Saturday, March 27, 2010

March 27, 2010

Well, spring showers has been an understatement since my last post.  It's rained off and on for the last few days.  That's probably a good thing for my plants since I don't have water outside at the moment.  I haven't re-attached the backyard hose and the front yard hose is missing a spiggot following the pipe freezing this winter.  Probably a project I should tackle soon.  Don't you think?

Anyway, I finally planted out my salad greens and cole crops.  They were clearly outgrowing their 2 inch soil blocks and beginning to wilt.



Compare that to two days earlier from my last post.  Note to self, start hardening off sooner so it doesn't get this far.  Oh, well, cool weather crops have historically been very resilient, so I'm hoping they bounce back.

Of course it had to start raining the day I planted these out.  So much for taking my time and letting my kids help.  I just threw them in the ground.



Sorry looking greens if I ever saw them.  Sure hope they ounce back.  Anyway, the picture above is my three foot wide bed, which works well for my lettuce since I have three varieties.  I'm more hopeful for the Italiensheir and Red Sails.  The salad bowl has seen better days.  Man they went downhill fast. 

Not sure if you noticed the bare space in the bottom right hand corner. I didn't plant anything there.  It's not the best space, so I threw in a handfull of radishes.  You can't have spring salads without radishes, hehe.

Lastly, I planted my cole crops. All four broccoli and cauliflower worked well for me, though they were getting a bit leggy despite my plans otherwise with the light system and fan to simulate wind.



I'm tempted to cut a toilet paper roll in thirds and ring these plants. I recall in years past I may have had something nibbling at them.  Never found out what they were, but now would be the time to try to thwart it.  Thoughts?

Well, Spring is here, so I hope you're thawing out and getting outside.  Gardening time is upon us. Enjoy your garden!

6 comments:

  1. I am sure the rains are just what those transplants need to bounce back for you. Hopefully you will be enjoying some fresh lettuce salads soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I always have to put toilet paper roll collars on my plants, or the cutworms annihilate them every time.

    Good to see you back blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The rain seems like it will help them settle right in to get happy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is the composition of Mel's Mix? I can't find it on your web site.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wish I had more seedlings to plant out this year. Instead, I primarily went with direct sowing which hasn't been such a great idea in hind sight. I have so many empty squares in the garden... I am going to have to start some seedlings inside to fill in the gaps.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I find that when young seedlings fall over as if something has chewed the base it is a result of cut worm. The best answer is to put some kind of collar around the base. Lately I have been making my own planters from Newspaper with a collar already made as you can plant the whole container in the ground leaving only an inch or two still remaining above ground.

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete