Saturday Morning is for Gardening

Check it out! I got all the remaining grass out of my new bed and got all the rich soil in! And it was so much easier since the rains.

I will probably get my transplants in tomorrow. I want to spend a little bit of time planning exactly what will go where. I think I'm only going to plant three rows. In my first bed I planted four and now that I see how big the plants are growing I can see that was cutting it really close.

I'm also worried that some of the herbs I'll be planting will be very attractive to the neighborhood birds. I have basil, dill, cilantro, oregano, parsley and mint. I'm especially concerned about the mint. I think I may leave that out of the bed and just plant it in a container. The birds already got to it once. Plus from what I've read it sounds like the mint is going to grow all willy nilly and try to take over the plot. I'm considering planting the mint in a container and then planting the container in the ground to prevent it from spreading.

I'm also going to plant some leftover onion, cucumber, zucchini and tomato seedlings. And I have a freshly sprouted yellow squash plant and peas, too.

What am I going to do with my zinnia seedlings? If I have room in the new bed I'd love to put one or two in the ground, but I don't want to attract butterflies. Butterflies mean caterpillars, and caterpillars do a lot of damage.

Also- very exciting- I've got my first flowers on the zucchini plants! Hopefully, I'll have zucchini really soon. And check out the yellow squash in the foreground of this pic!

My Plants are Huge

Scroll down and compare today's photo to the one taken on May 20th. Wow!

I worried that the constant rains we'd been having had done more harm than good. Not so, says nature, not so.

Solutions

I recently posted on an organic gardening online community about the recent goings ons in my garden and asked if the others had had similar problems. Here are some of the responses:

-YES!
In fact seedlings are the fave choice for crows and that family.
Squirrels and other birds seem to be convinced that under that little plant is something the need.
I have an eggplant that has been dug up many times by the same damn squirrel!
Good luck and let us know if you come up with something.

-omg yes. I live in an apartment, and there is a small tree near my balcony where birds hang out. when I am home I periodically run out there and shoo them away. Especially the crows/whatever the giant black birds that hang out on my porch are.

If you hang CDs outside that helps deter them, but you have to periodically switch out what you keep out there to scare them away otherwise they get used to it and start back up.

-Hang a house and let a wren be your seedlings' guardian. I have heard they are very territorial and 'do not tolerate' birds and other animals in their area. I saw this tip in a forum about protecting a berry patch, and I thought it might help you.

-Several kinds of birds do this, most notably corvids (ravens, crows, magpies, and jays). I have to cover many of my beds until the seedlings have grown enough to be well-rooted, to keep the jays from pulling them all out just for fun. Starlings are notorious as well, and will usually eat what they pull. Sparrows also pull and eat a lot of seedlings sometimes; peas are a favorite target.

Bird netting is your best bet - just keep the birds off long enough for the plants to get bigger and well-anchored. Flash tape sometimes works, sometimes not. Corvids in particular are quite bold and will quickly adapt to most scare tactics.

from http://community.livejournal.com/organic_garden/

A Second Raised Bed

Here it is- the future home for my peas, tomatoes and other assorted vegetables and herbs!

Hit Again!

Who is doing this to my plants?? A bird? A squirrel? A neighborhood hooligan?

About 7:30 this morning, I went out to water my plants and just look at what a sad scene awaited me on the porch. One of two strapping tomato seedlings I had recently transplanted into bigger containers was lying next to its planter. I could almost hear the roots gasping for soil and moisture. There the plant lay on the porch railing, like a beached whale drying out in the summer sun.

And for what? My tomato plants are weeks, if not months, away from bearing fruit. A single leaf was ripped from the seedling. What's worse, the leaf wasn't eaten or carried away. No, it was just severed and left there to wilt inches away from the fading body.

I immediately returned the plant to its rightful place and watered generously, but it may have been too late. It has been about an hour now and the plant is leaning over to one side, looking like it has given up.

I'll keep you posted.

RAVAGED

Something terrible has happened.

Some creature has made a meal of my mint! And in the process assaulted my healthiest pea plant.

The incident occurred between 8:30am and 9:00am Eastern Time.

When I arrived on the scene, I first noticed the pea plants toppled over in their tray. The tallest pea plant had been snapped in half at the stem. Four leaves were lost as a result.

However, the fledgling mint seedlings bore the brunt of the attack. Six of the twelve young plants were lost as a result. Evidence suggests the suspect perched on the pea plants as it devoured the mint alive.

No other plants were harmed.

The suspect remains at large.

Any tips may be reported through this website.

Out With the Lettuce

Here is a pic of my garden as it stands today. In the bottom lefthand corner of the photo you can see the three new cabbage plants I transplanted. I pulled out a couple lettuce plants that were there. The lettuce just looked so pathetic I had to put them out of their misery in favor of something hardier. I think it was the heat that was getting to it. The spinach, over on the right, might also need to be replaced with something else.

Hopefully, by the weekend I will get a second bed ready for planting. It will be another 4 by 8 foot plot like this one. I have plenty of seedlings ready to move into the ground. So the sooner I get it all set up, the better.

Repurposing Containers

Problem: Seedlings are outgrowing their original containers, but I'm not ready to put them in the ground yet.

Solution: Repurpose/reuse plastic containers that would otherwise be thrown away or sent to a recycling center to increase the volume of the pots you've got.

