Monday, June 4, 2012

Drenched

We got some good rain this weekend,  its been a steady downpour since Saturday evening.

My hubby wanted me to try those Jobe's fertilizer spikes for tomatoes since our soil is so sandy we suspect much of the fertilizers get washed away rather quickly.  I poked them in the other day,  i expect them to make a difference.

My squash and cuke seeds and seedlings are still in the flat,  they are going slow and some are not germinating at all.  I'll be lucky if i get one Delicata plant.  The butternut are large though and almost ready to go in.

I really started them too late,  but the germination  percent is quite disappointing. I planted two seeds in each pot.

The rain has overflowed the flats so i'll need to drain them...again.  So much rain,  its been steady for almost 3 days now.  I expect my green bean seeds have been well watered by now, lol

Stanley will have to be staked again,  the water on his leaves has him bending down  alarmingly once more.  I'm still not understanding this pruning thing,  i simply don't know what needs to be cut.  I let my grapes go this year,  it warmed up way too fast for me to get in and winter prune,  so i'm letting them go just to see what it "looks like" when they grow on their own.  I think i have enough of a handle on how to prune grapes that i can make repairs next spring.

I need also to make name plates for my plants.  I'm not sure how i'll do this.  They are outgrowing their nursery tags and they'll have to be removed .....  and i'm forgetful. I want to know who is who.  I am very disorganised at the same time i like to be precise.  I'll spend hours charting and graphing,  but in the end i just wing it.   Like this year.   I mapped and plotted with my Grow Veg subscription,  but when it got  down to it,  i didn't print it off,  i just dug in and planted.  This year i didn't even label varieties,  some of the tomatoes i recognise by sight this year (pruden's purple, san marzanos and aunt molly's ground cherries) and the kales (red russian and kai lan queen),  i know where the beans are.  The squashes i'll know by the time they grow and the cukes will sort themselves out.  Once the rain stops and i can start digging again,  i'll plant them out.

I did find my camera cable (yay!)   but no pics because of the rain.  I plan to do a picture post soon. Maybe i'll do one of those "Wordless Wednesday" posts i see other bloggers doing.