2008 June 17th

It's been a year since my last post. I guess I'm not as good at this as I'd hoped to be.
This years garden is thriving in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Since we had a terrible heat spell a couple of weeks ago, I got alot of casualties. Both my Maples large and small have dried up and gone to crinkleville. I managed to salvage enough of themn that they still have a few leaves left on them

The experiment with the wax paper was a fail. It was good short term but the paper eventually disintegrated and I was back where I started. This year, I had a bucket of hydrated water crystals and I basically plastered the bottom of the coco fiber shell with a layer of wet crystals and put potting soil on top. Once the seedings were up and runny I put some shredded wood mulch on top. The Morning Glories Still seem to wilt a little each day, but being that there is less than 2 cups of soil in it's basket, I still have to water them every day, but only once it seems.

I'm experimenting with planting many plants close together.
For example, in this planter I have Cucumbers growing. I was told that Nasturtiums and Petunias provide some benefit to cucumbers, so I planted them in the planter also. Besides attracting butterflies to pollinate my Cucumbers, the leaves of the growing flowers keep the soil underneath shady and cool from the horrid hot sun. And to top it off, It looks darn cute together.
I've done the same thing with my Zukes and Pumpkins, planting Petunias, Marigolds, and Oregano along with them. And My Pepper plants are supposed to like humid conditions, so a living mulch of Basil, and other flowers should provide a small cool atmosphere around the peppers.
Make sure you read about companion planting thoroughly before putting plants together. I made the error of planting marigolds with my bean plants and realized later that they antagonize each other. Too late to dig 'em up now.

High and Dry

It seems like summer came a month early. Each of my hanging baskets is drying out faster each day. It got to where I was watering them three times a day and they were still drying out terribly.
I supposed it had been a bad idea to plant the cucumber in one of the hanging baskets and transfered them to a large bowl planter. As for the pea vines and the morning glorys, which had twined themselve about everything, transplanting was not an option. Those liners hold dirt well enough but they do NOT hold water, in fact, they are so porous that the dirt may as well be spread out in the hot sun. I had to find some way to keep the water in the baskets.

My First Solution: Soil Moist Water Crystals:
My Logic: These crystals absorb extra water and holds it until the external environment starts to dry, then they release the water.
My Process: Yeah, the instructions say, for existing plantings, to poke a hole and put the crystals down inside, cover with dirt, then water. What resulted was a beautiful (slow motion) guyser of water crystals rising out of the dirt like gelatinous zombies.
Conclusion: I will stick to mixing the crystals in with the fill dirt.

My Second Solution: Waxed Paper.
My Logic: If I wrap the inside (or outside) of the basket with waxed paper then the water will at least pool in the bottom for a while before the paper becomes saturated and evaporation starts. (Usually the water runs right out of the bottom almost as soon as I start watering.)
My Process: Bowl 1: It is not a hanging basket but a small bowl planter with some flowers that dry out too quickly. I upturned the plants and soil, and put a large strip of waxed paper in the bottom, then dumped the soil and plants right back in. Because the roots weren't much disturbed it fit back in perfectly.

Basket 1: This is the basket from which I transplanted the cucumber. It was empty and I lined the liner with a large strip of paper, cut off just below the top edge. Of course it was folded in on itself a bit to conform to the bowl shape. I then filled the basket with a pre-moisten soil mix.




Basket 2: This is a small basket occupied by several pea vines and morning glorys. Thus occupied I was only able to lift the contents a few inches without possibly damaging the vines. With this basket, I decided to put the paper underneath, between the coco liner and the metal mesh. Since this basket was much smaller, I was able to have the paper more than halfway high all around.

Watering the plants was a pleasing experience since the water wasn't pouring out the bottoms. The next day the soil still felt moist. This seemed to work well for a few days. Then i noticed that the Bowl 1 seemed too dry despite a recent watering. I watered again and noticed water pouring from the bottom. Turning the plants out, it seems that my neighborhood pests decided to chew holes into the waxed paper
That defeated Bowl 1 experiment.

The next day, while watering Basket 2 the same thing occured. I checked and checked and could not see any discernable holes. When I lifted the paper coated liner, I realized that the wire had bitten into the paper and scored a line from top to bottom. Basket 2 has been defeated.

The only one holding it's ground, was hanging Basket 1. It seems to be consistenly moist and the seedlings I put there are thriving. I've not had to drench it with water, just a light sprinkle in the morning. It seems that putting the waxed paper within the lining protects it from being eaten or worn into. I think the only thing that may foil the paper (sorry I had to say that) might be the roots of the plants trying to grow beyond the paper and tearing from the inside.

My Conclusion: I am pleased with the outcome of this experience and intend to try this process with my other shallow bowls and planters as I replant. My Urns are notorious for drying out and this waxed paper lining may benefit them and prevent me from having to water them so often. Of course I will give an update on how the paper solution holds up.

Have a Happy Thursday!

You Get What You Prepare For

Sometimes the wisdom of an AHA moments jolts something deep inside. I had one of these AHA moments today after a disappointing afternoon of Job Hunting. My car was sweltering in the heat with the lack of A/C, and I was in a cheerfully masked dour mood after getting a pep talk and some advice from a friendly soul at the City Welcome Center on how to improve my job search.

As we were wrapping it up, the wind picked up and I hoped for rain. My plants had used up the last of the reserve rainwater and I’d have to start using the tap again soon. As I pulled into my apartment driveway, the clouds were thick and rolling but they showed no signs of the heaviness that precipitates precipitation. My attention was pulled suddenly to the edge of the building, not because the nearest parking space was clear (yahoo) but because there were strange plastic shapes beneath the both of the downspouts. It took me just a moment to realize what they were.

