Journal perfessor multigeek's Journal: How Does My Garden Grow? 2
Oh happy day. I crossed one of my favorite thresholds today. The number and size of my various seedlings has reached the point where I no longer need filler to keep the planters looking decent. So this morning I pulled just about all of the grass I could find as well as various weeds and have left them to dry out on the rocks and marble slabs that constitute my narrow little walkway.
Ya see, grass, morning glories, and a few kinds of weed pop up every summer and I leave them alone at first simply to have things look greener and to dissuade the ever-present pigeons. Since I've now got a happier profusion of itty-bitty bean vines, lettuce/spinach/other greens, scallions, chives, parsley, cilantro, and various starts of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower (as well as one lone ameranth returning for yet another year), I can dispose of the trash plants and make more room for the good stuff.
Of course, it's my own damn fault it takes me so long to reach this state as the late start of visible plants comes from my practice of putting seeds two or three times deeper then the instructions suggest. This pays dividends later in the year as it keeps them more drought resistant and still alive when the weather gets too cold for their shallowly-planted counterparts ("oh, your greens all died in the first frost? How sad for you. Would you like to come over for fresh salad next weekend?") but it means that they spend an ungodly amount of time making their way to the surface at the start of the year.
The beans, unlike any of the others, evidently start sprouting leaves whether they've reached the surface or not and then have to drag their incipient foliage behind them up to the sunlight. This makes them a bit weird looking at first as they become visible with several leaves each already spread to over a centimeter in size and with soil stuck in the crevices.
Of course, it also doesn't speed things any that for the same reasons I keep much of the soil covered in slate flakes (about three milimeters thick and about eight centimeters across on average), lightweight pottery balls (meant for orchid growers, these are about a centimeter thick), and various other things meant to reduce water loss and otherwise protect the soil and plants. In other words, it's a way to mulch things without having water soaked up by it.
Technically speaking, the glass "pebbles" I add to the mix and the occasional semiprecious stone or oversized swirlglass marble may not be the most "efficient" means to accomplish this but it's fun to have the place glitter a bit here and there, not to mention the reaction when somebody realizes that the stone they're moving out of the way to reach something is actually a chunk of hematite, tiger's eye, or whatever.
It feels great to now be doing my canonical approach to weeding, which consists of going outdoors first thing and pulling and eating just about anything that seems to close to another plant.
Mmmmm. Minimunchies.
My only concern is that I'm using an ungodly amount of water to keep this all going. A three gallon day is not that rare and that's *without* any significant evaporation through leaves *or* real hot weather. Partially I'm just worried that I won't always have time to carry water out by my deeply inefficient methods (ooh, an excuse to buy one of those pretty fifty foot self-winding clear hoses) but the rest of my concern is simply the sense that my "ecologically sound", "environmentally sensitive" garden is actually a profligate indulgence.
*sigh*
But it sure is nice to have fresh food within ten feet of the kitchen, it certainly is a wonderfully sane-making way to start the day, and it sure does make a nice place to sit and think through the day or chat.
Now if I could only kill all the pigeons and grind them up for fertilizer (well, and silence the little beasts and their screaming caretakers at the school downstairs), then the terrace would be perfect.
Rustin
Ya see, grass, morning glories, and a few kinds of weed pop up every summer and I leave them alone at first simply to have things look greener and to dissuade the ever-present pigeons. Since I've now got a happier profusion of itty-bitty bean vines, lettuce/spinach/other greens, scallions, chives, parsley, cilantro, and various starts of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower (as well as one lone ameranth returning for yet another year), I can dispose of the trash plants and make more room for the good stuff.
Of course, it's my own damn fault it takes me so long to reach this state as the late start of visible plants comes from my practice of putting seeds two or three times deeper then the instructions suggest. This pays dividends later in the year as it keeps them more drought resistant and still alive when the weather gets too cold for their shallowly-planted counterparts ("oh, your greens all died in the first frost? How sad for you. Would you like to come over for fresh salad next weekend?") but it means that they spend an ungodly amount of time making their way to the surface at the start of the year.
The beans, unlike any of the others, evidently start sprouting leaves whether they've reached the surface or not and then have to drag their incipient foliage behind them up to the sunlight. This makes them a bit weird looking at first as they become visible with several leaves each already spread to over a centimeter in size and with soil stuck in the crevices.
Of course, it also doesn't speed things any that for the same reasons I keep much of the soil covered in slate flakes (about three milimeters thick and about eight centimeters across on average), lightweight pottery balls (meant for orchid growers, these are about a centimeter thick), and various other things meant to reduce water loss and otherwise protect the soil and plants. In other words, it's a way to mulch things without having water soaked up by it.
Technically speaking, the glass "pebbles" I add to the mix and the occasional semiprecious stone or oversized swirlglass marble may not be the most "efficient" means to accomplish this but it's fun to have the place glitter a bit here and there, not to mention the reaction when somebody realizes that the stone they're moving out of the way to reach something is actually a chunk of hematite, tiger's eye, or whatever.
It feels great to now be doing my canonical approach to weeding, which consists of going outdoors first thing and pulling and eating just about anything that seems to close to another plant.
Mmmmm. Minimunchies.
My only concern is that I'm using an ungodly amount of water to keep this all going. A three gallon day is not that rare and that's *without* any significant evaporation through leaves *or* real hot weather. Partially I'm just worried that I won't always have time to carry water out by my deeply inefficient methods (ooh, an excuse to buy one of those pretty fifty foot self-winding clear hoses) but the rest of my concern is simply the sense that my "ecologically sound", "environmentally sensitive" garden is actually a profligate indulgence.
*sigh*
But it sure is nice to have fresh food within ten feet of the kitchen, it certainly is a wonderfully sane-making way to start the day, and it sure does make a nice place to sit and think through the day or chat.
Now if I could only kill all the pigeons and grind them up for fertilizer (well, and silence the little beasts and their screaming caretakers at the school downstairs), then the terrace would be perfect.
Rustin
Gardening (Score:2)
Rainbrella (TM) (Score:2)
May I interest you in a Rainbrella (TM)? Eco-friendly, low-maintenance and highly efficient! Too good to be true you say? But wait! It also provides shade in the summer and can be fitted with small electrified spikes to barbeque pigeons! That's right, meaty birds, grilled to perfection, falling into your lap! Water your plants, smite thine enemies and feel good about the environment, the Rainbrella (TM) can now be yours f