Monday, May 30, 2005
What's the opposite of success?
Resounding failure! At least in the winter squash department. I covered my squashlings with soda bottles last night, cuz it was kinda breezy and felt like it would probably go into the low 40s by morning. I uncovered them this morning and took a good, hard, honest look at them. They suck ass, bigtime. I'm going to give them another few days to see if they perk up or not, but, when they don't, I have a couple choices:
* Tear them out and plant seed. It's a late start, I know. I'd be gambling against early September frosts like I did the first time I planted them two years ago (I lost, BTW). But they did so well, and were sooo healthy through the summer. But the heartbreak of the early frost cannot compare to the heartbreak I'm feeling now for my little guys. This is a definite "maybe."
* Tear them out and replace them with something from the garden center. I'd really like to try an eggplant, maybe some bell peppers.
These are the squash that are affected: Red Kuri (Hokkaido), Black Futsu, Winter Luxury Pie and Sweet Dumpling. The Black Futsu are the most viable of the bunch, maybe salvageable, maybe not. I tore out the Winter Luxes last night and threw them on the compost heap. Those are the ones that we're eaten by something. The Red Kuri and the Sweet Dumplings are just sad, sad, sad. Weirdly, these are all the plants that I put in on the east side of the garden.
On the other side of the garden, the Table Queens are perky and healthy, and so are the melons. The Yellow Scallops and the Costata Romanescos look kinda baked, but look like they're taking hold and will make some sort of comeback.
List of things to do early Wednesday morning, before the Jakester wakes up (I'll have to work super-fast):
* Get the tomatoes in the ground
* Pot up the lavenders (I decided to plant these in containers, after looking about on the web yesterday, and reading that it is possible to pot these guys. Next year, I'll probably have to put them in the ground, but pots are good for this year)
* Get the sunflowers in the ground
* Get the loofas in the ground
* Pot up the rest of the herbs in the Asian Soup Garden (I found Thai basil plants at Lowe's yesterday! Their cilantro was horrible-looking, so I picked up some oregano and sage, instead. Not very Asian, I know, but will fill in the gaps and will taste great with tomatoes later on.)
I feel so bad about my pumpkins. They were the whole reason I wanted to start this garden this year. I probably will try to start some seeds. I wonder what I did wrong.... Scratch that, in hindsight, I know what I did wrong. I started the squash seeds waaaaaay too early. So in essence, I was transplanting full-grown plants. A definite no-no. Well, live and learn. Next year will be different.
* Tear them out and plant seed. It's a late start, I know. I'd be gambling against early September frosts like I did the first time I planted them two years ago (I lost, BTW). But they did so well, and were sooo healthy through the summer. But the heartbreak of the early frost cannot compare to the heartbreak I'm feeling now for my little guys. This is a definite "maybe."
* Tear them out and replace them with something from the garden center. I'd really like to try an eggplant, maybe some bell peppers.
These are the squash that are affected: Red Kuri (Hokkaido), Black Futsu, Winter Luxury Pie and Sweet Dumpling. The Black Futsu are the most viable of the bunch, maybe salvageable, maybe not. I tore out the Winter Luxes last night and threw them on the compost heap. Those are the ones that we're eaten by something. The Red Kuri and the Sweet Dumplings are just sad, sad, sad. Weirdly, these are all the plants that I put in on the east side of the garden.
On the other side of the garden, the Table Queens are perky and healthy, and so are the melons. The Yellow Scallops and the Costata Romanescos look kinda baked, but look like they're taking hold and will make some sort of comeback.
List of things to do early Wednesday morning, before the Jakester wakes up (I'll have to work super-fast):
* Get the tomatoes in the ground
* Pot up the lavenders (I decided to plant these in containers, after looking about on the web yesterday, and reading that it is possible to pot these guys. Next year, I'll probably have to put them in the ground, but pots are good for this year)
* Get the sunflowers in the ground
* Get the loofas in the ground
* Pot up the rest of the herbs in the Asian Soup Garden (I found Thai basil plants at Lowe's yesterday! Their cilantro was horrible-looking, so I picked up some oregano and sage, instead. Not very Asian, I know, but will fill in the gaps and will taste great with tomatoes later on.)
I feel so bad about my pumpkins. They were the whole reason I wanted to start this garden this year. I probably will try to start some seeds. I wonder what I did wrong.... Scratch that, in hindsight, I know what I did wrong. I started the squash seeds waaaaaay too early. So in essence, I was transplanting full-grown plants. A definite no-no. Well, live and learn. Next year will be different.
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