Jayne's Urban Paradise

[MissS]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you too. I have always had problems transplanting well water rooted plants. I now will pot them up as soon as they form a few roots and have had great luck doing that.

[JayneR13]

It's a cold day in urban paradise so time for an update. High temps are forecast as 13 above with subzero wind chills for the next few days. Thursday is a morning pantry, of course.

In better news, the transplanted Big Dwarf tomato seems to have made it! I see no signs of transplant shock and if you look closely, there's new growth in those axils! That's always a good sign.

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The first greenies have set on the Orange Hat! I've been busy with the electric toothbrush so hopefully I'll have more soon.

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The new dewy pine also seems happy in its new home. This pot drains! Hopefully that'll stave off the root rot for a few years at least.

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And I'm seeing the first sprout from the seeds I had in my refrigerator all winter! Sarracenia leucophylla, the white top American pitcher. I've killed a ton of these, sadly. Sarracenia is prone to a number of problems unfortuneatly, but who could resist seed that was 30% off? Not this gardener! Maybe this time I'll finally get lucky!

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Having sent in the down payment for the garage, I'm just waiting for them to call and schedule it. I was surprised by the amount of questioning I got from the teller at the credit union before she'd issue a cashier's check though. Evidently they see quite a few people in there trying to send money to various scam artists. I suppose it's easier to deal with some irritation at being questioned than to deal with lots of irritation at being ripped off. I dunno. As far as I'm concerned, a healthy paranoia can be just that: healthy! And due diligence is my responsibility. The information is definitely available for those who care to look!

Anyway, please enjoy. Indoor gardening is better than no gardening so, happy gardening!

[MissS]

Great news there on your transplants. They are looking very happy. It's nice and sunny here today but gosh it sure is cold. It's so nice to see a bit of green growing. It makes me think of the spring that's to come.

I'm glad to hear that your credit union is watching out for their customers. There are so many scams around that are taking people's life savings these days.

[GoDawgs]

Echoing MissS, congrats on your successful tomato transplant. I had no doubt it would be. Tomatoes are tough especially when they can get their feet and stems into new soil!

It looks like you're having a run of good luck all around but I won't say that too loudly. I swear plants have ears and love to prove you wrong when they hear you think things are going well.

[JayneR13]

SSSSHHHHHH! Plants have ears! And so does Fate! Let's not tempt them!

[JayneR13]

And guess what! Having just conferenced with the contractor, it seems that my outdoor gardening season will involve more moving stuff than growing stuff. I get to dig all of my north side hostas and those raised beds by the garage so the guys can work. If I want to keep the soil then it would be better if I dug it, and cheaper too since they really don’t do landscaping. I put those beds in about 2010-2012 and they’re double dug, so that should be fun! That’s possibly four beds out of commission for the season if I can’t find a spot for the soil or stack the beds temporarily. Sigh. But it must be done! And knowing in advance means I can cogitate options. If the plastic is too warped to reuse, at least I got my money out of them!

Sigh. My back twinges just thinking about it.

[JayneR13]

It's another cold day in my northern urban paradise! We had a stretch of temps in the 40sF that melted all of our snow, and now it's back into the 20s with subzero wind chills. Then next week back into the 30s-40s with a huge rain/snow mix scheduled for the middle of next week. It's hard to believe I'm starting seeds soon! I like to get them going mid-late March so they germinate and are in pots by April 1. That way I have 8-10 week seedlings with a greater chance that the rabbits will leave them alone.

Indoor gardening proceeds apace, of course. The three remaining tomatoes in my Aerogarden have all set lots of fruits, relatively speaking. These don't seem as interested in getting tall as the Minibel was. Hopefully it won't take another two months for the fruits to ripen! That's been my biggest problem growing dwarf tomatoes hydroponically.

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Greens are doing well. I have enough for sammies pretty much every day. It's interesting that the Garden Cube isn't growing as fast as the IDOO unit though. I wonder if the built-in light timer has anything to do with it. The lights go off at strange times and there's no way for me to adjust the timer. I can reset the timer by unplugging the unit but it's still 18 hours on, 6 off. I turn them off before I go to bed as the IDOO, which is on the same power strip, doesn't have a timer, nor does the humidifier.

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And is this a flower forming or is it more new growth? Either way, it's a welcome sight. The Big Dwarf transplant lives! This will likely go out on the porch at the right time, and I may grow more of them depending upon how productive this one is.

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My dewy pine seems to be happy. I'm being very careful with watering since it's so small and remember, these are prone to root rot. The other picture is a closeup of one leaf because it's kewl.

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This is one of the seed pots I'm trying. Remember, carnivorous plants can take forEVER to germinate! This is the only pot that I'm sure is sprouting a plant and not greening moss. These seedlings are the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. I had a magnificent specimen for a number of years until it died from rhizome rot. This happens because of the tray method used to grow these. They sit in a tray of water. Even though I clean the trays regularly, it's still sitting water and therefore constantly wet soil that will eventually lead to rot.

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Other than that, I'm eyeing up my seedling racks and pots for cleaning before I start seeds in about two weeks. I'm also considering how to arrange my garden since 2/3 of my yard will be out of commission. @CtGrower reminded me of my earth boxes, which should work well to grow a few micro-tomatoes, two in each box of a nice, prolific variety. I'm going to start seedlings for the food pantry garden as well, which will be 30 tomatoes, 20 cucumbers, and 6-10 summer squashes, possibly a few tomatillos. I'm dying to play with the disease resistant stuff I got from Seeds'n Such! Hopefully that will pan out as advertised. I also purchased a nice Comet GP9 radio antenna that I'm looking forward to getting set up. One of the local hams with experience in such things has agreed to help. He's also growing some of his own food and will be happy to talk gardening/radio. It'll be nice to meet his wife as well.

