I finally cut the overgrown stuff in the front way, way back. Mostly it was Sweet Potato Vine, which has grown like crazy and was hiding a ton of plants I didn't know where there. And I pulled out a ton of dead shit off the poor day lilies, which are barely hanging on, Oh, and I cut the Black Eyed Susan and the Echinacea down quite a bit, because their dried out heads were depressing. I found a Hosta.
The container veggies are kind of stagnant. The Romaine Lettuce looks fantastic and I'm going to probably cut it soon, yay. The kale is growing very slowly, and it has some significant bug damage. The Bok Choy are getting decimated by the bugs. The stupid radicchio in the window box is growing and everything, and it looks fine and healthy, but it's not making any radicchio. It looks like I started those in early August, and while I think they are 80 or 90 day, they don't look like anything good is going to happen there. I think they might be bullshit. I may want to rip them out and put in more lettuce or spinach or something. The long container where I had the mesclun is ok, there's what looks like arugula and some stuff... I would like to replant it with another row but I need to get more seeds. There's another long container where I put the rest of the mesclun seeds a while ago, and they're germinated and sprouted, but then they did nothing for the last 2 -3 weeks.
I have like, 4 6 packs of baby Bok Choy starts but I don't know where to put them. They all seem to get nommed on by these little bugs, maybe also caterpillars. If I go through the trouble of transplanting all these, will I just attract more of these little fuckers? The ones I have are already much bigger than I thought they would be, so I'm going to go ahead and harvest those, and transplant the starts back into that container. (I should go through it first and make sure there are no disgusting caterpillars.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
I got worms.
I now have a worm bin (WormFactory) and approximately 1000 red wiggler worms. When I got the worms 4 days ago, I made the starter mix they recommended, with damp coir, shredded paper, pumice and mineral dust, and lined the top and bottom with paper. They asked for newsprint, but I used the brown paper bag material. I hope it's not too dense.
I just fed them for the first time- I put the contents of my little kitchen crock into the food processor (2 batches) to try to break it down to a manageable size and chunkiness. That was gross. But yeah, I tried to spread that around for the worms... it was quite damp, which is probably good because the paper on top and even the coir mix seemed very dry. Hm... I definitely used tap water to dampen everything, and it's definitely chlorinated. So going forward, I should probably make an effort to de-chlorinate that stuff. You can leave it to sit out for 2 days, and the chlorine evolves into the air, or you can boil it for an hour, I think. The best approach would probably be to keep a spray bottle near the bin so when things look dry, I can just mist it. I'll need to do that with some of the house plants as well. (Oh god, there are going to be so many house plants)
But I think this is going to be a good thing. I can put the majority of kitchen scraps in there. Some sources say they do not like onions or citrus or hot peppers, which worries me because I use those things a lot. Why wouldn't they like onions? What about onion skins? They like eggshells and coffee grounds, and that's great because I have a lot of that, and I don't mind hoarding it. I had a large stash of coffee grounds that I put in the outside compost, but I think the rest of them will go in the worm bin, because it sounds like everyone agrees they are the perfect for worms. That, and nutrient-poor stuff like lettuce. I am reluctant to put any fruit or tomato in there because of the potential for fruit flies, but everyone says that's not an issue as long as I keep putting in shredded paper. We'll see. I'm now getting very impatient, and I want to mess with it, but I should probably just leave it alone and check on it after a week.
I just fed them for the first time- I put the contents of my little kitchen crock into the food processor (2 batches) to try to break it down to a manageable size and chunkiness. That was gross. But yeah, I tried to spread that around for the worms... it was quite damp, which is probably good because the paper on top and even the coir mix seemed very dry. Hm... I definitely used tap water to dampen everything, and it's definitely chlorinated. So going forward, I should probably make an effort to de-chlorinate that stuff. You can leave it to sit out for 2 days, and the chlorine evolves into the air, or you can boil it for an hour, I think. The best approach would probably be to keep a spray bottle near the bin so when things look dry, I can just mist it. I'll need to do that with some of the house plants as well. (Oh god, there are going to be so many house plants)
But I think this is going to be a good thing. I can put the majority of kitchen scraps in there. Some sources say they do not like onions or citrus or hot peppers, which worries me because I use those things a lot. Why wouldn't they like onions? What about onion skins? They like eggshells and coffee grounds, and that's great because I have a lot of that, and I don't mind hoarding it. I had a large stash of coffee grounds that I put in the outside compost, but I think the rest of them will go in the worm bin, because it sounds like everyone agrees they are the perfect for worms. That, and nutrient-poor stuff like lettuce. I am reluctant to put any fruit or tomato in there because of the potential for fruit flies, but everyone says that's not an issue as long as I keep putting in shredded paper. We'll see. I'm now getting very impatient, and I want to mess with it, but I should probably just leave it alone and check on it after a week.
So Many Plants
I now have 5 out of 6 of the rectangular planters filled with fall veggies- Bok Choy, Lettuce, Kale and Swiss Chard. I think they're looking quite good, although today it's like, 90+ and sunny and humid and everything is looking a little limp and sad, including me. The Swiss Chard looks really nice, and the first set of lettuce is pretty full, but not very green, for some reason. When it's cooler, I'm going to cut back a lot, and see how it comes back. I did that a few weeks ago and made a teeny tiny salad for myself, but now the Romaine are starting to form little heads.
I think next year I could do the 3 big planters with something fast, like lettuce and radishes, and then it will be all finished by May, when I would put in the Green Beans. I don't think I would even need to clean the plants out, I would just plant the beans in there near the end of April, when the lettuce should be finishing, and they'll just succession-grow themselves.
At Home Depot, I bought some Coreopsis, which were 3 for $12, and I'd been thinking about putting them in the sad bed. Right now the grasses are so huge I feel weird about putting anything in there. But I will. I would do it today if it wasn't disgusting outside. I also got a new Hibiscus from Terrain, because it was on sale, and put it in a bigger pot. Yet another plant I can bring in over the winter.
I'm starting to pull off any new flowers on the tomato. It's not that we don't have time to get them ripened up, but I am sick of the ugly plant. And I want to clear out some space for the next round of planting. I want to get more Kale up in there.
I think next year I could do the 3 big planters with something fast, like lettuce and radishes, and then it will be all finished by May, when I would put in the Green Beans. I don't think I would even need to clean the plants out, I would just plant the beans in there near the end of April, when the lettuce should be finishing, and they'll just succession-grow themselves.
At Home Depot, I bought some Coreopsis, which were 3 for $12, and I'd been thinking about putting them in the sad bed. Right now the grasses are so huge I feel weird about putting anything in there. But I will. I would do it today if it wasn't disgusting outside. I also got a new Hibiscus from Terrain, because it was on sale, and put it in a bigger pot. Yet another plant I can bring in over the winter.
I'm starting to pull off any new flowers on the tomato. It's not that we don't have time to get them ripened up, but I am sick of the ugly plant. And I want to clear out some space for the next round of planting. I want to get more Kale up in there.
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