Monday, April 23, 2012

Earth Day Update

Garden Plot #3. Saturday showed the sun moves higher in the sky and spotlights the two pepper plants!. Cukes holding their own; trellis coming soon. Deadheaded the marigolds. Walked to the other side of the frame and noticed the radish seeds sprouted! Cold spell but after the ground warms up again, will mulch with wheat straw.

Garden Plot #2. Sunday rain limited activity to harvesting lettuce. Great day for cool weather plants.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Garden Plot #3

Experimenting: against the moon sign, waning moon, I planted a cayenne pepper and an orange bell pepper on Sunday. I want to see if a raised bed garden is immune from moon phase.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Frost

Garden plot #3 missed the dread five letter April word. The visit Wednesday afternoon found maybe four  out of the dozen plots already under a blanket of thin plastic. A neighbor was there, wrestling her plastic from the breeze. She accepted the offer of duct tape. Three of us observed our fellow plots covered with plastic and weighted with the gravel that makes the garden path to hold the covers in place against the wind.

In Kentucky, spring cold snaps are known as dogwood winter and blackberry winter. No native North Carolinian has heard those terms.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Got Mulch?

Home garden received a Saturday cover of wheat straw for the dill, tomatoes, sage, purple basil, lavendar and Blaze rose. Midtown garden: didn't attend to harvet lettuce. Still have lettuce from last weekend, and it's still fresh. Garden plot #3 got onion sets; it's in the shade for now, but the sun will move higher in the sky; next step: mulch.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Waxing Moon 93% After Full Moon

If you want to plant above ground plants or transplants, hurry. I plant by moon signs: the secret's out. I've tried going against the moon sign with disastrous results. The garden bedspread needs to be tucked in around 2012 efforts. Make certain your mulch contains no seed heads. I cannot shop tonight but will soon line the back seat or trunk with a cotton sheet. When you remove the mulch from your vehicle, the stray bits are easy to shake off from the cotton.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Garden Plot #1 Pocket Garden

In the middle of the town I live in. Decided to check hail storm damage. Found a work clipboard turned upside down on the ground. Retrieved it and put it under the shed roof. Looked for the work clipboard but didn't find it. Plentiful lettuce, several varieties. Clipped several leaves from the bottom. Seed heads on the brussels sprouts, so removed them. Kale or collards have gone to seed but didn't touch them. Next work day: Tuesday morning. However, minimal hail damage.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Garden Plot #1 and #2

#1-didn't attend last Sunday to snip lettuce, plan to attend today. #2 Yesterday rain during the day but managed to plant dwarf marigold, white petunias, two dill transplants, one tomato. Sowed radish and lettuce. Traded a fellow plot neighbor white petunias for a bush tomato.

At midnight last night, a hail storm struck and I've never heard such noise, sounded like the end of the world. Violent hail for about 15-20 minutes. Of course I thought of the new plants. This morning, #2 plot had not received hail at all. Home plot did receive hail, but minimal damage.