My peppers are leggy and wimpy, so bought some from Ritchie's

Yeah... my started peppers all look so wimpy.  Like Charlie Brown's xmas tree.  And that's with some topping to aim for bushiness.  I'll definitely still plant them out and see how it goes, but, I needed some backups.

So, bought three kinds of seedlings from R's:

- ____x 1

- Sweet Banana x 9

- basic green pepper x 9

Butternut started

I was late starting the butternut squash (Waltham) because I didn't have any seeds left.  Bought some today, started 5 seeds.

Buckwheat sowed

Sowed buckwheat in the east half of the central bed.  All I did was rake up the top layer of soil (didn't do any digging), then scatter the seed, then rake around a bit, then water it.  Didn't protect it with anything to keep it safe from critters -- so we'll see how it does.

Potatoes planted in yard -- with an experiment

Today I planted out 12 x Kennebec (north of the broccolis) and 12 x AC Chaleur (south of the broccolis) in the central bed.  A few days ago (on May 4th) I had cut some in half, and they look to be sealed over now.

In each potato hole, I added 1 Tbsp kelp, 1/2 Tbsp azomite, 1/2 Tbsp mrp, and ~1/2 tsp of myke.

The experiment is that in each type's northerm-most row, I added 1 Tbsp alfalfa (in addition to the above amendments).

It will be interesting to see if any difference in the ones that have vs. don't have alfalfa.  Last year (2023) I didn't add any alfalfa to the potatoes, and they did well enough.

OMG!!!!! EXPERIMENT RESULT! YES add alfalfa to the tomatoes' & ground cherries' potting mix!!!!! *HUGE* difference for those with / without alfalfa!!!

Lately I had been noticing that some of the tomatoes and ground cherries just weren't very well -- they were soooooo slow growing and still tiny, whereas others were much larger and better.

Well, only today did I think to have a closer look.

Sure enough, ALL of the ones that are so small and slow-growing are the ones from which I omitted alfalfa in their potting mix!  ALL OF THEMMMMMMMM!  Not a single one that didn't get alfalfa is doing even remotely well!

For the ones that had alfalfa in their potting mix, almost all of them are doing quite well.  A few are slower, but still way bigger than the no-alfalfa ones.

I am shocked and amazed at the huge difference!!

So, today I pre-soaked some alfalfa pellets and put them over top of the ones that didn't have any, and gave a watering.  Hopefully it's not too late to save them!  We shall see!

Next year start the greens earlier -- it will be a while before first salad harvest

^^^

Soooooo many earthworms!!!

Wow!  There were tons, tons, tons of worms, including baby worms, in the pile of soil where I had dumped the container soil last fall and where there were lots of leaves and on which I had piled the hollyhock stalks etc.   I was in that pile today to put some of the soil into containers and wow, soooooo many worms!  Way more than in other part of the garden where I was digging today.

Reference: Squash bugs webpage

I've never had to deal with squash bugs yet, but am quite sure it will be a thing at gaga.  So, was doing a bit of research to steel myself.  Here's a great page with a lot of tips/tricks:

https://tendingmygarden.com/squash-bugs-tactics-for-winning-the-war/

I am thinking I might actually try keeping tulle on some of the allotment squashes even after they start flowering, and drive over every morning or every other morning before work to hand-pollinate...  I'm not sure, we shall see.

Started in PT: cucumber, watermelon, cantalope summer squash, winter squash (forgot to buy butternut)

Started a bunch of seeds in PT today -- some of these will be for the yard, some will be for gaga:

- Cucumber:  Eureka

- Zucchini:  8-Ball

- Zucchini:  Golden Glory

- Zucchini:  Dark Green

- Summer squash:  Golden Scallopini

- Watermelon:  Blacktail Mountain

- Cantalope:  Hales Best Jumbo (from the foil packet collection)

- Winter squash:  Jumbo Pink Banana (used up the last of the foil packet seeds)

- Winter squash:  Cushaw White

I forgot that I didn't have any butternut squash seeds, so I will buy some and definitely grow that too.

Potatoes for yard have been cut

In the yard I'll grow these varieties:

- Kennebec

- AC Chaleur

I chose those randomly from among the many potato varieties I bought at Ritchie's last week.

