Melons Planted

Yesterday I got my melon seedlings in the ground. They are taking the place of the many strawberry plants that never decided to grow. Hopefully today I'll get the rest of my squash plants in. The four squash plants that I put in a couple weeks ago are HUGE compared to the ones that are still in their pots. It's interesting to see such a difference when they were all about the same size not too long ago.

I also managed to get all of my herbs into pots and baskets (finally) along with the remaining pepper seedlings (an ancho/poblano that looks good and a dulcetta that I don't think is going to make it), an artichoke, and moving the two boysenberry plants into a larger pot. I put a japanese cucumber plant (bought from Home Depot a few days ago) into a basket on the side yard. I'm not sure how well it will do there, but if it thrives I think it will be an interesting addition to my little container garden.

It's a hot day, and summer is certainly on its way. Jobs for today (or tomorrow): Get the squash plants in and start some corn seedlings.

Recipe Therapy

I was out watering my garden today only to find that one of my beloved dogs snapped my Hawaiian Currant tomato plant right off its stem. In an attempt to calm myself down I came inside to look up recipes. I found this squash gnocci and spinach recipe and a fresh tomato soup recipe, both of which I must try later this year.

As for the Hawaiian Currant plant, I guess I'll be paying a visit to another one of Laurel's plant sales this weekend to see if I can locate a suitable replacement. I was REALLY excited about this plant considering I'd ordered one last year and didn't get one, but I suppose any red cherry type would be satisfactory. In the meantime, the dogs are seriously in the dog house.

On a somewhat more positive note, it appears the asian greens have started to sprout, the radishes have definitely sprouted, and I'm putting some chive and scallion seeds into my tomato bed today.

Herbs Sprouting

One of the fun things about the aquaponics garden is that you get to see some different aspects of plant life that you don't normally get to watch.

For example, all of the basil seeds have puffed up with a white casing around their originally black seeds.


And the cress seeds in a rockwool pot have already started to put out some roots! They've only been in there for about a day and a half now, so this is very exciting. I suspect the germination time will be much shorter for these seeds than in the ground partly because of the constant water supply and partly because the water is heated (ideally it won't fall below about 67 degrees).



Yesterday afternoon I set up a duckweed trough by sawing a plastic 55gal drum in half. Tilapia are mostly vegetarian and supposedly love duckweed. There is also the benefit that duckweed is still alive when you feed it to the fish so it doesn't rot and gunk up the tank if it doesn't get eaten. So I bought some off of eBay a couple weeks ago and have been nursing it back to health in a bowl inside. Now it is out in the trough along with some Fish/Kelp emulsion and some E.B. Stone Tomato and Vegetable Food. I'm hoping I can grow duckweed quickly enough to be a sustainable food source for my Tilapia.

Show Me the Green

My first strawberry leaves have started to pop up along with the first sweet pea, and many of the fava beans are breaking ground as well!

Strawberry Start (Sequoia?)

Fava Bean and Sweet Pea Shoots

I spent the afternoon double digging the vegetable bed. I got halfway done, so hopefully I'll finish that up tomorrow. It won't be a minute too soon either. I put peas in wet paper towels on Monday and they're already trying to sprout. The sooner I can get those off my kitchen counter and into the ground, the better!

Squash/Melon Flat

Pepper Seedlings

My seedlings are coming along. Many of the herbs died, but the squash, melons, and peppers are all putting up their first true leaves.

Dead Herbs (except one Cilantro)

I reseeded a few pots in my squash/melon seedling flat today. The first seeds sprouted promptly and then wilted. I was afraid I'd lose the whole flat that way, but they seem fine.
Hopefully these seeds catch up soon.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A fresh start

Clearly, I am terrible at keeping a journal of any sort. I haven't posted in months and my garden has been almost as neglected. So, with Spring just around the corner, a new batch of seeds flats, and an iPhone to hopefully make it easier to post...I'm beginning again.



I've got melons, squash, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, and a variety of herb seeds in seed starter mix.



A couple courageous melons have started to creep upwards and I look forward to seeing their more timid flat mates soon. Boysenberry starts from my Aunt Steph are also waking up for Spring.




This morning I sprayed Round-up on the weeds that infiltrated my beds over the winter and I look forward to their slow death that will ensue. By the time my little seed children are ready to go out and play, hopefully I'll have the beds weed free and dug to fluffiness. Beet, carrot, radish, chard, and pea seeds are at the ready and will hopefully make their way into the garden in the next week.

It's good to be back with my hands in the dirt!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy Weekend

Alright...I spent all of Saturday afternoon and a couple hours on Sunday in the garden. Here's what happened:

In the Tomato Bed:

1. Tomatoes got pruned (any branches that were dead, dying, munched, or too close to the ground) and tied vertically against the fence



2. 13 Basil Seedlings (3 each Lemon, Mini, Purple, Genovese and 1 Sweet) were transplanted into the bed



3. 3 Scallions were transplanted into the bed



4. 1 Anaheim Pepper and 1 Red Bell Pepper purchased from Home Depot were planted
   


5. A cup or two of E.B. Stone Vegetable fertilizer was sprinkled on the bed
   


6. A bag of compost/mulch was spread around the bed

Along the concrete wall:

1. The edible peas and sweet peas were yanked up



2. Two bags of compost/mulch was spread around



3. Runner beans were planted (12 inch spacing...right under the drip line drips)



4. 1 Edamame bean was planted (I had others but I left them out overnight and somebody stole them)



5. Carrots tops were unburied so that they can continue to grow despite the mulch



6. Cucumber seeds were planted (3 sweet cucumbers, 3 English cucumbers)



7. A 5ish ft row of radishes alternating with carrots was planted.
   

In the corner:

1. 1 bag of compost/mulch was spread around



2. 7 corn seedlings were transplanted (and one new seed)
   


3. 1 acorn , 1 delicata, and 1 spaghetti squash were transplanted



4. 4 Sunzilla Sunflower Seeds
   

Seedlings Update

I moved some of the basil out of the covered seedling tray so that I can keep that tray covered. In their spot I put some Bon Jour Bicolor corn. The Marigold and Borage seeds I think are just not coming up, so I replanted their spots with Globe Amaranth seeds. I also added more Sweet Basil seeds and Scallions seeds because only one Sweet Basil seed sprouted and three Scallions. The new layout can be seen here:

Seeds Sprouting...slowly

Two scallions have sprouted and a third is just popping through. The Acorn squash has sprouted and both it and the Delicata are working on their first true leaves. Only one sweet basil seed has sprouted so I'll be adding a few more of those seeds this weekend. I think I'll replant some scallion seeds too. The marigolds seem to just be a total nonstarter. I probably didn't treat the seeds well enough when collecting or something.

When I went to water the flat this morning it looked like the 9-pack of melons and eggplant was only wet to the first 1/8 inch or so. I watered a little more aggressively and what I think is a Charentais seed popped up looking like the day I'd put it in the seedling mix. I made sure to water those few carefully and thoroughly, so hopefully they'll get started germinating soon.