Vegetable Garden Upgrades

Last season's vegetable fared especially poorly.  My tomatoes stayed leafy with little fruit.  Staking them upright, both with plastic stakes and later with metal cages, did not keep them upright.  Fruits gave way mostly to pests and to blights.  Peppers grown from nursery plants went nowhere.  Seeds planted into the ground mostly disappointed.  I generated a cucumber vine but only one cucumber. Pretty much a dud all around.  My pots did not fare a lot better.  I wonder whether lawn care extended their herbicides to my vegetables and herbs.  Or maybe my seeds had passed their expiration dates.  Perhaps my soil needs selective enrichment.  Even weeds did not grow making me a little suspicious of my lawn care service.  Some plants grew green.  The beans did not generate beans but stalks rose.

The agricultural division of my state university offers a soil analysis for a nominal fee.  They have kits, but will also accept samples placed in a one-quart freezer bag, like the TSA does for screening liquids.  I've been reading their collection requirements.  Cumbersome, but within my level of skill.  I will need to wash, maybe sterilize, the garden trowel that collects the sample.  I'll follow the collection procedure that they require.  Fill the sample bag, label it with my identification and the intent of a vegetable garden, and enclose a check for $22.50.  Mail in a secure envelope that I can get from the post office.  Enrich the soil in the way the agricultural chemists advise.

I would like to harvest some vegetables this season.

To make space more efficient, I've used a Square Foot Gardening approach.  Mine never produces nearly as bountifully as Mel's who wrote the book, nor as well as the many online sites that guide amateurs through that method.  Considering the magnitude of last year's gardening failure, maybe it's time to return to row planting.  And new seeds would likely enhance yield.  A couple of layers of organic compost from a gardening center or hardware store could also contribute to success.  I don't have a good defense from pests, though.

I will need to reconsider what to plant.  Every amateur looks forward to tomatoes.  Either exotic heirlooms or beefy globe tomatoes.  Cucumbers have been successful.  To minimize weeds, I have a layer of cloth weed block.  While successful, it also makes root vegetables unrealistic.  I've not done well with leaf lettuce, nor do I particularly like eating a lot of it.  Bell peppers never produced.  I would consider chili peppers.

But first, collect soil and do what the chemists report.

Planting Season

Unlikely to get more frost, so spring gardening approaches.  I did rather well this winter.  Having made a decision last year that vegetables go in the ground in the backyard, while culinary herbs grow in pots outside my front door and in my living room, some of my culinary crop survived.  I have a decent stem of rosemary, a somewhat straggly stem of sage, and a pot of spearmint that has begun its annual recurrence.  In the three chia pots, parsley has big leaves, though not that many.  Chives have been straggly, while basil underperformed previous chia attempts.  The hydroponic aerogarden's dill has overflowed and oregano grows abundantly.  Cilantro was a dud on two attempts.  Sage has sprouted from seed.  Chives has only a few leaves but probably enough for a sandwich.  Basil planted indoors did not sprout, probably due to excessively soggy soil.  Pot put outside to dry a bit, and I have plenty of fresh seeds for a do-over, or to plant basil in a different pot and use the soggy one for something else.

While different plants have different optimal direct in-ground times to plant seeds or transplant vegetables grown from seeds indoors, for my region, the weeks between Passover and Mother's Day seem the calendar's sweet spot.  My pot collection exceeds what I really want to plant.  Moreover, each year Shop-Rite sells discounted flourishing basil, chives, and parsley in containers that I can simply transplant to larger containers all ready for harvest.  I must choose primarily which herbs I want to grow, then enrich the soil, plant the seeds, and label what I have planted in each pot or subsection of a larger pot.

The backyard poses more of a challenge.  I've been formatting the vegetables in the manner of a Square Foot Garden, mostly with disappointing results.  I also have an accessory area that I misjudged trying to plant beets and carrots.  Basically, I have few weed problems because the landscaper many years ago installed weedblock cloth in the defined beds.  My two 4x4 foot beds will generate 32 squares.  The weedblock layer, however, limits my ability to grow root vegetables, despite a previous attempt to make the soil thicker.  Moreover, tomatoes grown from small pots purchased at a top nursery overtake the square allotted to them.  They grow leaves and stems that exceed the ability of my plastic stakes to maintain them upright.  It does not help, that the weedblock layer makes it difficult to insert the supporting stakes as deeply as I might like.  The abundance of green and paucity of fruit suggests that the nutrient mix needs to be better.  Since tomatoes are one of the reliable plants that always taste better from my garden than what the supermarket, or even farmer's market can offer, this gets priority.  I think I will only grow two plants this year, allotting each two square feet, and supporting with cages instead of stakes.  Eggplant and peppers also never reach their potential when grown from nursery pots.  Peppers are easily obtainable at the supermarket, but eggplant more expensive.  My bok choy and lettuce never produce.  Swiss chard is iffy.  Green beans sprout, but the harvest is difficult.  Maybe four squares this year, and a different four than previous years.  Vining plants like cucumber and squash often do well.  Since they need room to spread out, they can only be planted at the outer squares of the grid, but they often produce a very gratifying yield.  This may be the place for that accessory planting portion separate from the 4x4 grid, or maybe even a reason to use a linear rather than grid format for this year's vegetable garden..

