DIY: Cucumber And Bottle Cloche Are Good Friends

I planted two cucumber seeds on both sides of a wooden frame structure in the middle of the yard, the plan was to have the cucumbers climb the wooden beam and up the wooden structure to create height and beautiful green foliage around this otherwise old and rickety frame.  Within 5 days of planting the seeds the little cucumber seedlings with rather cute and rounded seed leaves popped up out of the ground, I immediately took to saving the seedlings from outside forces such as birds and slugs.  I sprinkled coffee ground around the seedlings and put a cover of strawberry baskets I had saved for such an occasion.  The very next day as I walked around the yard inspecting all the vegetables and fruit plants I am endeavoring to grow (something I do daily) I realized that one of the cucumber seedlings was gone, completely gone.  I stared at the ground where the seedling used to be and was confounded, there was no seedling at all, it was as if it had not existed, this was quite odd as usually there is some remanence of the plant left even if it has been attacked, but there was none at all.  I dug with my fingers where the seedling used to be and not even the root was found- very odd.  When I found that the seedling was missing I immediately thought the slugs had gotten to it but I never found slugs to be so thorough before.  Still, I do not know what it was that took that little cucumber seedling.  Naturally I replanted another right away but before doing so took the precaution and made a bottle cloche for the remaining cucumber seedling that had escaped this unfortunate happening.

My worry with the bottle cloche was that it would not allow enough air circulation resulting in some kind of unwanted growth due to moisture buildup, this was not the case however, instead I find that the cucumber seedling loves and thrives in the warmth and moisture the cloche allots it.  While waiting for my replanting seedling to germinate and sprout I took to a watchful eye on the lucky surviving seedling that I had covered with the bottle cloche, indeed the seedling grew larger and healthier looking, the seedling leaves growing rounder and sturdier, and has yet to be eaten by the mysterious thing that ate the first.  So when the replanted seedling finally sprouted four days later I immediately knew what I had to do to keep it protected, healthy and happy.

WHAT I NEEDED:
Scissors
Exacto knife (or any sharp knife to cut through a plastic bottle)
A plastic bottle (without the cap)

WHAT I NEEDED TO DO:

1. Carefully, using the exacto knife and scissors cut the bottle in half (towards the end of the cut the exacto knife was difficult to use to make the final slice and so I used the scissors to make the final cut).

2.  Place the cloche with cut-side down into the ground around the plant with the hole at top for air-circulation.

Beautiful Tomato True Leaves

I love watching the true leaves of a tomato grow (hear me talk like a pro- pshaw!  Just for your info this is only the second time I've grown tomatos) but the true leaves are indeed beautiful.  So far they've been the prettiest true leaves I've seen growing from a vegetable plant that sprouts such average looking seed leaves.  The seed leaves are the two elongated leaves while the true leaves almost look like oak leaves.

Hello Little Purple Tomato Seedling!

The first seedling of a purple tomato plant that I planted a week ago!  This will be my second time ever to grow tomatoes, I enjoyed it very much the first time, especially since it was the only plant out of 11 that survived, even so I'm not counting on it being easy- growing and keeping plants alive has never really been my forte, but of course I still do love it and am try try trying my best to learn from my mistakes.

Aint she a beauty with her dark red stem and ultra green seed leaves?!

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

"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

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.

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.

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!

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

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.