Dry Dirt

Finally the dirt in the garden that was not in beds was dry enough to till. I actually started tilling it last Friday, but did not finish and it rained Saturday night. Last night the dirt was just right. There is nothing like the smell of sweet dirt when it is being turned. Now the visions of delicious peppers and winter squash and okra can replace the visions of the pounding tiller.

Last year Florida speckled butter beans were planted. They grew beautifully, but the beans came on so late that they were not able to fill out before the first hard freeze. This year we reverted to the old standard speckled limas from the grocery store dried bean section. The only thing wrong with them is that they are bush beans, requiring the picker to bend over or kneel down to pick.

So far all of the plants except for 1 or 2 that were planted this weekend are still alive. Yeah it is only Wednesday, but it seems the first hours are the most critical. When the greenhouse was planted, there were some seeds that fell out of the packages and it was hard to tell what they were. They were just scattered in a fallow bed for the heck of it. They turned out to be either cabbage, broccoli or Brussels sprouts. They were too thickly planted to stay where they were so they were thinned and the plants that were removed were put into the garden. They wilted Saturday night, but Sunday afternoon they were fine. As of last night only one of them did not survive.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Pre-Season Planting

Pre-Season Planting

There’s a lot of stuff going in the ground. Last week on the “root crop day” I planted beets, carrots, radishes and onion sets again. On the 8th (above ground day) I planted spinach, arugula, mesclun mix, kale, romaine, mustard and turnips. My grapevines and asparagus crowns came in yesterday and today (the 12th) is “transplant day” so in the ground they go. I dug humongous holes for the grapevines yesterday and a long trench for the asparagus. Today it is rainy and miserable; but this is the last day of February for transplanting.

The 8th was also a transplant day and I transplanted a few things in the greenhouse. Here’s a little update on the planting mediums. I planted in soil in cups, jiffy pots and rockwool. The rockwool got the best germination. The soil in cups grows best. I also planted some leftover cabbage seeds in an old aluminum pie plate. That was fantastic. We learn from experience. I don’t expect to start many more seeds this year. I want to try egg cartons next. I may start something just for the heck of it to see how they work.

Spinach and onion sets from an earlier planting are up. My three bins of compost turned into 2 ¾ when I turned it Sunday. I need some stuff to put in the grapevine holes; but the compost isn’t ready. I will buy some earthworm castings and mix that and phosphate rock and lime in with the dirt that came from the holes. I will just mix the earthworm casting for the asparagus. The dirt at the bottom of the grapevine holes tested at between 5.9 and 6.3 for ph which is the very lower limit for grapes. Hopefully the lime will bring it up a little.






David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.