slip into spring
The time around the equinoxes is when the sun appears to make the most progress northward or southward every day, so I've been moving things around the garden every week. At the moment, I have:
1. a compost bin with worms doing their thing
2. a few empty pots or pots with dirt waiting to be used
3. a patch of dirt covered with wood chips and pretty rocks (the rest is concrete)
4. a pot of lavender
5. a pot of daisies
6. three pots of amaryllis
7. a pot of geraniums
8. a pot of grass for the cats to munch (and then puke up once they're inside on the carpet)
9. a cheap utility table with boxes of:
a. kale
b. spinach
c. two kinds of lettuce in three boxes
The light is complicated because my patio is a 13 by 8 foot rectangle, the long ends north and south. Apartment 8 (directly upstairs from me) has a balcony that shades different parts of the patio as the sun moves each day. The building to the south is two storeys tall, with the added joy of two satellite dishes on the roof. There is a fence around my patio with a scalloped top edge, rising from five to six feet from the ground. So placing plants where they will get maximum sunlight during the springtime is a challenge. It will get easier as summer nears, and the sun will be 10-20 degrees from straight up for about three months. I'm in SoCA, so the difference between June and December sunlight isn't too severe, but it's enough to make a difference in where I place things when I have a balcony, a fence, and another apartment building blocking the sunlight every day.
The sun is the reason for the table; I started the greens weeks ago when it was still much cooler and rainy, and the sun barely reached the ground at all. The table lifts the plants off the ground to get the sun, I can move the table so the plants get the sun as the sun moves north and south over the year, and I don't have to bend all the way to the ground to pick up the plants' containers when it's time to move stuff around.
So today was about moving stuff around again. I also poured the compost tea from the lower bin in the composting system and poured a bit into every pot that's growing something. Give the plants a bit of a boost as the weather warms up. I'm pretty vigilant about watering the vegetables, but everything else only gets water once or twice a week. Better to have a good, deep soak once a week than several shallow drips that don't reach the roots, right? Right.
I'm not done planting, but I still have to wait before I start the corn. I'm thinking about a month from now, maybe the last weekend in April. I have a bunch of boxes and the seeds ready to go, and I will get soil when it's time to plant. Mom loves tomatoes, so we'll try them again. (I did make bruschetta from her tomatoes and my basil last year, and it was delicious.) I also want to plant at least half a dozen pots of herbs for the kitchen. Mom is enthusiastic about this, even though she doesn't like it when I use herbs in my cooking. Meat and onion and salt, and that's it. No other flavor for her! I, on the other hand, adore rosemary and thyme in my pot roast and turkey and meatloaf. As I am the chef in this family now, I do it my way ... unless it's Mother's Day or her birthday.
My knees can no longer handle kneeling on concrete, even when it's well-padded. I'll probably hire a teenager from church to clear the dirt patch of weeds and rocks and plant some flowers that will attract bees and butterflies. (Cat TV!) I love roses, but I'm not inclined to put a rose bush in there, just because when/if I ever move, I'd want to take it with me. They do well in a large enough pot, yes, but I'm running out of room. We still want to sit out there, and Mom uses a walker to get around.
The first amaryllis should bloom tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm trying to think of NASA or science fiction type terms to describe the process, like "Pod bay doors opening," "Preparing for launch," and "Liftoff! We have liftoff!"
Mom's orchid on the front porch is in full glory. It's so transient, this bloom, lasting only a few weeks, but it is so very beautiful. My Nana's sister-in-law, Aunt Penny, gave Mom a cutting over a decade ago. It has grown so much that I call it The Beast.
While I'm grubby and working, I will move the amaryllis to the front porch. Amaryllis is a type of lily, and it is toxic to cats. Even a dusting of pollen on the fur can harm or even kill a cat once she starts grooming herself and ingests the pollen. Remember that when you buy Easter lilies and keep them well away from your beasties!
One of my two BFFs had got me hooked on the Netflix/BBC show Big Dreams, Small Spaces. I've only seen three episodes, but I love it so far and hope to get in at least two episodes later today.
