Sunday, April 20, 2014

Garden -- success!

Sprouts everywhere!  I even had to do some thinning Friday because I always manage to put the seed in unevenly.  So give me some demerits and we'll call it a day.
Now, notice, it is absolutely not time to plant warm weather veg, either from seed as I do or from sets as most people do.
In fact there were people in the DC area who ignored the forecast and put out tomatoes, peppers and other such sets two days before we had a re-freeze.
That's over, but I'm still not planting those things for more than a week yet. 
Flowers either.
Also train yourself to water properly now so that when you have to water in summer, you won't cause your zucchini to develop that white stuff on the leaves that will kill them.

You must have a watering can or a long nozzle on your hose.
You must water in the morning before 8 a.m., especially tomatoes.
You must fit the nozzle of the can or hose UNDER THE LEAVES and put the water DIRECTLY ON THE ROOTS, not water the stems.
You MUST water deeply, not just dampen the compost.  You have to really soak it down for the plants to get it.
You MUST wait a couple of days before watering again.  Watering too often is as bad as not watering deeply enough.

Yes, it takes time.  Yes, if you have a job you'll have to get up even earlier to do this.  And to get your sleep, you'll have to go to bed earlier.  If changing your schedule is too hard because of your job, commute, whatever (been there, done that) then think twice before you start a veggie garden.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved

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