About Me

My photo
Montgomery, Alabama, United States
I'm a Zone 8. I'm doing a little gardening to satisfy a curiosity to see whether or not I can do it. People make it look so easy-- what's stopping me from making it work? Contrary to my name ("Hana" means flower in Japanese) I have a history of killing plants. Well, most of them. Let's see how this one goes!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Whoops?

So things were looking up! up! up! since my last post. And oh my, life was amazing if you were a tiny seedling in my garden. Oh my yes-- mama put all her toddlers out on the back patio a few days ago and they were all as happy as could be, basking in the radiant (but not too intense!) sunshine at temperatures in the mid-70s. Quite amazing.

And then last night the thunderstorm rolled in. Of course I knew it was coming, so I hid my babies on a fairly sheltered part of the patio. Temperatures dropped into the 40s, which wasn't too horrible (except maybe for the peppers-- eek) but it was the wind that got around and grabbed one of my beans and broke his arm.


He was my biggest one. I guess it doesn't always pay off to be the tallest of the pack. Luckily, he was the only one to sustain any apparent injuries.

All the tomato babies are doing great, I have some peppers sprouting, the peas have almost all popped up, and I FINALLY have a couple chives poking through. Still no sign of lavender, kohlrabi, Swiss chard, or parsley. I wonder if they have died-- I'm debating tossing them out and starting over.

I've also got some mystery shoots going. Some cups I didn't label since I would label only the first of each row, leaving the other 2 or 3 to be implicitly assumed, but with the tumult of moving sprouters away from non-sprouters and, er, dropping the carrying boxes, I have some things popping up that I have no idea what the heck they are.



I hope hope hope that these two are peppers. I don't want any more cherry tomatoes.


These? No frigging clue. At all. They got lost in my dirt pile when I did some re-potting, and I found them sprouting on their own. We'll see what they become.

I did a bunch of repotting today. The peas got put into colanders and thrown outside where it is cool and they will be happy. I crammed the large beans into a tub because I need their cups to house newly sprouting beans AND the large ones need a heavier anchor against the wind, should they get attacked again-- although none got felled last night I don't want to have to deal with it later. Anyway, the ones in the tub will be repotted into larger individual pots very soon. Some might remain as patio plants and some will be put into the ground when the garden comes around. Let's hope that they all survive that long. The dill got upgraded from egg carton cells to a festive $2 Target holiday tin. Random radishes that spontaneously appeared in random pots got housed next to the flat of lettuce and spinach.


Happy dill in a cute green snowflake tin.


Baby marigolds! Huzzah!


CHIVES. FINALLY.


A couple of my sunflowers still like their little hats. I personally think they look silly-- lefty agrees.


Radishes that will eventually be allowed to turn into radishes, and not just baby greens salad.


Tomatoes and basils looking good! Oregano has a lot of catching up to do.


Okra, melons, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, basils, and random flower friends for the veggies.


I left my cilantro and Brassicas outside because I figured they'd like the cold. At least that is what I keep reading about them. Spinach, lettuce, beets, and some random basils accompany.


And finally, my peas. Don't they look happy?

I should also mention that my neighbor gave me a crapton of seeds from her own garden, including bitter melon, cilantro, beans, okra, and random squashes. I don't exactly know what squashes she gave me, except for the bitter melon, but the seeds are awesome-looking.


They are all planted in my "Mystery melons" carton. I am excited to see what pops up.

The day is cold and yucky and it would seem that the rest of the week will be pretty much the same. I am just glad that I have lots of windows in the house on all sides to stash the indoor lurkers.

No comments: