Planting Napkin Sprouted Melon Seedlings

As with all things I'm too timid to do when I'm not quite sure what I'm doing I procrastinate.  My melon seedlings (I have no idea what kind of melons they are, all I know is that I got these very sweet juicy melons at the Korean market).  I saved the seeds and wrapped them up in a moist paper towel which I kept moist every day and sprouted these beautiful melon seedlings.

Taking a look at how long the melon seedlings were today I didn't think I could put off planting them any longer... so I planted them.  I wasn't really sure what I was doing, all I know is that they need very nutrient filled soil, lots of watering and that they are sun loving.  So, armed with three key things to keep in mind I gave them a spot in the garden.  Each seedling received their own 1ft diameter planter filled with draining fertile soil.

I filled up the pots, watered the soil down, made a hole, planted them in and watered again.

A rather funny and interesting but non-the-less easy-fix situation occurred while I was planting my second melon seedling.  I realized that the seedling's roots had grown through the paper towel!  Imagine that!  You know that one saying "nature always finds a way"?  Yes, it does- by the looks of the above picture.  It would have been to difficult for me to remove the roots out of the napkin without harming it (roots are very fragile!) so instead I planted the seedling with the little piece of napkin around the root, I figure if the melon root was able to grow through the napkin it surely wouldn't do any harm to leave it on there, besides, maybe they've got emotionally attached to each other with all this time they've spent together and who am I to separate their special bond?

I sure do hope they like their new home and adjust accordingly.  Hopefully the melons won't get too lonely, I made sure to put them next to each other for comfort and companionship, now they can talk amongst themselves about how awful I was to keep them under wraps indoors all this time.

Read previous post on Sprouting Fresh Seeds In A Paper Towel

The Basil Bites The Dust

The basil has officially died :(  I did all in my power to protect this tender leafed seedling.  When I first realized the basil was getting too much sun which was outright burning the tender leaves I went straight away to giving it some more shade and more warmth instead of direct sunlight, this seemed to considerably slow down the burning of the leaves and dare I say even stopped this from happening, but then one afternoon I came out and found that the basil had just withered away.  I suppose this is what I get for trying to start the basil outside right away instead of adhering to the suggestion of growing it indoors first.

So, now I've planted a new basil seed indoors, where the light and outside natural forces isn't so harsh.

Sad I am that the basil didn't make it, however, I'd be lying if I said I was at all surprised, this has happened to me before with the basil, I find them quite hard to grow, they never seem to get any bigger than a seedling before they just give-up on what could have been.

So with a newly planted basil seed indoors I'm looking forward with a renewed sense of hope to seeing the new little seedling pop-up in about a week and hopefully keeping them alive this time!  In the mean time I've read-up on basil in my little handy growing book to keep everything fresh and new in my mind come basil seedling time.  Here are some interesting general facts that should help me loads, and if you're having the same trouble with the basil growing it should help you too. 

'Keep the soil moderately moist, but allow it to dry out ever so slightly between watering.  If there is one thing basil doesn't like, it's sitting in cold, soggy soil.  Yet for a sun- and heat-loving plant, it is surprisingly temperamental about light.  It took me years to work out that too much midday sun can burn the leaves, especially when it comes to the soft and tender varieties.  

For this reason, tall, vining tomato plants make a perfect partner in the garden as well as on the plate.  Their leaves provide a bit of dappled shade, and the basil, in turn, protects the tomato's roots and repels pests.  

Most problems come down to the weather and growing conditions.

Pull out the entire plant if it continuously looks droopy or turns brown or yellow (or both), and avoid growing basil in that spot again.

The key to starting a basil crop is patience.  It's a fickle herb that hails from warm parts of the world and does not adapt well to cold, wet weather.  Basil is always the very last plant I put outdoors; I'll plant it only after nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees fahrenheit.'  -Easy Growing, Organic Herbs and Edible Flowers from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail

Sprouting Fresh Seeds In A Paper Towel

I always believed that in order to plant seeds one had to dry them first, not sure where this belief stems from, maybe because all the seeds in the packet are dry.  Boy was I wrong!  You can actually begin sprouting seeds in a wet paper towel!  And it's soooo easy too!