Chores first, though. Laundry, dishes, and dinner with Dad. Happy Sunday!
1. a compost bin with worms doing their thing
2. a few empty pots or pots with dirt waiting to be used
3. a patch of dirt covered with wood chips and pretty rocks (the rest is concrete)
4. a pot of lavender
5. a pot of daisies
6. three pots of amaryllis
7. a pot of geraniums
8. a pot of grass for the cats to munch (and then puke up once they're inside on the carpet)
9. a cheap utility table with boxes of:
a. kale
b. spinach
c. two kinds of lettuce in three boxes
The light is complicated because my patio is a 13 by 8 foot rectangle, the long ends north and south. Apartment 8 (directly upstairs from me) has a balcony that shades different parts of the patio as the sun moves each day. The building to the south is two storeys tall, with the added joy of two satellite dishes on the roof. There is a fence around my patio with a scalloped top edge, rising from five to six feet from the ground. So placing plants where they will get maximum sunlight during the springtime is a challenge. It will get easier as summer nears, and the sun will be 10-20 degrees from straight up for about three months. I'm in SoCA, so the difference between June and December sunlight isn't too severe, but it's enough to make a difference in where I place things when I have a balcony, a fence, and another apartment building blocking the sunlight every day.
The sun is the reason for the table; I started the greens weeks ago when it was still much cooler and rainy, and the sun barely reached the ground at all. The table lifts the plants off the ground to get the sun, I can move the table so the plants get the sun as the sun moves north and south over the year, and I don't have to bend all the way to the ground to pick up the plants' containers when it's time to move stuff around.
So today was about moving stuff around again. I also poured the compost tea from the lower bin in the composting system and poured a bit into every pot that's growing something. Give the plants a bit of a boost as the weather warms up. I'm pretty vigilant about watering the vegetables, but everything else only gets water once or twice a week. Better to have a good, deep soak once a week than several shallow drips that don't reach the roots, right? Right.
I'm not done planting, but I still have to wait before I start the corn. I'm thinking about a month from now, maybe the last weekend in April. I have a bunch of boxes and the seeds ready to go, and I will get soil when it's time to plant. Mom loves tomatoes, so we'll try them again. (I did make bruschetta from her tomatoes and my basil last year, and it was delicious.) I also want to plant at least half a dozen pots of herbs for the kitchen. Mom is enthusiastic about this, even though she doesn't like it when I use herbs in my cooking. Meat and onion and salt, and that's it. No other flavor for her! I, on the other hand, adore rosemary and thyme in my pot roast and turkey and meatloaf. As I am the chef in this family now, I do it my way ... unless it's Mother's Day or her birthday.
My knees can no longer handle kneeling on concrete, even when it's well-padded. I'll probably hire a teenager from church to clear the dirt patch of weeds and rocks and plant some flowers that will attract bees and butterflies. (Cat TV!) I love roses, but I'm not inclined to put a rose bush in there, just because when/if I ever move, I'd want to take it with me. They do well in a large enough pot, yes, but I'm running out of room. We still want to sit out there, and Mom uses a walker to get around.
The first amaryllis should bloom tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm trying to think of NASA or science fiction type terms to describe the process, like "Pod bay doors opening," "Preparing for launch," and "Liftoff! We have liftoff!"
Mom's orchid on the front porch is in full glory. It's so transient, this bloom, lasting only a few weeks, but it is so very beautiful. My Nana's sister-in-law, Aunt Penny, gave Mom a cutting over a decade ago. It has grown so much that I call it The Beast.
While I'm grubby and working, I will move the amaryllis to the front porch. Amaryllis is a type of lily, and it is toxic to cats. Even a dusting of pollen on the fur can harm or even kill a cat once she starts grooming herself and ingests the pollen. Remember that when you buy Easter lilies and keep them well away from your beasties!
One of my two BFFs had got me hooked on the Netflix/BBC show Big Dreams, Small Spaces. I've only seen three episodes, but I love it so far and hope to get in at least two episodes later today.
Chores first, though. Laundry, dishes, and dinner with Dad. Happy Sunday!
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