Wow! It’s already been over a week since I last
posted. I swear I kept trying to do it thinking about it. Truly, though
I’m up to my eyeballs in the Gargantugarden. Hmmmm where to start? Well we’ve
got to start somewhere, so why not from the bottom up…oh the things I could say about that.
Mulch
Seriously….so….much….mulch.
I know, I know I did it to myself. Really though, the soil and weed situation
was approaching apocalyptic proportions. So after another 10 hour stretch 4
hour stretch of loading the wheelbarrow and unloading it elsewhere, it is
all gone. IT IS DONE! Insert the monumental achievement music, do a dance of
joy! Strangely enough, I actually ran out of mulch. The front yard is 90% done.
I may be able to live with that. The side yard is 80% done….ugh I must complete…, and the backyard
is virtually 99.9% done.
I did discover a few
things in the process, most importantly the backyard soil is filled with grubs.
I collect them and let The Boy give them to his chickens. Even more
interestingly, Stella, our other mastiff loves to eat them! EEEEWWWW! She even
tried to steal them out of the wheelbarrow!
The
best part is that it’s done in time for the grand planting! This Saturday we
are going to the Snohomish
Conservation Society’s annual native plant sale. We have pre-ordered a few bazillion
plants and 1 tree. Hopefully the VOR (Voice of Reason, aka my super-duper
hubby) won’t turn all mulch hulky when he sees what we ordered. Hehehehehe….Now
that the mulch is done, he’s happy and he likes it but man he was less than
pleased he turned into the Mulch Hulk and had a hulk size grrrrr moment
about it when he saw the massive pile. All and all it ended well. YA! :)
The rhubarb plants were just too big to stay
inside. They cried to me daily begging
for their freedom and who am I to deny them their freedom? It may have also
been that I’m so ready to garden all day every day that I couldn’t help
myself…..maybe. Anyhow because I’m from the golden land of perfect soil and
weather I really wanted someone from Washington to validate that my babies
would not die. Alas, no such affirmation occurred. So I put them outside in
various formats/conditions. Now it’s an experiment! More to come on that, later. Click on for details.
Oh
Seedling Mania is Certainly Afoot
OMG!!!
These lovely little beasts are my new favorite fun time. I’ll admit that on
occasion, I may always jump into new projects with both feet and all appendages first. So yes now my
mini light set up had doubled quadrupled in size. Ok so I had ordered
two 4 foot lights and then planned to nest them together, but one showed up
shattered. Grrrrrr…. So I have a 4 foot, and a 2 foot. Under the four foot I
have one of my heating pads, and the other is on the other side of the room
without lights. It’s so much FUN!!! I LOVE LIGHTS! Did I mention that already?
Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
1-Leeks are the absolute tease and take FOREVER,
even over week or more apart for emerging! Just when I really started to give
up on those little suckers, they popped up.
2-Trader Joe’s packaging is a seedling lovers best
friend. Here’s why:
·
Plastic
Trader Joe’s bubbly water bottles that’s
what my offspring call them I think they are really just sparkling water…make
great mini green houses. Cut the tops off, poke some holes in the bottom and
viola! Very nice. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back for this reuse.
·
The
sliced pineapple containers work awesomely as containers for the small seedling
pots. The lid works wonderfully to keep the moisture in.
3-Take the seedlings off the heat once they
emerge. Some of mine were getting Jack Skellington skinny and tall. After
reading WAY TOO MANY articles and falling asleep during some highly academic
analysis of seedling behavior that the heat can make them stretch too much.
So no more heat once they emerge.
4- You need to lightly brush your little seedling babes. Don’t I sound like the seedling pedophile? Again many an article read, and from that I realized I needed to brush them with my hand to simulate wind and other things that would make their stems move around, to strengthen them.
5-I need more lights…more lights….MORE lights.
REALLY! In my infinite wisdom I didn’t think this whole thing through. I know
you’re shocked. What I mean to say is that I forgot that many of these little
babes are going to live under these lights for longer than just a few weeks. I
need to have the space to help them grow and the lighting to support it.
6-Artichokes
take forever to emerge. Soon there will be a post about the great
artichoke experiment.
I go on, but I think I might split all this
amazing information up into more than one post. I mean really, I sick of
reading it already, aren’t you?
Cheers,
Mandy
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