Then, once I know what to plant, I need to get the seeds or shoots.  Many of my seed packets are quite old.  I should get some fresh packets.  The best price on seedlings is always Home Depot on sale or the local nursery.  I've priced seeds several places.  I prefer the local hardware store, not because they are better seeds or better value, but because I am grateful for the many times they made it easy to get the home maintenance items I needed in a trouble-free way.  I can spend a little more for loyalty, but I also need selection.  The best prices on seeds seem to be Walmart.  Target sells Burpee for slightly more, but it's a good deal closer than Walmart.  Lowe's seemed expensive.  Home Depot is out of the way, worth it for plants, not for seeds.

So it seems best to invest the week before Passover and Chol HaMoed on planning.  What to plant, herbs and vegetables, which squares or even whether to continue this Square Foot format.  The soil will need to be enriched, so a few packages of organic soil enricher, maybe get a soil test, maybe consider some chemical additives.  Buy a couple of tomato cages.  Then mark and plant and set a maintenance schedule.  Indoor went well this winter.  No insurmountable obstacles to duplicating a reasonable herb and vegetable yield outdoors this season.

Gardening's Late Season

This has been a dud of a garden.  One cucumber, A few tomatoes.  Pretty decent string bean growth.  Green vines and leaves everywhere, overflowing to square feet not intended for them.  Edibles minimal.  My outdoor pots of herbs did not do any better, except for rosemary which thrives.  And I took down my aerogarden, disinfected each component with diluted bleach, and started over with six new herbs.  Even my chia triad is down to its last basil.  I don't know the reason for such poor performance.  For sure, I am not dedicated to tending each planting, going out to the backyard a couple of times a week to week and nourish.  I'm not even committed to harvesting on schedule.  Tomato plants take up more than one square.  They need a cage, not the commercial plastic stakes, to keep them upright.  And beans need regular harvest.  No clue as to why peppers, eggplant, and so many variations of lettuce never produce anything to bring to my kitchen table. Root vegetables unrealistic as weed block beneath the soil would not allow unlimited downward growth.

Culinary herbs in outdoor pots have more promise.  Basil grows.  Chives less so.  Parsley a great disappointment.  Dill and sage seem to do better in my vegetable garden.  Mint, which grows like a weed because it fundamentally is a weed, died in its pot overnight, suggesting some infestation or exposure to an herbicide from our lawn crew.  Mint has to stay in pots for containment.

Chia in my hands only grows basil reliably.  The hydroponic aerogarden also grows basil reliably, so abundant a root system as to crowd out the other five plant cylinders.

The mid-fall season still leaves me pumpkins to check on, but it's really time to uproot what will no longer grow.  Square foot has 32 squares, clean eight a day.  There is a supplemental section that can be turned over, as uprooting everything there is unrealistic.  The deck has three flower boxes that can have their plant remains removed.  For the pots, protect the rosemary indoors this year when it gets a bit colder.  Harvest what can be salvaged, maybe some basil, sage, and parsley for shabbos dinner.  Pluck everything else.  Plant something in the two remaining chia pots and add some diluted fertilizer.  And see how the new aerogarden herbs turn out.  Replace the dead bulb, consider getting their fertilizer pods which worked better than what I use now.

It really becomes how committed I am to having my own sources of herbs when I want them and the sensory superiority of produce from my own garden.  I am willing to do some effort, though not an extreme, focused amount.

Post-Vacation Reset

A traditional, though not always accurate purpose of vacation has been to return with the rest and vigor to work more effectively on return.  At least some of that is true in retirement.  I have things I want to do, in fact need to do, that have drifted this past summer.  And some that haven't drifted wore me out.  These ten days away, far away in France with its very different culture, separated me from nearly all my semi-annual projects.  No writing, no books, OLLI started without me, exercise informal as my daily step tracker far exceeded what it registers at home.  No finances, no home upgrades.  All can and did await my return.

On the plane home, saturated after a few hours of some rather relaxing Wellness Videos on the screen in front of my seat and periodic surfing the plane's progress map, I took out a small folder I had placed in my backpack, removed a sheet of loose-leaf paper, and jotted down in a mostly unorganized way the things I need to do between my return home and Thanksgiving.  Medical care, as in lab testing and doctors.  I suspect I am over medicated.  I also found the very large amounts of walking challenging, not tolerating long flights of stairs or up slopes very well.  My legs got tired, but sometimes I also needed a chance to catch my breath.  Hearing from the loudspeakers at the airport and plane could have been better.  I only took one Naproxen tablet and felt better within a few hours.  So medical care is priority.

