Garden Update

I returned from a 17 day absence and checked on my seedlings. The soil was still pretty moist, but there was not any water left in the bottom of the tray. Some seedlings sprouted, but some appear to be failures. Here is what it looked like when I got home.

The stuff in the bottom right hand corner is the Arugula that I had planted a few weeks before I left as a test. It is pretty happy. Most of the Broccoli and Cauliflower sprouted, though I failed to write down what I planted where, so I don't know which is which. Hopefully that will become more obvious as they grow. I had planted two varieties of tomatoes, but only one sprouted. One variety was just a few seeds from a friend while the other was a variety that I purchased and have spare seeds for. Since I don't know which is alive, I planted more seeds from the variety I bought. About half of the pepper seedlings sprouted. There are three different varieties of pepper, but I planted different amounts of each, so I think I know which is which. After a little careful digging, I saw that at least some of the pepper seeds look like they have germinated and are trying to grow, so I'm hoping more of them will come up. That is not the case with the tomato seeds that didn't sprout. They look the same as when I planted them. The peanuts did not sprout and are all moldy and rotten. I planted more and I'm thinking that if I don't give them much water they won't rot and might sprout, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

As far as the stuff I planted outside before I left (onion sets, kale, scallions peas, and radishes), Only a few of the radishes have sprouted so far. A couple of the onion sets had been taken out of the ground by some mean animal. Those sets had grown some nice roots, so that seems like good news for the rest of them.

I did a bunch of work in the garden today and its starting to take shape pretty well. Here is what it looks like as of 4/3.

As you can see it is all separated into beds with paths between. Almost all of the garden has had last year's compost spread over it and then the soil was turned over. The only area that has yet to be done is approximately 30 square feet that will be used for a three-sisters planting of corn, pole beans, and squash (left side of the picture above). That stuff probably won't be planted for at least another month. A bunch more stuff was planted outside today:

- part of the cauliflower

- part of the broccoli

- the rest of the onion sets

- part of the rapini

- part of the arugula

- part of the bok choy

- part of the lettuce

I also did an at-home soil test that I bought from a supermarket for $5. It consists of 4 vials with a little powder packets in each one. One is for pH, one is Nitrogen, one is Potassium, and the last is Phosphorus. Basically you put some dirt and water in each and then add the power, shake them up, and they turn colors. It seemed like there were a lot of variables that could throw off the results like how dense to pack the soil, how wet the soil is, etc. I suppose I shouldn't complain for a $5 test. Anyway, the pH showed up as being ever so slightly acidic (probably a good thing), the Nitrogen was medium-t0-high (probably a good thing), the potassium was very low, and I couldn't tell where the phosphorus fell on the scale because it just looked dirt colored. I'm not sure I trust the tests, but at least the fertilizer I bought last year (pelleted chicken manure) has higher potassium and phosphorus and less nitrogen than most fertilizers. I'll top-dress (scatter it on top of the soil) with that fertilizer in the late spring or early summer.