May 15, 2019
The third planting of corn looked dry the other day so I poked my finger in the ground and discovered it was dry a half inch down. That was almost past time to water since the seeds are only buried an inch. Things got busy and I forgot. The next morning the patch was wet. It was not from dew because the ground around it was dry. Water had wicked up overnight from deeper ground because I had thoroughly soaked it before planting..
I think there is shallow clay in this area because it puddles. Water was available on top of it to re wet the ground above. Corn roots may find difficulty penetrating clay and it may be the only corn patch I have to fertilize. I used fish emulsion on this area last year and turned the corn dark green. It still didn't get as tall as the other patches but the taste was delicious..
May 16, 2019
As I lifted off the tops to my mini greenhouses yesterday morning the warm air that wafted up into my face was unexpected. Our heat wave is over and daytime temps are in the 60's with nights in the 40's. The cooler morning air was in significant contrast to the warm air inside the mini greenhouses and I almost decided to leave the lids on. We have a week of rain and cooler weather in the forecast so i probably need to acclimate them to it. I'll still cover them at night because they prefer it. I put plastic over the three mounds of melons I just planted even though I had to take it off the last batch..
85ð out and clear plastic on the ground seems like a recipe for disaster on germinating seeds. That's how you solarize your soil to kill weeds and weed seeds. Unfortunately it kills soil organisms both good and bad. I was lucky I got the plastic off in time..
May 17, 2019
It was a gray, cold, rainy day yesterday and the poppies didn't even bother to open up their flowers. Why take the chance of getting their pollen washed away when it was too chill for the insects to be out? The pollen on the bolted spinach in the greenhouse was a bit overwhelming though. Every plant was covered with it, and as I pulled them out it shook off in my face. I didn't think much of it until I got super sleepy in the afternoon, and my eyes itched. Rainy days always make me glad I have a greenhouse to play in..
I picked every spinach leaf off before pulling the stems, and contemplated what I could plant next. I'll need that spot for fall cauliflower so my conclusion was radishes. The spinach stems are welcome in so many places in the garden as mulch that I realized I'm getting short on mulch. I may have to get a bale of straw before Father's day..