I gave it my first try with the seeds of a melon fruit.  I saved a couple of seeds and folded it into a wet paper towel, I kept it nice and moist everyday, and slowly but surely the seed sprouted (it only about a week and half)!  Now all I have to do is plant them sprouting root side down into the dirt or a container, so simple, and a great way to save.  Now that I know it works I'm trying to get a couple of cherry pits and peach pit to sprout too (we'll see if it works for pits as well!)  

So if you happen upon a fruit that is absolutely delicious try this method and grow your own.

"Late bloomers"

When I thinned out the seedlings

Remember I thinned out the mixed lettuce green bed thinking I had only been successful in growing a couple handfuls of lettuce and thanking the universe for even small favors, apparently I was wrong.  A couple days after I thinned out the mixed lettuce many many more little seedlings popped up!    And on top of the surprising good news of many more seedlings it seems that all but a couple of the lettuce seedlings I replanted for the sake of room to grow has made it through healthy.  Yay for me! :)

After I thinned out the seedlings

Read the previous post on thinning out the mixed lettuce seedlings

True Leaves of Bush Beans

The true leaves of the bush bean are coming through!  Pretty exciting stuff ;)

Thinning Mixed Baby Lettuce Seedlings

Thinning tender greens such as the mixed baby lettuce I've got growing in an old sink can be nerve-racking, my heart was pounding and my hands a bit shaky (I definitely would not make a good surgeon), but I had to do this for the sake of growing healthy lettuce, which requires not only light, water and air-circulation but also room to grow, having grown up in a house with two other siblings and over-bearing parents I can understand why.

I planted a blanket of seeds through-out the sink bed but it seems only a couple handfuls had chosen to grow the rest decided to bolt I suspect figuring they had something better to do, still, I figure this is a pretty good outcome for a first-timer and am grateful that I even have these few little lettuce seedlings to tend to.

Many of the little seedlings had grown within very close proximity of each other creating a kind of metropolis of lettuce seed leaves, this just won't do for healthy lettuce, they will no doubt be fighting for space, nutrition and water, thus thinning out was in order (moving seedlings further apart).  I thought them too small to begin thinning, the leaves being still very small and tender, I wasn't quite sure whether my clumsy hands would be capable but I hadn't a choice and so, just went for it.

I thought that watering the bed down would have made things easier but actually the wetness made it more difficult.  Watering the bed down simple made the soil clump which made it harder to dig up the seedlings and shake off the excess soil.  In any case I had already started and couldn't stop now so I pressed on wet soil and all.  I dug up the concentrated batch of seedlings, with my spade I went straight down as far as I could go without disturbing other seedlings that didn't need to be moved and dug up slowly.  Slowly and carefully was of utmost importance as the only thing on my mind was not to harm these tender leaved seedlings' roots, you can nip the green which would grow back but harming the root system means saying good-bye forever.

I was surprised to see how long some of the roots were on these little seedlings

Slowly, one by one I took a seedling and planted it elsewhere, making sure to spread them out.  Luckily I only had to deal with two clumps of seedlings, by the time I was on my second clump of seedlings my hands were a bit more confident and so was I.  

I'm sure some of the seedlings will die, it would be unfortunate but not unheard of, I would have to simply start all over again and that would be that.  Like I said before, planting and growing is all trial and error and learning loads on the way.

All done and looking a little claustrophobic 

Today's Lesson : What Is A Seedling?

What I like to call "my little sprouts" are actually scientifically called in the gardening world "seedlings".  In a nutshell it is the first little greenery you see protruding from the earth after the seeds have germinated underneath ground.

My research into seedlings led me to a short Wikipedia article on seedling that gave basic but rather interesting information,

"A seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed.  Seedling development starts with germination of the seed.  A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embryonic shoot), and the cotyledons (seed leaves). " -read the full Wiki article on Seedling

The seedling is yet protected by the seed

"Newly germinated plants are just like chicken eggs in that they carry all the nutrition they require with them in the form of seed leaves, the first leaves that emerge from the soil.  Those are soon replaced by a second set, known as the true leaves.  Seedlings start to require some added nutrition once the seed leaves shrivel off and disappear.  Some seed-starting soil mixes come with a bit of organic matter in them, but if yours doesn't, now is the time to add a teaspoon of vermicompost and sea kelp for good measure." - Gayla Trail, Grow Great Grub

Pictured monocot (left) & dicot (right)

There are different kinds of seedlings, each described by the number of seed leaves (cotyledons) they have, for example monocotyledons (monocots) have one blade-shaped cotyledon, dicotyledons (dicots) have two cotyledons.

