Thursday, July 15, 2010

Time to plant for fall?

Apparently. :o)

I have been getting little reminder emails from the assorted seed companies who have me on their mailing list.  Reminders that now is the time to plant cool season crops.  Because these seed companies are from various parts of the country i double checked with the most local company with a garden Blog:
Johnny's Selected Seeds

They have a monthly calendar with suggested gardening related activities,  according to July's calendar i should try to get fresh seeds in the garden (things like carrots, chard, broccoli,  radishes etc) by the middle of next week.  This meansi have to figure out where i am going to put what...  some of the plants the groundhogs ate have re-sprouted and some have simply croaked, so i can clear those.  But that leaves odd gaps, not clearly defined spots.  I also have a couple Job's Tears plants in there and they look a lot like weeds so i have to be careful to not crowd those so closely that i forget and pull them up later.  I'll figure it out.
I was going to start seeds in flats, but i might just direct sow if i don't find the time or energy to prep the 9packs and trays.

My Clove seedling arrived this morning. Its a cute little plant.  Looks similar to my bay laurel. Its growing point is dry looking, this may be from travel stress. i don't know how long the dead parts of this type of plant take to dry up... the leaves are a touch yellow which might also be from recent stress or normal color. Image searches of  "Syzygium aromaticum" show varying shades of yellow/green and dark green.   I think i'll pick up some weak fish fertilizer for it and see if it greens up.  It needs 80 degree temperatures but indirect light so i may keep it outside in a shady spot for the rest of the summer and set up a terrarium type housing for it later.  I plan on keeping it as small as i can. If it lives a long time and gets really big, i can use one of those mini greenhouses as a heat and steam tent for it.  I'm not 100% pleased with its appearance at arrival, but if it is healthy enough to survive with reasonable care it will be fine.  I was impressed with the packaging.... almost too sturdy to get the plant out without damage.

Looks a little pathetic right now...

I'll see how it goes i guess.

I have not been outside yet but its supposed to be a hot day.  The corn stalks reached the top of the hoop arches yesterday.  I'm leaving the hoops up so they can hopefully support the stalks later in the season when the breezes usually knock my stalks flat.

There will be more green beans to pick today i'm sure.  EDIT; later..

Picked just under 3# of green beans this evening.  I had sent the first 2# to my parents and they had them for supper tonight. They called to let me know they were very tasty.  We've been snacking on them raw here,. they are a bit more prickly than other types i have had, but the flavor is good.