A little background: Since I moved here I have been collecting rainwater from two downspouts on the outside of the stairwell. I shuttle buckets back and forth, getting myself drenched in the manner of wet t-shirt events carrying rainwater from the spouts to my containers. As far as containers, I’m up to 6 milk jugs, a two-liter bottle, a gallon pressurized sprayer, and a large lidded storage container.

Anyway, I felt a twinge of betrayal when I saw these cutoff milk jugs, under “MY” spouts! I felt I had a claim to those spouts. My neighbor, who placed the jugs, asked me if I thought it would rain. I shrugged my shoulders, got over my feelings at that moment when I had the though “ It really doesn’t matter when it rains.” Many hours late, it rained, and I had a revelation.

See it doesn’t matter where the buckets are when it is not raining; it matters where they are when it is raining. I had already built a plan for whenever the opportunity arose, (or fell, in the case of rain). I keep my buckets put away, but available, empty of soil, or tools and such. As soon as the first drops of rain start to fall, I’m outside with all three empty buckets. The first minutes are really key since the rain usually falls the hardest and the water comes quickly. I cycle the buckets from the spout to my largest container, as quickly as I can, then to my gallon jugs. I can get as much water as possible in the first few minutes then take my time. I continue cycling the buckets, filling the containers from one as the next bucket fills. I usually end up with several gallons of rainwater, even from a 2-minute rain.

What Irealized, while wet, was that long ago I had prepared to save a large quantity of water. One bucket can only hold so much, so I have three. Three buckets can only hold so much so I have other containers. And the water won’t walk itself there, I have to get out and take care of it, in the pouring rain. While my neighbor had put out 4 one-gallon jugs in case of rain, I got several gallons put away, when the rain actually came. That’s why it didn’t matter when it would rain. No matter when, I’d be out there in it, prepared to get as much as I can. As I pondered all this the phrase came to me “You get what you prepare for.”

I felt proud of my self for realizing that. Then I thought about my day. My job search is not getting me what I want, and part of the reason may be that I’m not prepared for what I want to get. Luckily for me, Ive been given the opportunity get the training I think Ill need to be prepared in the future.

Wow, and I thought this was about collecting rainwater . . .

A Good Soak is Good for the Soul

There are many purple martins and bats swooping around in the evening scooping up moths and mosquitos, I suppose. It got me thinking about those birdhouses people make and hang out for the birds. (Bat houses are another matter, altogether) Anyhow, with the trellis in place I have finally become brave enough to attempt to grow some gourds.

I had lost a package of long necked gourds, so I ordered additional seeds from the Red Rock Nursery http://www.redrocknursery.com/. The seeds came in two days, free shipping. The new seeds are shaped like snowmen. Luckily I found the long neck seeds and I’ve decided to sow both varieties and see what happens.

I thought I’d mention the method of soaking I use for almost all of my seeds. This has been sucessful with most of my seeds at verifying germination before setting in soil mix or soil. In the photos are shown the Purple Queen Bush Bean Seeds.

First choose a small container, one for each type of seed. I started with ice trays, now I’m using 2 ounce plastic cups. (dixie cups work well but are not reusable) Mix 16 oz of water with one ounce of 3% hydrogen peroxide. I put as many seeds as I want plants, plus one, in the cup and cover them with Peroxide water. Let them soak over night. Most seeds soak up alot of water over night and it is recommended to go ahead and plant them, but I don’t. Instead of planting them, I pour off the old water,rinse and re-soak with fresh H202 water.

It seems counter intuitive to soak them so long, since the seeds may rot. I actually had a very smelly incident with some bean seeds but that was before I thought to refresh the water . Since alot of seeds put off refuse from the bio-chemical reactions, it is important to change the water frequently. I am able to see the seeds germinating in the water,and take the guess work out of how many I need to resow. In a couple of days, with beans, you can see the little rootlet start to emerge. With Basil, I actually had lots of tiny green baby leaves floating about after they escaped their gelatonous shell. Pumpkin seeds, you see the shell split and it looks like it is giving you a raspberry.

It seems that the germination time is cut almost in half by soaking this way. And the plants, that made it past damponing off, are growing very well. I can take the germinated seed and place it excactly where I want it to grow rather than casting a lot and wondering which ones might come up. I intend to start as many of my seeds this way as possible.

The Trellis

June 3rd, I bought a trellis. I had to put it together in like 30 different parts. Luckily I’d just bought a rotary tool replacement as I needed to grind down the metal shards where the holes were punched just to get it to slide together.

This thing is rather tall, and I’d considered shortening it by one rung but realized that my Morning Glorys are going to want to climb as high as possible, and nothing is taller that the trellis. Since I need to support my cherry tomato vine and need something for the squash I decided to plant the feet of the trellis right into the containers with the plants.

This accomplishes at least two things: 1) I don’t have to try to push these poles in to ground that won’t recieve it. and 2) the plants can naturally find their way up the pole with less teasing from me. I have two tomatoes and a squash, and one empty container which, hopefully, will hold a Jack-Be-Little Pumpkin vine.

The Morning Glory, Peavines, and cucumber will eventually grow enough to reach out and be supported by the trellis also. (fingers crossed) The spaces between the rungs are quite large and open, so I will consider whether to use string or netting to give better grips for the plants to climb.

Welcome to my Apartment Garden

This blog is about my attempts at container gardening in small spaces in an apartment dwelling.
I moved into my apartment two years ago and before signing the lease I mentioned that I had potted plants and if it were okay to put them in the barren space in front of my apartment. I was told it was alright, and thus the takeover began . . .