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

If you've been reading along with my endeavors to grow an organic vegetable & fruit garden you'll know that I planted bush beans and that along with growing bush beans I've found countless amounts of slugs that was helping themselves to the leaves of my bush bean seedlings.  I tried the bottle trap (laying a bottle down on the ground near the bush bean filled with just a bit of water), the idea is that the slugs which are attracted to moisture will get trapped in the bottle- this didn't work.  Upon finding the bottle trap not very helpful at all I instead sprinkled a little bit of coffee ground around the seedlings which worked like a charm.

Upon reading up on a small section regarding slugs in my book, Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail, I realized that the bottle trap was actually supposed to be a beer bottle trap, not water but beer.  So then I edited my slug bottle trap by adding a little bit of beer into the bottle instead of water.  Two, three, and four days went by and still no slugs in the bottle.  Apparently the beer bottle trap doesn't work either!  Or maybe the slugs in my garden collectively go to AA, who knows.

While the bottle trap may have been fun to do had it resulted in trapped slugs drowning in a stupor of beer bliss I am not all too disheartened or frustrated for I found that the coffee ground works absolutely great.  I had my worries that too much nitrogen from the coffee ground would affect the bush bean but I've only had to sprinkle one round of coffee ground around the bush bean and no more, more than a week later since my first sprinkle and still no sign of slugs around the bush bean.

Read previous posts on saving the bush bean from slugs: 

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds 

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs! 

My Basil Leaves Are Burning!

I began with three basil seedlings and one by one slowly they disappeared, leaf by leaf (literally)!  And now sadly I'm down to one basil seedling and by the looks of it it isn't going to be around much longer.  My initial thought was that the sun exposure was too much for these tender leaved little dudes, but I had planted them under a rather tall rose bush that would give them a bit of shade and a bit of shade is what they got.

I looked to my handy dandy growing book, flipped to the basil section,

"Keep the soil moderately moist, but allow it to dry out ever so slightly between watering.  If there is one thing basil doesn't like, it's sitting in cold, soggy soil.  Yet for a sun- and heat-loving plant, it is surprisingly temperamental about light.  It took me years to work out that too much midday sun can burn the leaves, especially when it comes to the soft and tender varieties."  - Gayla Trail, Easy Growing

My suspicions about too much sun burning off the leaves of my basil was somewhat confirmed, I find that when it comes to planting and growing it is often difficult to know exactly what it is that's killing your plant, there are just so many factors that come into play.  Is it the sun?  Is it over-watering?  Is it too moist?  Too dry?  The list goes on.

In efforts to save my last but sickly looking basil seedling I created a kind of biosphere to keep in the warmth while adding more shade.  I used an old plastic strawberry container, wrapped it in saran wrap, poked holes in the wrap for ventilation and placed it so that the basil seedling was enclosed in it.  It was definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants idea and I'm not quite sure it'll work in my endeavors to keep the warmth around the basil but we'll see soon enough.  For added shade I threw over an old small bath rug on top of its cage.

Planting A Blueberry Bush From Wholefoods

One of my worse faults (and my husband could probably confirm this) is that I can be a bit impulsive, I don't make snap decisions but I don't give it much thought either,  I often just go with how I feel and then think of reasons to justify decisions I have made, of course I could do the same for not opting going a certain way.  My husband on the other hand is very good at taking the time to weighing the good and the bad and then taking the route he thinks best based upon his results.

My impulsive behavior (or perhaps it was my lack of patience) led me to purchase from Wholefoods one day a little blueberry bush.  I can think of numerous reasons why I planted a store-bought blueberry bush while I cannot think of even one reason why I would have rather planted from seed.  

It seemed to me more advantageous to plant a pre-grown baby blueberry bush so that it would stand a chance from slugs and pests.  I don't know for sure how slow or fast blueberry bushes grow but it also seemed the fastest way to grow one (hence my lack of patience).  I also read in a book somewhere that blueberry bushes don't really grow in southern California but more so in northern California where weather is cooler and mistier and usually around plants and trees that give off nitrogen as blueberries are acid-loving plants, because of this I believed it would be difficult for a blueberry bush to survive in my yard- I suppose I thought if it was pre-grown it would have a much better chance of surviving.  Whether any of this reasoning is true I haven't a clue, but I guess we soon shall see.