Holy Days arrive within a few days of my return.  I practiced my assigned YK portion adequately, though not a lot.  While away the assignment expanded to the full morning's reading, which I had not photocopied in advance, so I'll need to polish that.  Very simple meal preparation for RH, more elaborate for the sukkah, where I intend to have at least one guest.  Sent out one annual greeting to an old friend.  Should do two or three more.  And daughter visiting for YK.  

I projected out to Thanksgiving.  I have a manuscript due before Sukkot.  And if I am going to ever write the book I dream of writing, I need to be maniacal about writing sessions, which I have not been.  Before Thanksgiving I need to touch base with the financial advisor on my mandatory IRA distributions which take effect in the next calendar year and wife's mandatory Social Security benefits, both of which will change our cash flow significantly.

Also need to complete the year's gardening.  And I've not abandoned some help with making My Space optimal, purging books, and even hiring a biweekly cleaning crew.  

Did vacation energize me?  I think it did.  I feel less dragged, more rested.  Will I be kinder, more cordial, more cheerful?  At least at the beginning.  But first unpack.

Petty Annoyances

Irritations of a minor nature keep appearing.  I want to go to Hershey Park for a Me Outing.  Actually a day's vacation, or at least Me Time.  Breakfast at a massive buffet en route, amusement park, water park, zoo, major regional brewery.  All in one day.  Just me.  Went to buy tickets.  Senior discount.  Parking discount.  All lost by "convenience fee" of $6 for buying online to save over gate prices.  It is more convenient though.  Went to Giant Food store near me, as the park indicated a partnership.  No go.  Went to AAA.  Real discount on seniors entry price, no discount on parking, all reset to neutral by service fee.  There is a rational me that should override the annoyance.  The "convenience fee" really is a convenience, though $6 seems much.  It will not affect my larger financial position which loses and gains more than that in some minutes by market fluctuations.  If I really want to have my fun day, and I don't have too many fun days, just spend the $6.  Save more than that by going to a beach that accepts my state pass instead of one that meters parking.

Bought a new camera.  Chinese.  Made mistake formatting.  Hit wrong button before I could enter date, time, and language.  Fortunately it defaulted to English.  It would be nice to have my work stamped by its time of creation, though.  And I will be traveling to different time zones with the camera.  So knowing how to reset this would be helpful.  Steeply discounted device, inexpensive for a reason.  Sent the company two email requests to try to get back on track.  No response.  Instructions not helpful.  Online FAQ did not appear on Google search.  There are some YouTubes.  Maybe explore those later.

Got a k-cup machine.  Made coffee, ordinary pod.  Usually a light reminding me to fill the reservoir comes on every day or so.  Refills are a priority, as the surest way to ruin the machine is to run it without water.  This time two lights came on.  I need to descale it.  I've done this before.  Tedious but not difficult.  Just was not expecting to have to do this again as I had done it not that many months ago.

Most of my outdoor garden plants did not grow to harvest.  My herb pots planted from seed underperformed.  

Have to get to Newark Airport for my trip to Europe in a few weeks.  Could drive and park, an easy but somewhat expensive default.  Tried to arrange one way auto rental.  Prices three times what they would be renting to drive around my home area.  Checked with Amtrak.  Cheap excursions at certain times, prohibitive fares for two when we really need to travel.  Drive and park still seems best option, but one more annoyance.

Fortunately none of these irritations really change what I want to do.  I can still have a good day to myself at Hershey Park next week, take photos of France with my camera even if the assigned date is wrong, drink coffee every morning, buy vegetables and herbs when I need them, and get from home to Paris at the scheduled times.  The impediments just detract from what I really aspired to be able to achieve.

Day of Chores

As much as I want to move along with writing and other self-expression, today may turn out better dedicated to chores.  Cold laundry sorted, both regular and gentle.  More than the usual amount of gentle.  None takes very long once sorted.  Just tote each basket downstairs, put in the right machine at the right time, let the washer and drier perform, fold, and return the garments to their assigned place in my bedroom.  Ample dishes to do.  Not that many fleishig ones remain.  And I need to reseason the cast iron grill pan from its ordeal with a rib steak.  Then exchange sink to milchig and do those dishes.  I've already done a load of milchig dishwasher, so the rest need to be washed by hand, which I mostly find relaxing.

My herb pots seem to be going well.  In the backyard the flowers and vegetables could use some watering.  I should begin weeding.  And I bought a package of Swiss chard seeds.  Maybe plant three grids of these, or a dozen.  Thinning seedlings is premature.

