January 26, 2019
The other "white powder" in a zip lock bag in my greenhouse is diatomaceous earth. It was a very popular insecticide back in the day because it's organic. I became disillusioned with it when I learned it is only effective when dry. My garden is never dry so when I sprinkle it on the ground it absorbs moisture from the soil and stops working. It didn't help that I had a zip lock bag of Bentonite that was not labeled as well. To this day I don't know which was which, so I may have been making little clay pathways for the sow bugs to cross over to get to my veggies..
I had two spray bottles that were not labeled either. One had water with soap in it, and the other had water with Round Up in it. That was a disaster waiting to happen. I've learned to keep a Sharpie permanent marker in the greenhouse, and so should you..
January 27, 2019
I don't know why anyone would want to plant anything other than Sugar Snap peas next week. They have edible pods so you don't have to shell them. They are great for snacking in the garden, especially if you have children. They are sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth, and nutritious enough to let them indulge. Another benefit is you won't find pea shells scattered around the garden. I got two different types of peas to try this year. One is called Wando, which is the most productive warm climate pea..
It tolerates heat so you can plant it later in the season, in case your ground is too wet in the spring. The other pea experiment this year is called Iona. It's a French pea touted as "The sweetest thing you'll ever put in your mouth". They are smaller than normal peas but "worth the effort". They are preferred in French cuisine because of discerning palates. We'll see..
January 28, 2019
I pulled up the last of the overwintered cauliflower yesterday because they stopped being entertaining. They had mold on their leaves and they looked a bit disheveled. I pulled back the tightly wrapped center leaves and found small tan heads within. A sure sign that they had gotten frozen. There would be no heads to harvest this spring, so it was time to remove them in preparation for my six pack's transplanting. The six pack plants are three weeks along and short, stout and dark green..
They look great. The seed starting mix I got this year had Miracle Grow in it so I'm looking forward to seeing how much better they will do compared to just plain fish emulsion. The cauliflower had been mulched on one side with hay, and compost on the other side, so after pulling them up all that was required was to drag the four pronged garden spade back and forth across the row to be ready for planting. Fluffy top soil and no weeds. I'm getting excited..