But even with all the information regarding blueberries not grown in southern California I decided to face the road-blocks (for I do love blueberries!) and decided to give it a try.  You win some, you lose some, right?  So I brought the blueberry bush home with me and planted it right into the ground with a mixture of sandy soil, watered it down and sprinkled a bit of coffee ground around it to keep the slugs away but also because coffee ground (acid) gives off nitrogen (hoping this would make the new blueberry plant feel right at home).

Planting Tomatoes In A Tub

Tomato and I go way back, it was the only vegetable kind enough to let go of it's ego so that I could feel more confident in myself when it came to gardening.  Tomato was the only vegetable that survived out of many in my old apartment, it became quite bushy and strong and yielded many a great sweet red tomatoes.  So here I am again planting tomatoes but this time in my new garden and in an old bathtub no less!  This should be interesting.

It took a littles less than half my Sunday and this includes the time it took to pick up tomato seeds from Whole Foods and the organic ground soil from Home Depot.

When I finally had the tub in place I filled the bottom up with loose rocks that were small and medium in size for proper drainage, there is one large drain hole on one side of the tub but I figured better safe than sorry, I also took the time to prop up the tub just a bit on one side so that any excess water could run out through the drain hole on the other side of the tub, the dirt ground wasn't nearly as level as I would have liked it to be.

I filled the tub up with a mixture of sandy dirt and the organic ground soil, a mixture of roughly 1/2 and 1/2.  Once the tub was filled, I watered the soil down, planted my seeds (one on each side of the stick), 3 seeds per hole (a total of 6 seeds in 2 holes), misted the top layer and began thinking of security measures against birds, slugs and other creeping pests.

While at the gardening store I ran across a large roll called Bird Block which basically is a flexible plastic kind of netting, easy to cut with scissors and easy to fold.  I used this bird block netting to cover the top of the tub weighing it down on all four corners with bricks, so far it's worked really well and I do just love it, before the Bird Block I was using something very similar that was made of wire which made it infinitely much harder to handle.

One of the main reasons I planted the tomatoes in the tub is that it just makes it that much easier from keeping the growing plants away from ground pests, indeed I'm not expected to shield it from every kind of bug, that would just be impossible, but the more bugs and slugs I can keep away from it the better.

As you already know the tub has a drain hole on one side which meant that slugs (fastly becoming my nemesis) can still get into the tub soil, so as a precautionary measure (call me totally paranoid), I placed a brick next to the exposed hole which is located at the bottom of the tub near the ground, the water will still be able to drain but hopefully the slugs wont be able to find their way in.

Product Review: The Hose Nozzle

One of the first things I needed when I began to garden was a hose nozzle, an attachment at the end of the hose which consists of a lever and depending which nozzle you get one or many varieties of water output options.  This particular hose nozzle has been great, it has a few different water output options including, most importantly I think, the 'shower' option and the 'mist' option which I use constantly for watering my plants.  Mixed baby greens for example are dainty growing plants and would succumb to being sprayed with a 'jet' stream (which this nozzle also has) or even the use of a 'soaker' option (also available on this nozzle) or 'shower' option would be too much for the baby green soil as these type of lettuce-like plants like their soil moist and damp like a sponge and not completely soaked.

And sometimes the 'shower' option is most helpful with bigger plants that require more water or if covering to water more space.  In a nutshell the hose nozzle has been invaluable to me since I have purchased it, making it much easier for me to regulate the watering whilst the plants are growing which gives me a sense of relief that I am not harming the plants merely by watering them, especially those tender greens.

Unfortunately I don't remember what the name of this particular hose nozzle is but it was available at OSH (Orchard Supply Store) for for less than $10.  In general the hose nozzles seem to be pretty inexpensive and would suggest purchasing an inexpensive one over a more expensive one since they all pretty much have the same function.

Mixed Baby Green Sprouts: From One To Many

I was so excited and charmed by the one mixed baby green that sprouted amongst a blanket of seeds planted in an old sink, but now look how many I have!  Surely a lot more could be sprouted for the sink is not yet fully covered with sprouts but the other seeds are indeed making their way, everyday one or two more pops up, hopefully the sink will be covered in little green sprouts in no time, and you can bet I'll take a picture of that to share!

And The Hot Chili Peppers Sprout... Finally!

