on it. Last year we had a heck of a time with slugs in the garden; they were not really ruining anything, they were just everywhere. Thankfully, after it rained, a hungry gardner snake would come in and have himself a buffet and leave. Unfortunately, two people in my family hate snakes and want them banned from the garden. I don't feel this way because they help out tremendously. If you can manage to let them in, you'll be surprised on how much good they can do.
  • My squash is still inside for now. I'm waiting until they reach a decent height to be able to rest on chicken wire, so maybe another week and we will be fine.
  • The cantaloupe plants are taking over the sunny window i n my kitchen, but it's still been a bit too cool for them to take a chance of transplanting them outside. Better safe than sorry.                  
  • The cucumber seeds have not sprouted yet. I seem to remember having this problem last year, that they waited to sprout, and then when they did it was crazy with cucumbers. 
  • The 100 onion sets I planted are doing great, and no one has plucked them (thank God we didn't have a repeat of last year when someone thought they were weeds. Not me, someone else.).
  • Carrots are finally sprouting. It took them quite some time, but I read that they take on average 3 weeks to sprout.
  • The broccoli plant has doubled in size but nothing has been produced yet.
  • I planted an entire packet of green beans in one bed based on last year's growth rates. Last year about half started to grow before stopping and dying suddenly. This year, every single one is popping (75 of them so far) (wow) and they're doing great. 
  • Debating whether or not to plant strawberry plants in gutter or reuseable grocery bags. 
  • Decided to plant mint in the pots that the san marzanos were going to be in, however I have yet to do this yet. Yes, I am being super lazy.
Also to note, we have put in the first half of a DIY irrigation system. Last year it would take on average a good hour at least to water everyone, and then doing it nearly every day. Not only was it obnoxious and taking up way too much time, the hose was knocking everything around and nearly took out my sweet little grape plant. In a later post I'm going to show how I did it inexpensively so that you can do it, too. This one we hit a few bumps in the road, but the second half of the system will be 100% better and "kink" free. 





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