August 15, 2018
When I went down to the garden yesterday morning I found a cauliflower plant uprooted and laying on it's side. It was not a small transplant, but an 8" tall, 8" diameter one remaining in the original row, so I doubt a bird did it. We saw a ground squirrel in the garden the day before, but that leaves more questions than answers. It was not wilted yet so I put the roots in water and left it in the shade. By the end of the day it was wilted so the water was not helping it much. I dug out a small hole where it was pulled up from and put a dirt clod in the bottom of it. I then used a small sharp stick the spread the roots out around the clod..
When I got as many as I could I covered them up and soaked the ground. I put a bucket over it because it was windy. This morning it was all perked up and healthy looking. I couldn't believe it. All the obsessive dedication I put into not disturbing the roots when I transplant is not really necessary. They can wilt and come back even when jerked from the ground as adolescent plants..
August 17, 2018
I pulled up the watermelon vines from another mound today and spread them around an artichoke plant. The melons are ripening fast. After I weeded and raked the mound I stood back and admired it. Why I like the look of an empty mound is a mystery to me. It's going to be barren for seven months..
I raked the tops off of a cantaloupe mound and a honeydew mound into the valley between them because they were only five feet apart, and got a raised bed. It's now a cabbage patch with the transplants from my cabbage row. Putting compost around p!ants using my hands and a bucket is another of my favorite things to do. In the winter I haul the compost in a wheelbarrow and spread it with a shovel, but this time of year I get to micromanage my garden because the infrastructure is done..
August 18, 2018
Update on the uprooted adolescent cauliflower plant that I nurtured back to life with my tender loving care. It ded. I put a cloche on it every evening to keep the breeze off it and every morning it was perked up. I put a bucket next to it to shade it and a seed tray with open slots in it on the other side to reduce the light from reflection. I watered it multiple times a day and moved the bucket around it as the sun crossed the horizon. Every evening it was wilted back down again..
I realized I was putting way too much energy into saving it than it was worth, and it was detracting from my enjoyment of the rest of the garden. I pulled it out. Now I have an empty place in my row, which used to bug me, but it looks good now without all the clutter of stuff and responsibilities. Sometimes it's fun to save a plant but I'm only willing to put in a reasonable amount of time..