And today's centerpiece, completing the transfer of my house to the revocable trust to avoid probate at some future time.

Those are the do it and done tasks.  I also have room and space tidying.  My Space with its destination desk, the kitchen, my half of the bedroom.  Never quite done.  Multiple schemes to promote progress, from setting a timer for a fixed duration of effort or setting a subtask to work on until completion.  Short bursts of intermediate progress.

But in the end, while having all the laundry and dishes done generates some tangible accomplishment, I've always had a preference for my mental efforts.  So no matter how much laudable household chores or errands I do, my assessment of how the day went falls back to what I read or wrote.  Time for that not only gets carved into each day, but with a timer that allows nothing else as it ticks to zero.

Wilmington Flower Market Visit

      

It's been decades since I've been to the Wilmington Flower Market that takes place Thursday through Saturday every Mother's Day weekend.  It used to be an annual outing with my kids, usually Saturday after  shabbos services.  They offered a central free parking location with a shuttle bus.  I could get some tomato saplings which would go into my backyard garden the next day or two.  The children would run around, maybe go on a carnival ride, maybe get treated to ice cream or cotton candy.  Then we'd take the shuttle back to our car.  That was decades ago.  I don't really know why I stopped going.

The local newspaper always had a feature section on the flower market.  They had committees, entirely women.  Many were socially prominent, descendants of the DuPont's or married into the family with its familiar subnames. Many were wives of medical colleagues, registering in my mind as social climbers, though to be fair, quite a number chaired committees and the event was always expertly executed. And really nothing at all snooty about those docs.   No Jewish names, but I just assumed Jews had not yet achieved full acceptance in the generational social tiers, irrespective of their economic attainments and professional stature.  Doubt if that contributed to my loss of interest in attending.

Even it's location hints that you had to be somebody to live nearby.  Art Museum and adjacent mansions two blocks away, Mt Salem Church built originally to service workmen of the expanding enterprises in the 19th century, with its maintained cemetery across the street.  The most exclusive private school around, the place where heirs became literate for generations, around the corner.  Even my section chief, a  man of heritage who married into relatively new money and mastered the skills of social climbing, lived in one of the smaller elegant homes, built before we had McMansions.  He even invited me over once.  

The market itself comprises tents in a preserved area called Rockford Park, known for its stone tower.  No shuttle buses this Thursday afternoon, it's opening day.  They offered parking for $10, helped by police signs to prohibit parking along the closest city streets, and neighbors protecting their own parking spots by wheeling their garbage receptacles beyond the curb.  With some driving, I found a legal space, walked about three blocks past the cemetery, mostly uphill, then a little more uphill to reach the park with its tents.

This event raises quite a lot of money for local children's charities, so I am willing to be a sport.  Vendors from banks to artisans purchase display space.  There's a section for food trucks, the largest collection of them I've seen in any single place in Delaware.  A section for movable carnival rides.  And the tents that display the plants for sale, vegetables in one place, herbs in another, and larger ornamentals needing bigger pots separately near the hanging plants.  

Despite being faithful to my treadmill sessions, age has reduced my ability to walk uphill.  Still, I only sat at a picnic table for a few minutes, taking my time as I admired the contents of the various displays, from food to rides to containers suitable for transplant into my Square Foot Garden.  Not really hungry.  Garden pretty much already planted.  I know the proceeds are for an admirable cause, but I purchased nothing.  

Walking the perimeter counts as laudable outdoor time, steps recorded on my smartwatch.  Returning to my car, with the apprehension that the police would find some reason to place a violation notice under my left windshield wiper, I took my time walking more downhill and over a different route than the one taken to Rockford Park, past what seemed to be the toniest homes in the Highlands neighborhood.  I had parked legally after all.  

Pleasant hour or so, but I understand the multi-decades gap since my last sampling of this iconic local institution.

Buying Plants

My indoor starters of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant did not seem to take root in a meaningful way when transplanted.  Indeed, not may of the seeds planted directly have sprouted.  This week, coinciding with Mother's Day weekend each year, is the local flower market, a charitable event that I've not been to in years, timed as optimal planting time.  If I want tomatoes and peppers from my own garden, I will have to buy starters.  Home Depot had a good price, though very limited selection.  I got two tomato plants and one, set them outside my front door when I got home, watered them in their containers, and will transplant today.  Shop-Rite had a better price but negligible selection.  I'll look around this week.  And I can always go to the annual Flower Market, where plants for transplanting are among the popular offerings.

I also need to get seeds, as my supply of vegetable seeds turned out much less than I thought.  Lettuce sprouted, radishes doing well.  Not sure about yellow squash.  Pak Choi has not emerged from the soil surfaces.  Definitely want cucumbers.  Beans do well, but forager mammals get to them before I do in recent years.  Maybe this year, fewer varieties but committing more squares from my grid to each.