I planted three seeds of hot chili pepper plants what seems to me a long long time ago, of course its only been 2-weeks but when you're waiting for your babies to grow anything beyond 4 days seems a long long time.  They've finally sprouted up little leaves and stalks and I couldn't be happier for I had almost given up on them.

Now to keep them alive and healthy!  Full sun?  Check.  Mulch?  Check.  Protection coverage?  Check!

Today's Lesson: Know Thy Enemy, The Slug

After having seen numerous amounts of slug in my garden, particularly loitering about my bush bean leaves I've become somewhat temporarily obsessed with them, and I don't mean a good obsession, I mean to kill as many of them as possible.  I know that I cannot get rid of them and they will probably always be a pester to me but I must find a way to thwart them from their evil plans of garden domination.  In order to do this I must know them better, so I wiki'ed it up and found some pretty interesting information definitely worth sharing.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Slug

• Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, that has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell. (This is in contrast to the common name snail, applied to gastropods that have a coiled shell large enough that the soft parts of the animal can retract fully into it.)
• The soft, slimy bodies of slugs are prone to desiccation, so land-living slugs are confined to moist environments and must retreat to damp hiding places when the weather is dry.
• Like other pulmonate land snails, most slugs have two pairs of 'feelers' or tentacles on their head. The upper pair is light sensing and has eyespots at the ends, while the lower pair provides the sense of smell. Both pairs are retractable, and can be regrown if lost.
• Some slug species hibernate underground during the winter in temperate climates, but in other species, the adults die in the autumn.
• Slugs' bodies are made up mostly of water, and without a full-sized shell, their soft tissues are prone to desiccation. They must generate protective mucus to survive. Many species are most active just after rain because of the moist ground. In drier conditions, they hide in damp places such as under tree bark, fallen logs, rocks, and man-made structures, such as planters, to help retain body moisture.
• The mucus secreted by the foot contains fibres which help prevent the slug from slipping down vertical surfaces. 
• Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs.

• Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia. A few days later the slugs lay around 30 eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.
• Many slug species play an important ecosystem role by eating dead leaves, fungus, and decaying vegetable material. Other species eat parts of living plants.
• Some slugs are predators and eat other slugs and snails, or earthworms.
• Some slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail to help the slug escape from a predator.
• The great majority of slug species are harmless to humans and to their interests, but a small number of species are serious pests of agriculture and horticulture. They can destroy foliage faster than plants can grow, thus killing even fairly large plants. They also feed on fruits and vegetables prior to harvest, making holes in the crop, which can make individual items unsuitable to sell for aesthetic reasons, and which can make the crop more vulnerable to rot and disease.
• As control measures, baits are the norm in both agriculture and the garden. In recent years iron phosphate baits have emerged and are preferred over the toxicmetaldehyde, especially because domestic or wild animals may be exposed to the bait. The environmentally safer iron phosphate has been shown to be at least as effective as poisonous baits. Methiocarb baits are no longer widely used.
• Beneficial nematodes (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) are a commercially available biological control method that are effective against a wide range of common slug species. The nematodes are applied in water and actively seek out slugs in the soil and infect them, leading to the death of the slug. This control method is suitable for use in organic growing systems.
• Other slug control methods are generally ineffective, but can be somewhat useful in small gardens. These include beer traps, diatomaceous earth, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, and copper.
• It is of scientific interest that salt kills slugs by causing water to leave its body owing to osmosis 
• but this is not used for agricultural control as soil salinity is detrimental to crops.

SUGGESTED METHOD FOR TERMINATION:
Sprinkling coffee ground around the soil of leafy green plants, especially around seedlings


*Read the complete article on Wikipedia, Slugs

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean, Part III: Slugs

Can you spot the slugs?

Taunted by the fact that my first round of security measures (the bottle trap and plastic cup barrier) did not work, the thought that whatever was eating my bush bean leaves weighed heavily on my mind and even after sprinkling coffee ground around the newly sprouted bush bean leaves I had to go take a look once night fell and the air grew cold outside lest the coffee grounds did not work like the bottle trap and cup barrier, I just had to know what it was my bush beans were up against.

I snuck outside with a light, lo and behold what did I see?  Slugs, SLugs and more SLUGS!  Indeed there were many hungry slugs.  Would the coffee ground method work?  I had yet to know, the bottle trap method which I thought would surely work did not.  There was not much I could do but I went happily to bed simply knowing what it was I was up against, the battle was half won now.

