Thinning seedlings as metaphor for life - Week 7

The indoor plants have gone crazy. One day, nothing in the watermelon seed pods, the next day, 1" high seedlings. They're growing so fast, I'll have to find a way to prop the lid over their section of the grow bed, before they're stunted.

My herb starters, on the other hand, have gone from barren black soil to a crop of fine green seedlings. To my mind, that is a good thing...picture a thick bed of mint, parsley or sage. The more the merrier, yes?

Evidently, no. The seed packet recommends thinning the seedlings to one per 2-3 inches after they've gotten to be 3 inches tall. This perplexes me, because when I see such a lush carpet of seedlings, grown because of the love and attention I paid to them, I am very reluctant to see any of them sentenced to die.

Reading further, I realize that in order to get the best growth from the plants, I have to make sure the strongest seedlings get the most nutrients. With so many plants competing for resources, all will suffer if I don't make that cut. It's natural selection at its purest, and in my eyes, its cruelest.

Some background on me: I've always had something of a Florence Nightingale complex. I want to nurse the sick to health (whether physical or emotional), from plants to pets to people. I'm also a bit of a hoarder. Not to the extent of those reality show nightmares, by any means, but I have held onto broken lamps, disfigured appliances and unfinished craft projects (plus their various paraphernalia) long after they should have been repaired/donated/thrown out. Over the years, it has created quite a clutter problem, but addressing it causes even more of a headache as I don't want to throw things away, but finding the right homes for my donate-able goods (and getting them together, and taking them there or picking up the phone for pickup) takes far more effort than shoving them deep in a closet. Our association doesn't allow garage sales, so lugging my things to another person's house to join theirs (after which I'll probably lugging 2/3 of it back) also drains the spirit. And posting ads on Craigslist or eBay are both time consuming and minimally fruitful, at best.

So I keep the stuff around. And it surrounds me like a little garden of stuff, overcrowded, weedy, sucking away life and competing for resources.

Ultimately, I decided to wait a bit to thin the herbs. They're not quite big enough yet, and I'm not emotionally strong enough to do the deed. What I will start doing, however, is de-cluttering my life. It may take a little time, and a lot more effort, but in the end, I think it will help me (and my garden) to grow.

In lighter news, I've spotted my first tomato! It's on the cherry plant, and I'm so excited. There are also a few tomatillos forming, which somehow makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Now I've just got to keep 'em alive until they ripen. I can taste the salsa now...

Week 4 - A time for transplants

A deep red blush is creeping up the cheek of the largest strawberry on the vine; the second largest is tinged with pink. As I looked through the leaves, I also noticed several buds as new fruit pushes its way toward the sun. I know it's only a few berries, but this pleases me more than I can say. I'm growing things. I'm a grower! Not quite ready for the lofty title of "gardener," but I'm feeling more confident.

The second plant, however, has had the same three tiny sad fruits as it had when it was first potted. Though I see signs of life at the base as it, too, tries to create new growth, I'm a little saddened. My mom (admittedly, not a gardener) advises me to poke the roots to stimulate growth (come to think of it, this also seemed to be her approach to child rearing.) I'm not sure I would respond to such behavior positively, if I were I plant, but I might try it if more progress isn't made soon.

I finally found a solution to replanting the onions that were so crowded in their tiny planter — a trip to Sam's Club (of all places) yielded a raised planting bed kit made of recycled materials. Two checks! (Pardon the poor image quality, it's a cell phone pic). The kit was easy to put together, though we opted for using only one of the two segments (our yard is teeny tiny, so that's all that fit anyway).

After some contemplation, hubby and I decided it was best to remove the rock from the area where we were planning to put the bed. There's plastic underneath to (presumably) inhibit weeds from poking through, so it seemed good to leave it in place. At this point, I'd like to offer an FYI to anyone clearing rocks from a seemingly small area of your yard: a spade is probably way too small for the job (unless you like taking ages and ages to accomplish it). The whole family got into the act, with the toddler "helping" by placing one rock at a time in the spade. Didn't make the job go faster, but it certainly made it cuter. Ultimately, we used empty plastic flowerpots as scoops to get the area clear.

Another trip to the nursery for soil (followed by a trip back after getting the wrong kind... one day, I'll learn), and it was time to plant. I wisely picked up a full-size shovel and rake as well, to make future projects easier. We spread the soil, watered it down and began planting the onion bulbs I didn't have room for in the first planter. As they were dried, it was much easier than transplanting the already planted onions, which had quite a root system developed already. As they were also much more pliable than their dried brothers, it was a bit harder to set them straight into the tiny holes created for them by our fancy garden equipment (aka a Baja Fresh drink straw). My lack of depth perception caused the rows to be less than straight, but I recon they'll grade on a curve.

Next up, we had to remove the Walla Walla onions from the bowl and replant those. This proved to be the biggest challenge, as the root balls were so tangled and intermixed, it was hard to get them apart. Afther a little coaxing (and perhaps a wee bit of cursing), they were replanted in their new home.

Finally, I added some garlic plants purchased on one of my soil-purchasing forays (told you I was impulsive).

Though I thought that was it for the week, a busted water heater merited a trip to Home Depot, where I did a quick turn through the garden section and found the holy grail: Tomatillo plants! I've been searching for these since day 1, and had all but given up hope. I picked up two, as my (limited) reasearch indicated that they were not "self pollinating." These two also had blooms already, which seemed like a good sign.

I thought about planting them in the space vacated by the Walla Wallas in the bowl, but it's increasingly clear that those tomato plants will need all the space they can get, and may themselves be transpalnted soon, so I opted for an unused pot I had hanging around. Now my salsa garden is complete.

By the way, I realize these pictures may give a sense of having a much larger growing area than I do, so I thought I'd include a wide shot of just what an eensy area I'm dealing with. The patio swing (from the previous owner) lost it's sunshade last year in a vicious wind storm, so it doesn't block the sunlight to my corner garden. I am beginnning to wonder what to do when the days get hotter. Right now, it's only getting to a comfortable 70 - 80 degrees outside, but soon those temps will soar. The next time I'm at the garden center, I'll have to ask about that. I ultimately plan to cook with these veggies, but I'd rather do it in the kitchen as opposed to the back yard...