A few of those two kinds are still left over so will go to gaga.

I cut most of them in half, placed on cardboard, cut side up, will let them scab over before planting later this week.

Where are the beets!? Carrots are appearing

The carrots sowed a few weeks ago started appearing a few days ago.  

The beets on the other hand are very few and very far between!

The beds look so compacted.

I hadn't covered with anything -- no cardboard, no burlap, no plastic, etc.

Next year I realllllllly need to use an alternate approach and cover them with something.  I think the multi-times-a-day of watering them really compacts the soil.  And, if I miss out and they dry out, wah-wah.

Carrot experiment: lazy sowing under leaves

I lazily sowed some carrots in the following way, to see if it works.  My guess is it will work.

After planting the broccoli/kale/green onions into their same bed in the central bed (all under one double-layer of tulle), along the west and south sides of this I spade-dug the soil, flattened it down, sprinkled some carrot seeds, watered them with the little green watering can, and loosely placed some leaves over top.

That's it.  I'm not going to baby them or anything -- no daily watering, etc.  

Que sera sera!

Hardies have been transplanted into yard

Today I transplanted these into the yard:

- broccoli x 3 (all piracababa) -- with double-layer of tulle

- kale (all dwarf vates) x 9 in north bed and x ~3 or 4 in with the broccolis -- with double-layer of tulle

- chard (all fordhook) x 9 in north bed -- with double-layer of tulle

- green onions x ~5 in with the broccolis -- with double-layer of tulle

- lettuce (Ruby and romaine) -- all the long grey rectangular containers

Left over of the above plants, that can go into gaga later on:

- broccoli x 2 or 3

- kale

- chard

- onions

Cabbage butterfly moth thing seen in yard!!! FOY

Wow!  Seems so early in the season.  The one I saw was on the ground at first, walking/futzing around -- I wonder if s/he was newly emerged from inside the backyard!  Flew away eventually.

Therefore, I ran inside and quickly netted all of the relevant hardies (they're still in their small pots).

Peas round 3 started (to fill in gaps)

^^^

Chipping sparrow and song sparrow are back

 Song sparrow(s) returned a few weeks ago; noticed chipping sparrow(s) yesterday.  And course the house sparrows.  Fun!

Peas round 2 grew so long in vermiculite! Will they survive transplanting?

Wow, this vermiculite method for starting the peas sans peat pots, sans indoor mix seems to be great!  Except when I wait too long to check on them and transplant them!  The roots of this vermiculite batch were SEVERAL inches long in many cases -- some up to maybe up to 4" -- or certainly 3".  So anyway, transplanted them today.  These are the ones on the northmost vertical structure, immediately south of the first batch that was next to the north wall.

Between the first and second batches just about the entire north vertical structure is now occupied.  So I'll start just a few more seeds in the coming days, to add a few more on another easternmost row, and to fill in some gaps.

Peas germinated great in vermiculite! Removed from verm to put into soil!

Here's what I've done so far this year with the peas, using a new approach to thwart the birds/critters (i.e. not using the indoor peat pot method this year)...

- Soaked the pea seeds for 24 hours.

- Then, placed in vermiculite -- multiple layers, treasure hunt style.

- Within a few days, most had nice inch-long roots; so then (today) I planted them outside, directly into the soil.  Didn't cover with anything other than soil.  Will re-use the same vermiculite with the next batch, if this works.

So, now to see if they come up, or if the birds/critters still have a taste for sprouted pea seeds.

Based on the results, I'll start the next batch.

Carrots and beets sowed

Beets:

- The home-collected seeds from a few years ago.

- Presoaked in a bowl for ~24 hours.

- Covered with a mix of vermiculite and garden soil.

Carrots:

- Bolero.

- Straight into the ground as dry seeds, with 2 or more per "hole".

- Covered with a mix of vermiculite and garden soil.

All into the ground, none in containers.

Tomatoes, ground cherries, basil, and zinnias started in PT

Tomato:

- Damsel -- new to me this year

- Tofusteak

- Big Tofu Plus

- Mortgage Lifter

Ground cherry:

- Collected from a past plant that self-sowed and grew amazingly in very poor conditions

Basil:

- Prospera

Zinnias:

- Short yellow, short orange

- Tall variety

- Tall Lemon