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 5 - First harvest, signs of life to come

The glossy green leaves of the tomato plant inside the Topsy Turvy shielded a tiny yellow blossom, making it the second plant to have blooms (next to the cherry tomato). That means the Early Girl is, ironically, the last one to flower.

Following the advice of many a gardener's website, I added some fertilizer to the soil (organic, of course). Not that they seem to need it... the plants are growing so fast, I can hardly believe it when I compare a picture of the first week to now. It's hard to believe they were ever so small!

Unfortunately, the speed at which they're growing suggests that they might not be comfortable in their tiny home much longer. It's time to look into a larger growing space, and, from the look of things, some cages as well. The tomatillos, especially, are getting droopy, and all this gale force wind isn't helping much.

On a more celebratory note, we've had our very first harvest of the season! It took loads of patience to let the ruby jewel come to just the right level of ripeness before cutting it. It's neighbor is almost ready to pluck as well, while the third remains a pale green, though it continues to flesh out. I divvied up the fruit into five sections so that everyone (including the visiting in-laws) could share in the bounty (it was perfectly sweet and juicy).

The onions were looking a little haggard, so I ran some string to keep the rows a bit more tidy, and tied a few up to keep them supported as they adjusted to their new home. After a few days, theyr'e starting to perk up a bit. The wind seems to do more damage to them than the tomatoes, but the important part of the plant is underground, so hopefully they're all doing fine.

This week, I got the brilliant idea to plant some flower seeds so the little one could experience real blooms (as she is so entranced by them in books). We were rewarded in just a few short days with some tiny green leaves poking through to the sunshine. It was a butterfly mix of seeds that was planted, so it's anyone's guess what will appear. It's a rather delightful mystery!

Another growing "project" I've unwittingly embarked on is inside my kitchen window. A sweet potato I bought last fall for a meal had other plans, eventually sprouting three or four healthy branches. I put the end in water in the window to see how far it would grow, but my ever-curious toddler pulled it down and ripped the little plants right off the potato. I found them the next day and suspended the bottoms in water for a few days until I saw little roots pushing out, then put them in small peat pots on the window sill. To my great surprise and delight, I awoke one morning to find that the leaves had doubled in size! I've been adding water every day, and the shoots continue to explode. I'm very excited at the prospect of finding some cute pottery and having some pretty houseplants in the near future.

A few feet away, I've got seedlings for cayenne and red anaheim peppers planted. In just three days, the cayennes are already sprouting! I was afraid the area might still be too cool, with the crazy Las Vegas weather going from high 70s in the day to low 50s at night, but they don't seem to mind. The anaheim's haven't peeked through just yet however. Next week, I'll be starting my herbs! I look forward to bringing more new life into the world.

Week Two - More Questions

The good news is the plants are stil alive.

Now, I'm not such a bad gardener that i expected anything to go wrong in just seven days, but there have been a few setbacks provided by mother nature.

First of all, the cold weather that had promised to be gone for the winter decided it was ready for one last fling. Temperatures so cold that snow actually fell in some of the outlying areas of Las Vegas, followed by howling wind and even icy rain.

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do... did I need to cover them? With what? Towels? Plastic bags? I wasn't sure, and ultimately they seemed no worse for the wear so I stopped worrying.

The strawberry plants are already beginning to bear fruit. I have two different varieties in the basket, and both seedlings had tiny fruit when I purchased them. The "regular" strawberry plant has about four little fruits that have nearly doubled in size since planting them last week. The fruit on the Chandler berry plant, however, remain tiny and uninspired. Maybe some of the nice weather Spring promises to provide in a few weeks will help.

The cilantro has rebounded nicely. It sits beneath the strawberry basket, proud and virile. I read somewhere that you need to trim cilantro before it starts to flower, or you have to replant more. If this is true (why didn't I bookmark that site?) then how do you know it's about to flower? Should I crop some off bit by bit, or do I need to shear the entire crop at once? Anyone?

As you can see from the photo, there are four little areas on the herb pot that are empty at present. If all goes well, those will be filled with oregano, parsley, mint and maybe basil (also not a fave, though fresh in small doses is OK).

My tomatoes are superstars. The Early Girl is sprouting new growth like mad, the Mortgage Buster has grown a few inches and the cherry has a few blossoms already starting to form.

I'm starting to worry about my onions, though.

First of all, the instructions wrapping the Walla Walla onions indicated that I should plant the entire peat pot in the garden, which I did. However, the yellow onion bulbs said they needed to be planted a couple of inches apart, in well-drained soil. These are both bulb onions, right?
 
After a quick check with Google,  I realized that I will have to transplant the Walla Wallas soon in order for them to thrive. In the meantime, a few of the stalks look a bit droopy and sad. I hope it isn't too late.

I used the long, low planter I had grown strawberries in a few years ago for the yellow onions, but I totally forgot that inproper drainage was the reason those plants didn't thrive. I only planted a few of the bunch, planning to get a larger planter in a few days, but those few seem really waterlogged to me. Of course, it has been raining quite a bit, so maybe it just hasn't had time to seep out.

The jalapeños have gotten a few new leaves as well, and are looking a bit larger. Maybe it's a good thing the Walla Wallas are vacating soon, so they can take up that space. All in all, my worries about my erratic care and the strange weather have proven fruitless. Here's hoping the same won't be said of these plants.