It's not been a particularly standout day for me so far. I go to work in about an hour, but I wanted to update you on all my plants! (I know you've just been on the edge of your seat to know what I do next with them.) I finally moved my sprouts (bell pepper, celery and garlic) to the wild outdoors yesterday.
The gathering of plants and supplies... on the grill...
Wild is a loosely-used term, of course. The most wildlife my backyard sees is rabbits, which will probably cause their own issues later in the season.
Anyway, the tiny bell peppers we've followed from seed...
have graduated again! Yesterday I moved seven stalwart sprouts
Plus a rogue blade of grass
into some roomier peat pots.
I water plants in peat pots by filling a container with water, so the roots are encouraged to grow deeper to reach it.
What I did was crack the eggshells that the sprouts were contained in so that 1. the roots could move past them without having to go up and out and 2. so the shells might biodegrade faster and put more calcium into the soil.
While pulling out the shells that hadn't shown proof of life, I did find one sprout that might be a late bloomer. The root still looked alive, so I put it back in the egg crate to see if it just needs a little more time. Maybe it'll poke up, maybe it won't, but I owe it the chance.
Then there's the garlic. You'll remember the weed-like pace at which these boogers grew.
A difference of just one week.
Well the leaves were getting so tall they couldn't support themselves, and I knew the bulbs underground would need some room to grow soon. So to my long pot they went.
At first I tried to separate the plants, but the roots had grown through the bottom of the pots (proof that watering from the bottom does encourage deeper roots, in my opinion). I didn't want to damage them by pulling them apart, so I tore the peat pots into thirds and buried them in the soil as a unit, just with room to move out from one another.
As far as the celery, I added a second stalk a few weeks ago, so there are actually two of those now. They were pretty uneventful plants: just bury them in dirt as deep as the top of the original, cut-off stalks.
Now, there were some unintended replantings yesterday too. The first was a surprise. I found this fist-sized bulb under a bag of birdseed in a pot on the porch probably a month ago. I didn't know what type of bulb it was, and it was shrunken and moldy looking. So obviously I stuck it in some dirt to see what would happen. It was actually sitting in the long pot that I put the garlic in. When I took it out to get the pot ready for the garlic, I found new roots growing! Not one to discourage progress, I put it into a smaller pot of its own and moved it to a sunny corner of the porch with the celery.
What IS it??
I really am excited to see what it may turn into. A flower, I'm sure, but I'm not sure what kind.
Also, while digging dirt out of a plantless pot for the various replantings, I found a couple of very-alive sprouts inside. I'm not sure if they were damaged in my shoveling, but they were interesting, so I stuck them in the corner of the garlic pot.
And remember the rogue grass from the egg carton?
I felt bad just pulling it out, so I also stuck it into the garlic pot. Yes there's a whole yard of grass out there, but this guy grew because of ME. It has a soft spot in my heart now.
So I managed a lot of moving and digging yesterday. Here's hoping the next frost that's supposed to happen this month either doesn't happen, isn't that bad, or gives enough warning for me to bring everyone back inside before it happens.
The radish and pumpkin seeds we bought a few weeks ago are still in their packets. I also found a packet of container-appropriate spinach seeds that I'd forgotten I bought last year. Maybe they would still sprout if I put them in some water? The sweet potato sprouts are also still in the kitchen, but I want them to be a bit bigger before they go outside.
The future still has more for this year's gardening ventures. I haven't even started with my herb plans yet, my tomato tower is just awaiting some fresh soil before I get some plants for it. And the shallot things that I bought several years ago are still sprouting, despite being out in freezes and dry weather and rain and no dirt. They need a home too.
Clearly I've found a way to stay busy when I'm not working.
And my dutiful daytime domestic activity companion is just as excited as I am.
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