Beets and carrots planted.  I thought there would not be a weed block layer in the location I chose for them but there turned out to be.  Beets have a fighting chance, carrot development unlikely.

Despite the challenges of obtaining a harvest toward summer's end, when I go out to the garden, whether to plant, weed, or water, I enjoy being out there, even if I'm really not very adept at it.

Chill Snap

Went out to the gardens.  Transplanted tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants remain alive, though less robust than I had hoped they would be.  There are radish sprouts, probably some yellow squash sprouts.  Couldn't tell about the lettuce.  One early sprig of a flower stem in the desk planter boxes.  By the front door, abundant mint, rosemary purchased as a plant holding its own, some sage growing, along with the thyme I had planted around the perimeter of the basil pot.  Some dill, some parsley shoots.  

At Zone 7a, I'm past the freeze.  Yet recent chill and precipitation have inhibited additional plantings.  I want to grow the tomatoes, pepper, and eggplants from seed this year.  In fact, all but rosemary and the mint from seed.  Eventually the weather will warm, a few dry days will allow additional seed into the Square Foot Garden grids, along with carrots and beets in a separate area.  Plants have a way of withstanding whatever the skies sent to them.  They do less well with garden pests, but not much for the insects and bunnies to munch on yet.  Won't be for a while.

This Year's Gardens

Gardening has been removed from my semi-annual initiatives in favor of other things.  While it never became a focus as intended, it has found a niche in my seasonal activity, much like monthly donations or monthly financial review has moved from targeted activity to ordinary continuation.

The plants have four general placements.  In the living room, an aeroponic unit that always underperforms, yielding nothing meaningful to my culinary herb needs.  The chia pots, three of them, have been productive of basil, less of other things, but for the first time I'm giving dill a go.  Outside my front door I plant container herbs.  Bought mint since it was on sale, and bought rosemary since mine never take from seed and I need robust rosemary for cooking.  All else is from seed.  Mostly planted, a few sprouting.

Near the back door on the deck I plant flowers in the tree wooden plantar boxes.  They do well most years with very little care.  And then the big project, vegetables, most not yet chosen.  I started tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper from seed indoors.  All sprouted and were transplanted outside, still alive a few days and one watering later.  Radishes go well.  Some yellow squash planted in a different location than usual.  And I want to have some cucumber in a place where the vines can have room beyond the 4x4 wooden confines of my Square Foot format.  Then choose the rest of the vegetables.  Since weed block limits the depth that root vegetables can pursue, I found another location for carrots and beets this year.  A row format for these.

Maintenance probably twice a week for each bed or container, daily for the indoor plants with near total reconstruction of the aerogarden needed as a single focus.  I don't do well with fertilizing or other feeding, and pests have limited past harvests.  But whatever I can get with the limited focus I am willing to give this will be an increment of personal pleasure later on, something in current short supply.

Setting Out the Gardens

This year I did not include gardening on my Semi-Annual Projects.  It is not all that unusual for me to do something a few years, or intend to, like making my bedroom optimal or following TED talks, that I just do them without creating a special initiative for doing them.  Gardening has entered that sphere.  Every suburban homeowner needs to find a place for a few tomato plants and some flowers.  I've had two 4x4 plots in the backyard, located conveniently near the house, though at the expense of optimal sunlight, where I've grown vegetables and herbs.  Last year I moved the herb garden to just outside my front door.  My backyard deck contains three boxes just right for some flowers.  Landscapers trimmed back the rose bushes, so they should be ready to bud and flower with little or no input from me.

Living in Zone 7a, it is too soon for outdoor plantings but not too soon to ready the soil.  My mistakes over the years have been many, but usually different mistakes each year.  Thus far, I have begun tomatoes as indoor sprouts, planting ten of them from a recently obtained packet.  I planted five each of pepper and eggplant from seeds obtained in previous years.  Not sprouted yet.  Give it another week, then buy new seeds.  One mistake has been not adequately delineating the square foot markers that make my 4x4 beds into sixteen separate one square foot units.  I marked one bed with string.  I also found an unused area next to the deck.  It might be just right for rosemary, or maybe even better, I've not been able to grow carrots or other deep roots in the beds due to a layer of weed block.  The unused area seems deep enough to try some carrots and beets there, keeping the rosemary in front with the other herbs, though rosemary has thrived in my backyard in prior years, and far better than it did in the front pot last year.  Maybe I could do both in that space, or use it for the root vegetables and plant the rosemary right next to it.  But conceptually, I still like having all my herbs in the front and vegetables in the back.