It seems the plastic cup barrier worked in a way, most of the slugs seem to be outsides of the cup. Whether they were smart enough to bypass the barrier by passing under it is another question entirely.

Awoke this morning, and went straight out into the yard to check out if those sluggish slugs had somehow hopped over the coffee ground and ate more bush bean leaves.  I looked at the leaves carefully and what did I find?  The coffee ground had indeed worked!  Like a charm too!  Not a new leaf touched or anymore eaten off the already harmed leaves, this gave great relief but now the question is... how long will the coffee ground last?  I do not plan to sprinkle any more any time soon for the extreme amounts of nitrogen in the coffee ground will do harm to the bush beans eventually.  Another method of trapping these slugs must be found out!  I must say that I am pretty pleased that I've planted most everything else in containers or pots placed half way into the ground, I am sure that it has saved those fortunate sprouts from sluggish tauntings *whew!

Read previous and later posts on saving the bush beans from slugs:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean

In An Effort To Save The Bush Bean, Part II: Coffee Grounds

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds

Am I sad that I found my glass bottle empty of slugs in hopes to catch the culprit who have been munching on my new baby bush bean leaves?  Yes, just a little bit.  Life could have been that much easier simply knowing what it was but fate has planned it otherwise *sigh.

Here you can see where my bush bean leaves have been eaten.  The fact that the leaves have been eaten closer to the ground tells me they are not birds but something from the ground, hence my suspicions of those sluggish slugs!

So now for another round of security measures.  I don't quite know for sure whether or not it is slugs since I failed to catch any in my bottle trap, I suppose the slugs could have crawled from under the earth right near the bush bean and thus missed the bottle entirely, so here is to one last try!  Coffee ground.  

Slugs hate Coffee ground and should keep them at bay if I sprinkle just a bit around the bush bean, this would only be a temporary solution as I can't sprinkle acidic coffee ground everyday on bush bean grounds since too much nitrogen may do these growing babies harm as well, but instead will use  this method to try and figure out what the heck is eating those dainty little leaves.  If the leaves are not further nibbled on after sprinkling coffee ground then I'll be able to say with confidence "those damn slugs!"  And I do look forward to it :)

Read the results In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs

Read previous and later posts on saving the bush beans from slugs:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans

In an effort to save my newly growing bush beans from whatever may be eating the leaves (my guess are those awful slugs for I do not think the birds can get through the cage I've put around these new plants) I have doubled security.

Slugs can't climb can they?  I'm hoping they cannot for I have built somewhat of a wall between those beautiful leaves and the outside world by cutting a plastic cup in half and enclosing those new stalks and leaves.  I cross my fingers and hope this works!  But this is only the first security I've put up around them.

The second security I've put down is a glass bottle filled with a bit of water, as slugs are attracted to moist and wetness I'm hoping to trap the slugs in this bottle, if indeed it is slugs that are helping themselves to my bush bean leaves.  I've read this trick in a book but have never tried it, I sure do hope I trap some slugs!  At least then I will know what it is that are taunting my poor babies.

So hopefully I'll be posting some bottled slugs next!

Read the results:

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part II: Coffee Grounds

In An Effort To Save The Bush Beans, Part III: Slugs!

A Beer Bottle Trap For AA Slugs Don't Work

Planting Leafy Greens In Summer's Full Sun

Apparently "mixed lettuces thrive in mild weather with consistent moisture" and like to be kept in full sun during the Spring, however it may be too hot in full sun during the Summer- this is the information I got from the packet which my mixed baby green seeds came from, my immediate question was 1. What do they mean by mild weather?  And 2. How hot is hot for the mixed baby greens during Summer?  So while it seemed at first the packet gave helpful information it actually wasn't very helpful at all, just very general.

But it is Summer in good old Southern California and my best guess is that the full sun in California Summer is going to be too hot.  So I planted the mixed baby green seeds into an old sink, this makes it mobile, should I find that they are getting too much sun or not enough sun I can move the whole planter elsewhere, albeit a bit heavy.  While I have set the planter out in a space in my yard that gets full sun for at least half a day I have decided to err on the side of safety from burning the poor little babies and have shielded them with a window screen found in the yard, so while they are getting full sun they do have a bit of protection.

