Shallots and garlic and water.

The shallots have been sprouting for a few days now. One of the cloves was popping out of the soil in it's little paper cup. When I tried to push it down, it wouldn't go. It doesn't have and sprout yet, but the roots are working hard. I hope I'm not stunting them in the paper cups. Maybe I should go plant them outside?

The garlic is just showing sprouts today. I think I'm going to have the same stunting/crowding problems with the garlic that I'm having with the shallots. I'm going to study up today.

The greenhouse is assembled to it's full size with four shelves and five bulbs lighting and heating the space. I noticed seedlings are starting to droop, especially the squashy-type veg. I'm not sure if they're just too top heavy from stretching tall with only one set of leaves. Some of the short squashy-types that have just emerged are short but are already putting out true leaves. Others have withered and look dead.

The lettuces that were doing so well flopped over and are mostly dead and withered. It's happened every single time I've tried to grow lettuce in a container, but in the past, if I take the container outside and leave it in the garden with all of the other growing things, it's rises from the dead and throws out beautiful, healthy plants. Maybe it's the heat in the greenhouse. Or the light? I haven' succeeded yet, so I don't know what works. More reading. I contacted the Master Gardeners at the university, but I didn't get an answer for growing seedlings other than advice that lettuce is sowed right in the ground, not transplanted. But I don't plan to transplant these. I just want some fresh containers of lettuce and greens. I'll have to keep looking.

I don't feel confident about my seedling management at all. I've had massive failure in previous years. This year I've used seeds from previous years - not heirlooms, seeds left over in old packets. The greenhouse thing is new. I turn the lights on. I turn the lights off. I open the door for circulation. I close it for humidity. I'm watering from the bottom. I've broken some stems when I've moved things around - some plants don't mind, some drop dead. If I get 40 plants from the 150+ plugs I've seeded, I think I'll feel successful. I'm well on my way with only 5 plugs or so without healthy looking seedlings, but I'm not confident.

I refreshed the water in the trays the plugs sit in. I'm not scientific about watering at all. I try to keep water in the trays. I've messed up a couple of times. I try to be mindful of the seedlings that are working hard to throw up stems and leaves. Air circulation and temperature affect the moisture too. Dozens of plugs sit in the same trays together even though they are different varieties. That seems like it's wrong, but I don't have the space to sort everything into it's own special places.

I've spent about $50 on seeds and soil. Pflaums sell pots, 3 for $5 with 3 seedlings in each plot. I can always fall back on them for the things that don't succeed.. I'm going to keep trying.

Remember, these are BEFORE pictures

Oh, man. I took pictures of my garden plot today and downloading them, they look awful. There is wood everywhere. Right now, I'm using planks to reach into the garden to plant, then backing out and using the plank somewhere else. There's a pile of tools and stakes by the arbor thingy - I'll just call it The Tomato House and the wheely bin is turned over. Embarrassing, but I want to document progress.

Here goes...

The Land. The long plot on the end is mine.

Looking west

Looking east

Onions and garlic near, brussel sprouts and rhubarb far

Rhubarb

Spot for flowers

Soybeans

Marigolds on the fence line keep away pests

The Tomato House

Peas, marigolds ad squash

more

Whooo, I'm tired, so if this gets rambly, I apologize. I want to get this into the log before I fall asleep.

I got a lot done today. I can almost call my plot half ready.

I bought a coil hose and itended to set it up, but I realized the way the drain is set up, the hose wouldn't fit because the nozzle is supposed to be male and the way I set it up, it wasn't the male collection I need for a garden hose.Another trip to Home Depot today got me the part to fix things.

I spent some time cleaning up - getting all of the stakes, misc into the permanent storage that I bought. I walked around the garden planning a bit. I have boards laid out so I can walk through the garden without sinking 12 inches. I moved them around a bit.

I transferred the garlic chive and rhubarb I pulled out of the garden a few weeks ago. They're all tucked in.

I planted and/or set spinach (from the starts in my apartment), carrots, lettuce, red onions, chamomile, brussel sprouts, chives and some peas.

I'm ALMOST 50% planted in. The starts in my apartment are doing well. When I turned the spinach out of it's party cup, the roots were almost 10 inches long in many cases. The chives I transplanted had their thick, twining roots going in circles in the bottom of the cup.

The transferred spinach seedlings are covered with clearish plastic which I hope will keep them warm enough for them to grow alone outside.

Not a bad day, but now I must sleep.

Claim it. Own it.

I got a late start today. Copied the garden  plan I'd made into a notebook. I've spent so much time reading up on different combinations of plants and what additives each kind of plant needs when it's transplanted, that I can't remember it all.

Home Sweet Home
The Land is outlined in red, my plot is in white.

I hung fence around the perimeter of my plot. I put up the garden trellis, but I made it bigger and a slightly different shape, dug out about a foot of soil from inside the trellis to mound around the edges. Tomatoes will go on the mounds and be trained up (and over?) the trellis.