What to plant?  I went to the seed display at Lowes.  Must have tomatoes.  Four plants overwhelms the backyard beds, so maybe only one in each of the 4x4s this year.  And I am determined to have my own peppers and eggplants.  Lettuce has not done well in my hands.  Vines have, cucumber and zucchini, but there are limited places to plant them as they spread out.  Pumpkin has been a lost cause,

My herbs do OK, though never as well as what the ladies on those TV cooking shows take from their window boxes each episode.  The seeds last over several years.  I only need one good sage plant, maybe two basils.  Dill has been inconsistent, but I really like dill.  Separate pot for that this year.  And mint is almost like a weed.  It disappears from its pot each winter, only to return with no effort on my part in the spring.  I rarely use it though.

I'm not a dedicated flower person, other than roses which grace my shabbos table in season.  The small deck boxes get zinnias and marigolds.  Maybe do different ones.  Last year the flowering was limited.  Need to enrich the soil in those areas, I think.

My garden's downfall has always been pests.  Invertebrates infest fruits, furry ones like beans.  I've never used netting, and there have been years of reasonable harvest, so I'll likely just take my chances.

And with a little luck, supplemented by an increment of diligence, my kitchen where I really like to hang out and create, will have some homegrown edibles.  

Resetting My Garden

It didn't take very long to yank out all the vines from my two backyard square foot gardens and place the ample organic segments in a plastic bag.  My 32 squares are now entirely bare, covered by pretty much the same mulch as before last spring's planting, with the tomato stakes and plastic ID labels left behind.

Ending the season comes more easily than assessing the season, both for the backyard and the front door pots, which have not yet been closed for the winter.  Both had disappointing yields.  Tomatoes had a lot of green but not a lot of reproduction.  The vines proliferated so well as to outgrow their squares, intimidate the small commercial stakes I obtained for each, and effectively function like weeds.  All this without any exogenous nutrients placed on my part.  I got a little lettuce but didn't harvest it.  Peppers and eggplants bought as starter plants from a nursery all got crowded out.  No beets.  Beans produced but got eaten by pests before harvest.  No cucumbers, something mostly reliable in past seasons.  Pumpkin planted as an afterthought did not take hold.  Effectively a dud of an effort, though also limited by a mediocre input on my part.  This year, I did not plant any herbs in the backyard, reserving it for vegetables with herbs allocated to pots outside the front door.  Basil great.  Everything else, even the spearmint, without meaningful yield.

Since I really want to have a productive source of herbs for cooking and vegetables for supplementing what I get at the supermarket, just like the celebrities of cooking shows have, some learning assessment needs to take place, with a few decision points resolved.  As attractive as a square foot pattern seems, mine never seems to do as well as the fellow on TV.  Perhaps for the next season I should return to rows.  Five tomato plants dominate the planting space.  I need to choose two, one in each bed.  Cages contain lateral growth, stakes do not, and even fall over.  Back to cages.  Cucumbers deserve another go, also with some attempt to have the vines grow vertically. So do beans.  Chard is supposed to be easy to grow, especially with a square foot design, but mine has not.  If I do lettuce again, which I may not as I am not a lettuce enthusiast, rows would be better.  My soil is too shallow for carrots, which are inexpensive from commercial sources at the supermarket.  Beets were disappointing.  If I plant them again, which I might as I like them and they are expensive at the store, they will need more attention than I provided them.

I do not have a good grasp of why my herb pots did so poorly.  Basil is basically a weed.  It should get its own pot.  My indoor basil takes over any container, including the aerogarden.  It needs to be left to itself.  The big pot can contain three herbs.  I don't know why dill did so poorly.  Parsley used to do well in a big pot shared with other things, though overgrown this year by the basil.  And while thyme and oregano spill over the margins of their pots when planted near the edges, I struggle to thin and harvest them as they grow.  Still, a portion at the edged of the big pot seems the way to go.  Some of my pots got waterlogged.  Drainage is essential.  Failure of rosemary and spearmint late in season, two plants I could previously count on, has no easy explanation.

So the gardening goes dormant for the coldest months, perhaps with some planning when too cold to venture outdoors.  Reconsideration for next spring, intent on a better outcome.

Storm Forecast

Did an inspection of my garden as I planted a seed shoot of eggplant next to the more sturdy eggplant purchase from the garden center.  It might take, it might not.  Sprouting has gone well.  Not quite ready for thinning.  Still want to have all 32 square foot sections planted in the coming week but have to accommodate this to the weather.  More lettuce, maybe some more beets.  Herbs all planted in containers at doorstep.  Flowers planted to my satisfaction on the deck planters built into the rail.