The old window screen has worked great so far with no problems, it is light enough to handle yet heavy enough to keep in place, the screen also keeps all the critters away especially the birdies that love to eat the seeds and also allows cool air to still pass through whilst doing all these other things.

We've Got sproutage!

BUSH BEANS TOOK 6 DAYS TO COME OUT OF THE GROUND, LOOK HOW LOVELY THEY LOOK
WITH LEAVES PROTRUDING FROM THEIR LITTLE BEAN HEADS.

There is nothing more exciting than watching your little seedlings grow.  After I plant my seeds I watch for sprouts everyday, and with every day that goes by without any sprouts is just a little bit sadder than the day before but it's all well worth it when you see those first sprouts.  "Oh I'm so proud of you" I tell them "you made it", not that sprouting your little seedlings is the end of the battle, actually it's just the beginning, battling bugs and critters to keep away and keeping your little plants alive and healthy is what lays on the horizon.  But for today lets celebrate with pictures of my first bush bean, basil and mixed baby green lettuce sprouts!

BASIL TOOK A LITTLE BIT OVER A 1 WEEK TO SPROUT, I PLANTED 3 SEEDS IN ONE HOLD JUST
IN CASE THE OTHER 2 DIDN'T MAKE IT BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT 2 SURVIVORS!

MIXED BABY GREENS TOOK 5 DAYS TO SPROUT, I LOOSELY SOWED A
BLANKET OF MIXED BABY GREEN LETTUCE AND SO FAR I'VE GOT 3 BABY
SPROUTS, I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING MANY MORE
LITTLE HEADS COVER THE SPACE I'VE SEEDED.

A Yard Full Of Dirt, Is It or Isn't It?

Problem number one, I have what it seems like a yard full of sandy dirt.  The mint that is growing out of hand seems to be okay with this sandy dirt and the potatoes that have just started sprouting seems to be okay with this sandy dirt, so is it or isn't it growable in sandy dirt?

When it comes to planting I've been using my common sense and since I'm a first-timer at this growing thing that's all I've got and by-golly I'm going to use it!  I have to say that the common sense has worked well, so far.

When I began to analyze the soil in my yard the conclusion I came to was that it was sandy dirt, it was pretty hard to tell whether or not anything would grow in it, so I figured for results that would put a smile on my face I needed to put some nutrients back into the dirt somehow, just until my compost bin is ready to give a little.

So I've got a yard full of under-nourished soil with not quite enough in my budget to turn the whole yard.  I asked my logical and rational self what to do and it told me to start by planting in containers with a mixture of sandy dirt and organic fertilizer, that is exactly what I did.  I grabbed a large container filled it half with sandy dirt from the yard and then filled a little less than half with organic fertilizer I had left-over from my planting spree a year ago.  I mixed the two together and began to plant in containers.

So the lesson I learned on this day was that although it is true that the mint and potatoes in my yard seem to survive on it's own quite fine in the sandy dirt, when it's a question of whether anything can grow in this soil or that soil it really makes sense to figure out what exactly it is that is being planted.  Different vegetables need different surroundings, some like full sun while others like the shade or even a little bit of both, it's the same with the soil so take what is being planted into consideration.

A Proper Introduction

My gardening experience is little to none, how much more general can I get right?  Well, to be more specific my gardening experience goes something like this...

The very first time I ever tried to plant anything was in the 9th grade and my goal was to try and grow some red chili peppers.  I bought a packet of red chili peppers at the store and planted them straight away in an old wooden cob-webbed planter I found tucked away in the back of my parents' yard, I watered twice, was enthused that they had sprouted and then simply forgot about them.

The second time I ever tried to plant anything was not too long ago, about a year ago in my small one-bedroom apartment where barely any sunlight was available I bought and planted seeds for various herbs and vegetables.  The window side of my apartment was lined with small and big buckets, when I realized I had also collected a great many gnats and other flying bugs I moved all my little seedlings outdoors, sadly only one survived, the tomato plant, which grew hardy and yielded fruit to my great pleasure.  My husband and I ate off that tomato plant for quite awhile.

Let me fast forward to my current situation, my husband and I bought a three-bedroom and two-bathroom home on a piece of land with a large front and backyard.  The yard has great space to grow vegetables in, and this I plan to do.  

So here's to a blog full of gardening questions, set-backs, frustrations, smiles, laughs and eventually organic vegetables and fruits.