Planting popsicle sticks

Ron's been in a really gloomy mood recently. Lots of negative energy. Ugh.

I was delighted to get the "Come in for an interview" letter from Metrolift. I'm about halfway to being approved. I have to remind myself to leave it up to God. If He wants me to get the service, I will. I have my interview on March 3. Yay.

We were supposed to get severe weather this afternoon. When I woke up from my nap, it was almost clear and sunny.

"To heck with it," I thought. I went outside and did a little weeding, mulched the beets, radishes, and chard, eyed the spot I've allocated for carrots.

I looked at the sky. Still overcast but no imminent rain. "I'm planting my carrots." And that's just what I did. 8 Short & Sweet, and 8 Chantenay, into one square foot of garden bed 2. I didn't manure half the bed, allocating it to "root crops". Manure can cause the root crops to get nasty, even if it is well-composted. I had one root crop square left, all my Houston and Texas garden books say it's not too late, so I'm planting some carrots.

I had a goofy clay clod or two from my previous cultivation (I am really leaning towards the no-till methods now), I picked them out and set them aside. When I planted my beets and radishes, I covered them in a 50/50 mixture of builders sand and pulverized compost. It worked great. Even the old seed germinated in those conditions, I like the method, and I'll do it everytime I direct seed into the garden. I spread a few cups of sand/compost in the square (foot) and smoothed it out. I "planted" popsicle sticks at the proper spacing, and planted the seed about a half inch in front of each popsicle stick. I covered up the seeds with an additional third of an inch of the mixture and gently watered it in. It is a fantastic method for me and it works great. When I see seed leaves popping up, I know automatically if they're "good" or "bad". It's a lot easier to weed something that's half an inch tall than something with a mighty root system.

I was skeptical enough that I did water it in. I felt foolish but I want my carrots to get a good start. Now I'm wondering, kelp meal? I love the idea, but I'm cheap.

I even found a cherry tomato on my Husky Red Cherry. It looks like I'll be serving some homegrown tomatoes when Mom and Dad come to visit in April. I really want to have a lovely salad for them. I need to plant some more radishes and beets, too. I was really happy to see that all my beets germinated. I got a mixture. It looks like about a third of it is "Bulls Blood". It sounds awful but the leaves are gorgeous.

Everyone else looks great. My collards are getting nice and tasty looking. In another month or so, I can start eating them. That reminds me, I do want to plant some more chard. I really like the way it looks in the garden. I don't like it raw but I can use one of those steam bags for the microwave. All my transplants look great, and I didn't have any real chores other than the very minor weeding. I sat on my rolling garden cart (it has a seat), drinking my Cherry Cola Diet Rite, just enjoying the ambiance.

I love my garden. The mosquitoes won't touch me now. Apparently the pink grapefruit body wash (from Softsoap) makes me smell bad. To them. ;-P

Have a good one!