more garden

Got all the lettuces/cabbages planted in the seed propogating thingy and direct seeded the root vegetables. It took a lot, LOT longer than I expected.

Just need to get in the spinach, scallions, and radishes a little later once there is room for them. Although, if they could be happy with it--I might see what I can companion plant around the peppers and tomatoes right now. The spinach is going to have to wait, but everything else might work.

I'm about 6 weeks late on starting the brussel sprouts. I really hope that I can get a crop out of them since I found out last winter that I actually LIKE them when I don't try to boil them from a frozen state. Actually, I just want to grown them because I've seen photos and they are the absolute silliest things I've seen. How can you not giggle when you see THIS growing in your yard?!?

As always, I'm nervous about putting small seeds directly in the ground. I did manage to remember to water the soil beforehand, pat the seeds down afterwards, and water some more. Now I just gotta remember to water everything like crazy.

Speaking of watering like crazy--I've been having this feeling that I'm not watering enough. My pepper plants are always looking like they want to wilt. Things are growing very, very slow. My chard is still looking like a baby.

I started digging out the soil after the first watering for the new seeds. I was amazed? appalled? surprised? guilty? at how much water I felt like I was putting down and how little it actually permeated the surface.

Ooops.

I have been a bad, bad vegetable mama. I have been forcing my food to pretend that it is growing in the desert. eesh. Plants honestly don't need so much...some soil, sun, and water. I'm absolutely failing on giving them 1/3 of their basic needs. :(

I also JUST LEARNED that the peat moss that is 1/3 of my bed and about 1/3 of ALL of my containers needs a "holy hell lot of water" at first. ("Holy hell" is my new version of a "metric shit ton". Which means that I dont' actually know how much it is, but it is far and beyond more than I can imagine). Come to find out that I have done it all wrong. This is from some garden blog about square foot gardens:

Peat moss is incredibly hydrophobic the first time you get it wet. It's almost like the stuff is coated in the same oil on duck's feathers and it can take a couple good hours of soaking a 4'x4' bed before the water has really permeated all the way through it for that first initial soaking. Especially when you consider the water retention capabilities of the vermiculite itself.

Did you see that? Did you see the words "hydrophobic" and "couple good hours" and "4x4"?
Ladies and gentleman, I think I've ran the hose no more than a few minutes on each square (until this afternoon) both before planting and during planting on my 17'x'3 bed.

I gotta say, as much as I like the "Square Food Gardening" book, it really is starting to piss me off. There was like ZERO mention of this. I mean, according to Mel--you only need a cup of warm water lovingly poured from your hand for each plant like once a week because his formula is so damn awesome. I figured out about a month ago that my poor little plants needed a LOT more than that--but jeebus h!! Dumb things down all you want, but don't tell me wrong THINGS. I've spent too much doing this crap and worrying and feeling crappy and not eating food I'm not growing when all you gotta say is, "Beanhead, you better water that bed a holy helluva lot when you first put it in!"

Thanks for nothing, Mel. Really.

I absolutely have to buy fish and seeweed fertilizer tomorrow. This also may be a real problem as to why nothing wants to flourish. Despite putting down the awesome sauce compost, it IS new dirt. I should help it along a bit. I learned THAT tonight as well trolling gardening websites for square foot gardens.

Really, Mel, you aren't getting a lot of love from me right now, ok? I'm happy to play by the rules, but you gotta tell 'em to me.

Got more wormies so hopefully I can just put down worm castings and worm tea instead of fish and seaweed eventually.

Anyway, I'd like to give much love to the internetz right now. If it wasn't for instant information at my fingertips, I'd spend years screwing this up instead of seasons.