The weather sets its own pattern, to which I must adapt.  A successful rule has been to water with the watering can or hose if three days go by without nature's assistance, though that has not happened.  Ample hydration, including a deluge forecast later today that might force protection of some of the outdoor containers.  Real gardeners still have things to do on those days.  I have to reassemble my unused seeds, then decide what gets planted next.  One will be the second pepper plant, first sprouting in an indoor container, to go into the square foot next to the established pepper plant from the garden center.  And now that I know what is or will be planted, as well has the progress of the herb containers, perhaps it is not premature to use these rainy days to imagine menus.

Unlike a commercial gardener or farmer, the harvest may not be the most important end point.  Planning and implementation and monitoring progress and adapting to impediments seems to offer a lot more satisfaction than eating the final product.

Beans Planted

Made a few key garden decisions.  My eggplant, tomato, and pepper seeds all failed.  But failure can be salvaged, sometimes even upgraded.  Since I had to buy plants, I did five different tomato varieties, one outside the front door, each of the other four in the back corners of the backyard beds.  Bought one each of pepper and eggplant, planting each in the garden.  It had been my intent to have four of each, but instead I scaled back to two, starting one of each as another set of indoor seeds, which have sprouted reliably, then transplanting once germinated.  It was not my intent to plant green beans but I had a lot of seeds and extra squares from not having as many peppers and eggplants.  These sprout well but are difficult to thin and harvest so I only put one seed in each hole to avoid thinning.  If some don't take, I have more seeds.  That leaves me two squares of green beans totaling 18 plants.  They are difficult to harvest, with pods appearing and maturing at different times, while the Square Foot Garden pattern bunches beans rather close together.  But some invariably reach my table.

Planting timed nicely to the weather, with a useful overnight shower.  Some neglect the rest of the week so that the seeds can germinate and the transplants take root.  May be ready to start thinning the original seed plantings of beets and lettuce.  

Planting

 Garden planting week.  Outdoors container herbs plus a tomato all done.  Outdoor garden seeded with cucumbers, spring onions, lettuce, beets and bok choi.  They don't have four packs of tomatoes which will add to the price as I get them individually but it also gives me the option of getting four different kinds.  And eggplants and peppers from the garden center.  Maybe do beans after all.  And more lettuce, rotated in a way that offers a more continual harvest.  And the flower planting of the deck.  All this we

ek.

Outdoor Planting

While the US Senate thinks they can control the clock, they really cannot control the seasons.  Not sure yet if they can control the climate favorably but the cycles of nature proceed.  My gardens, a semi-annual project, must adapt to outdoors reality.  It's probably time to plant some of the beet seeds I bought and to purchase some lettuce seeds, each frost resistant.  To enhance harvest, this year I plan to plant sequentially rather than all at once, but I don't know how I will maintain the records.  Indoor eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes all seem to be sprouting.  Sage and rosemary did not survive the backyard winter, so they will be relocated to the front, which means I will need at least one large new container for the rosemary.  Mint containers, peppermint and spearmint, look bedraggled but have a way of self-restoration with benign neglect and some water on my part.  Got a front container cherry tomato plant which is best started indoors, and fairly soon.  Landscapers lopped off most of the branches which had obscured substantial corners of the two 4x4 ft beds.  So I'm mostly ready to go, a little this week, a little next week.

Indoor Seeds

Seed displays came out at the Christmas Tree Shop which discounts them by half.  I got a packet each of tomato, eggplant, and bell pepper.  From previous years I had cardboard starter containers, both little squares and truncated cones with flat bottoms.  And potting soil always sits in a plastic bag with torn open top outside my front door.  Thus started eight tomatoes and six each of eggplants and peppers with the intent of half of them making it to my backyard garden once outdoor planting season for Zone 7a arrives.

I've always found potting soil hard to work with, which may be why that Square Foot Gardening guy advocates vermiculite, though it is easier to transplant later with potting soil.  It's just a bit water repellant, leaving the position of the seeds in each compartment uncertain.  It  also dries out a bit, so I check it every few days.

Once planted, finding a place for them to sprout took some ingenuity.  For now, since they need no light yet but could use some warmth, they each got inserted into empty plastic bread loaf bags, sorted by type of vegetable, and placed on an isolated flat surface not intended for that purpose in the family room, just far enough off the path of the door to be easily retrievable but not likely to be knocked off.

Prior attempts at this have resulted in spindly shoots with internet advice not helpful on successful remedy.  That comes later.  I need germination first.  Keep checking.

Zone 7a

Retrieving the newspaper from the end of the driveway for my wife to read when she first goes downstairs has developed into a morning ritual, right after starting my first k-cup and maybe washing a few dishes.  I wear night clothes for the short trip, typically with flip-flops.  Seasonally cold and dark for this short errand.  While it provides momentary stimulation to begin each day with more prolonged stimulation once the caffeine has been absorbed.  I don't think about warmer weather ahead, though the earth and my geographic 7a zone will eventually heat up enough to support any number of vegetables and herbs.

