Have you ever read a post-apocolyptic book and wondered..."How would I do?" Well, we talk about it some and live in a place where we could survive if we set ourselves up right. So we take little steps here and there. And its been a week now that I took my first little steps which actually feel like a moon walk to me. Gardening, and I am the brown thumb. Plants die in my care as does most anything, but work and I do get the dogs fed most of the time. They start to act up when they are hungry or thirsty so that I tend to remember to do. Plants don't have that luxury. Yes they get moody and droop but they can't set their head on my lap, run in circles, or whine to get my attention so I don't always notice them when they are in need.
I begin my gardening journey with my husband's support that if we end up with a few strawberries and potatoes for our efforts we will consider the journey a success. Last week on Sunday I spent three hours pouring dirt into those little plastic holders to start seedlings in. I decided not to buy the covers because I thought...well, I don't know what I was thinking because it would be much easier to have the covers than handle huge sheets of saran wrap.
Tip #1: Splurge and get the plastic covers to create your greenhouse effect for your seedlings!
So, when I went shopping for supplies with my husband I thought we'd pick a few things to start the project. No, his theory was the more different things we tried, the more likely we were to succeed with something. So I have 24 different vegetables started in the seedling trays. And, there are 9 seedlings of each vegetable.
Help: So how wet am I supposed to keep this little guys?
--for now, I'm just guessing. They seemed ok today but it had been 3 days since I watered them so I just went for it and watered them again.
Tip #2: When doing 24 vegetables that you know nothing about - Label them. I labeled mine with numbers and names and then I also put the number on the seedling bag so when it's time to replant I can check the measurements for space between the plants and such things.
Today is Saturday...well it was, I guess it is Sunday now that it is 1:39am. But, anyway, I put 12 strawberry plants in a Topsy Turvy hanger. They were getting tired of being in their little trays, I can't wait to see how they do. My husband said that it might snow tonight, but came to bed saying it wasn't that cold so he didn't bring them in. I think that might be translated to "I'm too tired to go get them now, I hope they survive the night." Not sure, but the next tip might be - don't leave the Strawberries out if you think it might snow.
I also prepped my planter for potatoes. I googled for a video on how to plant potatoes. It said to cut the potatoes that we bought for planting with 2 -3 eyes on each and roots that had not grown too long yet, because too long was too much. Also, an article said that you can use store bought potatoes but they put some chemical on them to prevent the roots from growing so the results might not be as good.
Help: My husband bought probably 30 of these little potatoes and you cut them up into three pieces each that will be 90 plants! Hmmmm is that enough potatoes for two people?
I'm sure I was supposed to something more to loosen up the soil and prepare it for these little potato pieces, but I thought I would just give it a go and see what happen with some hole in an unused planter. I'll keep you posted on the success with that. I have plenty more potatoes to go, if these ones don't take. But, I guess the video said that potatoes were the easiest crop to grow.
The video also said to let the potato pieces dry over night to prevent disease. They are sitting on my dining room table and will go into the dirt tomorrow.
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