I started most of my seeds in egg crates or in these black trays I picked up for free at the Garden Center of the local hardware store. The trays were originally used to hold several plastic plant pots for easy transportation and display. Hardware stores are glad to let you have them for free and they're great for starting seeds in because the bottoms already have slits in them for drainage purposes. However, the trays are shallow and your seedlings will quickly need more room. If you fill the tray to the brim with soil to maximize growing room for plant roots, there will be no lip on the tray to hold in the water as it is absorbed and you end up with a wet mess.

It's an annoying little problem, but one with a quick remedy. Try cutting off the bottom of an ordinary plastic container. For me, an empty tub of cream cheese worked great. Then cut the bottomless container into halves or thirds and fit it into the tray. Transplant your seedling, water, and there you go! The container is three times deeper and holds water.

No more excess water spilling over the side of the tray.

The plant as more room to grow.

You didn't need to buy a new container.

And you've created a little bit less trash.

Happy planting and transplanting.

Three Days Later

The strawberry is almost ready!

So Much Exciting News!

The dill has germinated! The dill has germinated! On April 12th I planted a lot of dill and nothing wanted to sprout. About three weeks later, I sprinkled some more seeds in the same tray- and voila! Seedlings! The second time around, I actually prepped the seeds by folding them in a wet paper towel prior to planting.

Also, the cilantro I planted May 8th has spouted. On that same morning, I planted oregano and peas. Both those seedlings are doing well. I can't wait to get a pic of the peas up because they took to sprouting in such a unique fashion. They look nothing like any of the other seedlings.

The only disappointment so far has been the mint seeds I planted in dirt and peat pots- no dice. Though the mint I planted in the plastic greenhouse on peat pellets sprouted just fine and continues to grow slowly but surely.

I got news this morning that the seeds I planted in FL early this month are thriving in the heat and humidity down South. Perhaps I can get my family to send photos. My mother is planning to transplant them into containers and cultivate them on the porch.


I think my first fruit will come from the strawberry plant I bought. Check it out in the photo. Yum, can't wait!

As of Today

Here is a pic of the existing 4 x 8 foot plant bed. I've got (Row 1 is the top one):

Row 1- pumpkin, spinach and tomato

Row 2- zucchini

Row 3- cucumber and yellow squash

Row 4- onion, cabbage and lettuce

A New Bigger Bed

There is some talk round these parts of building a new plant bed 8 x 8 feet square. Developments to follow.

Today is overcast and drizzly. The rain is a welcome change for my cabbage and lettuce transplants which can hardly keep themselves upright in the heat we've had the past two days.

Over a Month into the Project

April 3rd, I planted my first seeds and I'm glad to say most of those are already in the ground. I may have rushed them in my enthusiasm to get that first cucumber, but all appears to be well in the garden. And I have plenty of back up seedlings if the first troops are defeated.

The next problem to solve is really, where am I going to put all my extra little plants? This week I should buy some containers and more soil.

I also need to think about what kind of system of defense I am going to construct to keep the rabbits out of my plot. I'm thinking some kind of wire netting stapled to stakes and put up like a fence around the perimeter of the garden. I want it to be easy for me to move aside so I can get in for watering and weeding (and eventually, harvesting!) without too much fuss.

I put some new dill seeds into the same tray of soil that has refused to give the gift of life to the seeds I planted Aptil 12th. I find it hard to believe they are taking this long to germinate. Something must have gone wrong, though I'm not sure what that could be.

I did the same with the tray mint seeds that haven't sprouted. I just sprinkled in more teeny, tiny seeds, dusted in a little soil, watered it and now I'm hoping for the best.

Come on dill and mint! We're all rooting for you!

Back from Florida!

My transplants are just where I left them, for the most part! With the exception of one wilted cucumber plant and two pumpkin transplants that vanished without a trace. The act of the vanishing pumpkin plants really is peculiar. I planted four and they appeared equally hardy. . .but so goes the way of nature.

Today has been the first sunny day here in Maryland in nearly two weeks and I took full advantage by getting into the garden and doing some more transplanting and light weeding. I have serious doubts that the spinach and lettuce will survive the high summer temperatures, but I put a few of them in the ground anyway. I also transplanted two more zucchini plants, three more tomatoes and some cabbage.

I planted some new seeds I picked up in Florida, too- peas, oregano and cilantro. Those should sprout real quick. The peas and oregano that I planted at my parents' home in Florida germinated in just 48 hours.

The seedlings I left indoors while I was gone also fared well under the care of my aunt. The plants that grew the most were there lettuce, zucchini, and tomatoes.

The only duds of this entire endeavor has been the dill, which I planted weeks and weeks ago and has shown no interest in sprouting. The mint I planted outside of the mini green house hasn't done well either. Although, the mint seeds I grew in the greenhoused peat pellets are still growing strong. Tiny, but strong.

Storms should roll through town again tomorrow, we'll see how the new transplants do and I'll get a pic up of them real soon.

New Planting

I've done some planting at my parents' home in Florida. On April 30th I put some mint, oregano, cilantro and basil seeds into peat trays and covered them with plastic wrap. outside temperatures have peaked at about 90 each day since then. The soil under the plastic gets even hotter so I'm careful to vent the the covering. I must have done something right because the basil and oregano germinated after just a few a days under those conditions. Hopefully, the mint won't be too long now and then it'll be mojito time for everyone.

The weather in MD is still abysmal, I'm told. I'm anxious to get back and see what days of chilly weather and nonstop rain has done to my transplants. Yikes.

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