Gardening mostly brings joy with a few disappointments or frustrations to balance.  I set this in its global form for the current semi-annual projects.  Aerogarden and chia pots with herbs avoid climate considerations.  Chia going well.  Aerogarden needs some revision.  Not nearly as much joy from these as what the outdoor efforts achieve.  I will need to revive the front containers a bit, though last season went OK.  The backyard needs real work.  Trimming branches to better expose my two 4x4 foot beds.  And deciding what and where things go.

While I could purchase established vegetable plants, having mostly failures from attempts at indoor winter planting, I'd like to give the from seed indoors another go with tomatoes and pepper, maybe eggplant.  My soil probably is not thick enough between surface and weed block cloth for serious root vegetables, though I like beets and they are expensive in the supermarket, so possibly a square or two of these as direct plantings.  Lettuce and chard never do well.  Green beans flourish but can be tedious to harvest.  Cucumbers take up more space than they are worth and are cheap at the supermarket.  And this year, plant in sequence rather than all at once.  Better planning.  With some luck, better joy when harvest arrives.

Plodding Towards Winter

Been sleeping through my wrist alarm a couple of times this week.  The buzz seems less jolting, even when it arrives when I am already awake, too weak to interrupt my final snooze if I am not already awake.  When buzz appreciated I get up.  Looking out the window it's dark.  Retrieving the newspaper from the end of the driveway, it is not only dark but with a chill.  When I sleep through the signal, when I look to the window, light has begun.  My biological clock runs a little differently than my exogenous electronic reminder, though I tend to adapt quickly, perhaps even have a better day when I arise in response to the smartwatch.  

This is the final shabbos on Daylight Saving's Time for the season.  During my work years, I would make chicken before heading to work on Friday mornings during Standard Time.  I still might, though being retired, I could allot time for this in the late afternoon.  It seems better just to have it all done, awaiting assembly on a suitably set shabbos table, as candle lighting precedes customary meal times.  

My plants need some consideration.  I've mostly set the outdoor gardens for winter, plucking all plants but rosemary, sage, and parsley.  They can take their chances though I may cover the rosemary.  Front entrance containers leave me more options.  Next year my herbs will only be in containers except for sage and rosemary which do better in the backyard beds.  Those square foot gardens, whether or not they remain square foot patterns or go back to rows, will be allotted to vegetables.  Container mints seem indestructible.  Don't know about chives, which still look straggly enough to replant next year in a container with better drainage.  Parsley grows easily and can be replanted.  Container sage did not grow large enough to harvest.  Dill and thyme could have done better.  Maybe just leave them to nature and try again next spring.  

And then there's the snow blower.  A must this year, as it failed the one time I needed it.  My ability to use a snow shovel safely has passed.  I'm even willing to follow the repair suggestions on the internet or have it revived professionally.  Not willing, yet, to purchase and assemble a new one.

Winter clothing has been transferred except for the wooly hats and gloves.  And next week, Standard Time, the wrist alarm matches window daylight.

Fixing a Hose

Japanese beetles have infested our roses.  Unlike Chinese virus, we use the nomenclature without any animosity to the honorable people of Japan or those who have migrated elsewhere.  They are just called Japanese beetles.  But we need to get them off our rose plants so my wife purchased a fumigation kit that attaches to a hose.  Unfortunately, I have also been using that hose for my garden.  It took some effort to get it wound around the spool of a wheeled hose reel, which still leaks slightly at the faucet connection despite a new washer and some plumbers tape.  Good enough.  It otherwise worked well and kept my garden adequate if not optimal.

In order to use the fumigator, I had to remove the nozzle which had frozen.  Eating Wheaties to enhance grip and forearm strength did not help.  I found a wrench designed for the purpose.  However on gripping the hose with it, the fitting was designed to rotate the hose unless gripped from the brass male connection itself, which I did, only to deform the connection, creating a new leak that I could not fix.

Fortunately, the world of goods and services anticipated that less than skilled yardmen would need help.  They designed a whole variety of adaptors to replace my bent one, some brass for $10, some plastic for $3.  Being a low end user, I gave the cashier a $10 bill, pocketed my change with the $5 bill to go into the stored change for mad money at year's end, with the other two singles into my wallet.

My wife needing a lesson in practical widowhood, I took her to the backyard after removing the excess packaging from the fitting.  Armed with a pair of scissors and a Philips head screwdriver, we were in business.  Snip off the old fitting.   Remove the plastic collar that will anchor the fitting.  Insert the plastic fitting into the hose, more difficult than expected but we need a tight connection.  Replace the anchoring collar over the hose fitting connection.  Turn on faucet.  It worked with no leak at the hose end.  Attach a new nozzle.  Turn water back on: again no leak.  Rose bushes have been given a second chance.