The wind chill may be 2 above, but Spring is springing! Happy gardening!

[GoDawgs]

Great success with your indoor stuff! I'm sure it helps take the edge off what's outside the window. Brrrrrr!

We're going through those temp cycles too but at a different level. We've had some 60-77 temps with lows in the 40's and now will be swinging back to the 50's and 37, 27, 38 for lows the next three days starting Monday morning. I need to cover stuff again.

It does look like a flower coming on the Big Dwarf!

The two micros I have right now under lights are on their second round of fruit and the plants still look good. One Red Robin and Krasny Milo. First time for Krasny but I have done repeats of Red Robin before because it produces. I wonder if they can squeeze out Round 3. However I don't know if they'd be that good outdoors as I've never tried that. Two others that have done well for me are Florida Petite and Jochalos.

Hope you find a good break in the weather to get that antenna up!

[JayneR13]

I had to hit the local home improvement store and seed packets are out! No I couldn’t help myself! I want to have enough kale, cilantro, and spinach to succession plant a good sized shady area. In gratitude for all I have!

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[GoDawgs]

Yeah, I giggled at your comment about not being able to help yourself.... but here I sit, waiting for ten packs of seed from that Pinetree 30% off sale to arrive.

[MissS]

@JayneR13 I hope that you got your seeds at Menard's. Seeds are on sale and many are only 11 cents a pack. Yep, it's time to stock up.

[JayneR13]

Sadly, @MissS, I got them at Fleet Farm. They weren't even on sale! And I haven't mentioned the three packs of bulk seeds I got from SeedsNSuch. Thankfully those were on sale! The Menards in my town is 'way off of the bus line for me. And checking their website, they're not on sale. At least not online. And it appears that they won't ship vegetable seeds. The ones I'm looking at all say check local store for availability.

Speaking of SeedsNSuch, I bought one package each of zucchini and golden squash. The stuff I have left from last year, namely the Costata Romanesco and long white of Palermo, both got mosaic virus and I'm wondering if the varieties are a bit more prone. Also, food pantry clients seem to prefer their squashes simple, nothing fancy. I also bought some tomatillo, a nice prolific plant as long as I plant at least two of them! And yes, some will make it into my garden as well. So it's all good, right?

So far I'm thinking to plant brassicas into the big bed. That's the one that had mosaic virus last year so it doesn't make sense to plant squash there this year. A couple of those can go into the bed next door with the tomatillos though. Radishes, onions, and carrots in the brick holes since root things do well in those. Beets didn't make but I blame rabbits at least partially for that! And fencing around the brassicas, speaking of rabbits. Regular tomatoes on the deck, I think. A small but hopefully productive garden.

[MissS]

If space is at a premium for you, try growing your zucchini and yellow summer squash upright on a pole or board. I did this last year with a scalloped type squash and it worked out very well for me. I learned this from a lady at my community garden. It saves so much space.

[JayneR13]

In fact I’m thinking to grow 2-3 of those in the big felt pot I used to use for potatoes. Staked and on the deck, hopefully it’ll work if the soil is good. I never had problems growing squash on the deck until the NPK ran out. Better soil will hopefully yield better results. Staking them won’t hurt either.

[GoDawgs]

Waaaaah! No Menard's or Rural King here. Just HD, Lowes and Tractor Supply.

[JayneR13]

We have HD, Lowes, Menards, and Fleet Farm. I purchased the components of my antenna mast from HD. They ran the smaller components across town but for reasons I don't understand, shipped the actual mast (aka chain link fence top) from GA. It's still not here. I guess I should've bought those at FF! Sheesh.

[GoDawgs]

...They ran the smaller components across town but for reasons I don't understand, shipped the actual mast (aka chain link fence top) from GA. It's still not here...

Good grief! I hope it's not hung up in the bottomless black hole known as the Atlanta Distribution Center!

[JayneR13]

According to their tracking, it's in Neenah, WI. They're planning to deliver it on Monday, when I'll be in class all day. So I called Customer Service and now they'll allegedly deliver it Sunday morning. Porch pirates, amirite?

In garden planning, I'm thinking that scattering a few of those determinants among the indeterminants will get harvest season going a bit quicker. Those are shorter DTM and will die in time for the longer DTM plants to take over their space and produce. In theory, at least. Last year the one determinant I planted actually kept going all season. It even kicked out enough fruit for me to let it go.

[GoDawgs]

My Pinetree seeds left Maine on March 3rd, and went through two unnamed postal facilities on March 4. On March 5th they landed in Palmetto GA who promptly mis-shipped sent them to Williston, SC! At least Williston sent them off again asap.

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Then it took all day yesterday to go through another unnamed facility, who-knows-where. I doubt the seeds will make the estimated delivery date of today. LOL!

[JayneR13]

Yeah. Like I said, the rail tops were available at the HD across town. Why they didn't just toss them in with the smaller hardware and bring them is beyond me! I also have no idea why they were held up in Neenah for two days but here we are.

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The nice lady with the thick Indian accent did say they'd be delivered on Sunday. It wasn't possible to deliver Tuesday or Heaven forbid, leave them in my garage! Hopefully they'll be here on Sunday and I'll have all of the components of my antenna project safely in-house.