I flattened the soil inside and used boards to hold up the mounds from the inside so it wouldn't fall in. I laid some carpet strips on the inside to keep the packed dirt down, weed free, and not too mucky.

Mr Hu, Mr Tse, Mrs Lang, Mrs. Gao, Mr. Bu, and a few others were outside working in their plots. As I was working on the trellis, they asked if I was building a house. The carpet made it a done deal for them, they couldn't stop laughing.

I am often the recipient of shaking heads, chuckling, and outright laughter. Sometimes people just cruise by to watch me, some come right up to me and take tools (or whatever) out of my hands to try to stop what I'm doing because they think I am making some kind of monumental mistake. I don't mind being different, but interference or anything more than a casual suggestion just pisses me off. I rolled with it the first year and a half, but last summer, I lost my patience. There is no benefit in "being nice to old people" around here. The respect doesn't go both ways. I'm not used to this, but it's got to be a cultural thing I'm missing. I've decided it's better to stand my ground and cut off the pushy people. I'd rather be left alone because people think I'm crazy than be pestered and patronized by friends.

There trellis is open to the fence on the north side of my plot. I don't want to make too much shade for my neighbor without losing vertical space. I left an opening on the side so I can get inside the trellis area. I'm using it to store my water reservoir, tools, stakes, and other things I don't want stolen. It does look like a little house and by mid-summer, I hope it's covered in tomato plants, flowers and climbing vines, with a cool, shady place inside.

I laid in three rows of soybean seed, all of the yellow onions and garlic. I put in three rows of carrot seed, and I set in the reclaimed onions I took out last week. We still don't have access to water, so I didn't water anything in. The soil is really light and was pretty warm today. I hope the dry, cool conditions will keep the garlic and onion starts from rotting until I can water them. Tomorrow I hope.

I've set aside and "alum patch" for all of the onions, garlic, and carrots. They are supposed to play together nicely and they will be near-ish tomatoes, soybeans, brussel sprouts and peas, which is supposed to be OK. When I first drew the plan, I thought I might have planned too much space for them, but when I've put them in the ground, it looks like it will be OK.

The plot seemed to change shape as the day went along. First it looked so big, then too small, then bigger than the other plots that are still untouched. By the end of the day, I checked the fence line. I'm glad I put it in before I started. My plot looks so much bigger than the plot next to mine. I felt guilty, but everything checked out OK. I adjusted the hay bales so they didn't push the fence over the north boundary.

Dehydrated and worn out, I cleaned up my mess of twine and fence packaging and came in. I think I was outside for 4 or 5 hours. I finished a lot more than I thought I would. I'm going to try to get water to the garden tomorrow, put in the last of the onions, get the peas going, plant the rhubarb and chives I'd brought inside and water it all in. Tomorrow.

It's supposed to be in the 30's Thursday and Friday nights, so the live growing things will have to be kept inside until they are tougher, then cloched when outside.

My antsy self is satisfied. The plot is mine.

News From The Trenches

Baby birds be damned, I ran errands today. I'm trying to feel empowered by being a 2 legged creature near the top of the food chain, but when I got home, a sparrow was on the ground next to my parking spot looking kind of pissed that I drove away with her babies and nest in my car. I feel so bad!

I decided to firm up the sides of the trenches I dug between the beds. I bought cedar fence pickets (on sale!). Voila! very pretty, tidy looking beds.
Beans: Green beans are putzy. Long beans are growing up and sending out shoots.
Carrots: Finally sprouted, but under 1 inch tall.
Cucumbers: Vines are showing promise. Slow to grow.
Flowers:  The purchased flowers have re-flowered. The sweet peas and other climbers have sprouted. Sunflowers are growing tall and fast.
Herbs: Cat mint is going crazy and is ready to flower. Cilantro and dill (volunteer) took some big hits when I dug out the trenches, but I'm sure they'll come back quick. Herbs in the baskets aren't growing. Lemon grass is fantastic. Chives are making slow progress. Leeks are doing nicely. The greens on the garlic lay flat to the ground as though broken, but they've stayed green - I'll replant.
Onions: Red and yellow onions are growing really well. The greens can be cut and the onions are ready to harvest as scallions.
Peas: Snow peas are in harvest and still flowering. Plants from seeds are growing nicely.
Peppers: Flowers and unripe babies.
Salad Greens: Contained have grown over 6" and are ready to eat. The 3" plants were totally flattened and destroyed by rain. One row that's a bit protected is growing well.
Tomatoes: Flowers and unripe babies.
Squash: HUGE blossoms. Butternut squash are slow. Yellow squash blossoms are almost too big to be yellow squash.

It rained again today, but just enough to wet the ground. I watered a bit to settle the soil into the new boxes. I'm still waiting for a long stretch of temps over 80F to get everything moving.

Pictures of my plants so far

West Side Climbers

North Side Climbers

East Side Climbers

Soybeans

Sunflowers

Brussel Sprouts (I love 'em)

Salad Mix

Growing Details May 10 Map

Facing East

Facing West