Planting, Round 2

Still lots of rain, and the soil mix is retaining plenty of water. I'm hoping it's not retaining TOO much water. Most of my plants look like they're thriving. The exception is the rosemary plant I bought at Lowes and transplanted. Slowly, slowly, lots of the leaves are turning brown and dropping off the plant. Is it the shock of transplanting, too much moisture, or maybe it was just a crummy plant? The reason I bought it was because I forgot to order rosemary seeds and couldn't find seeds locally either. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if it recovers.

My spearmint hadn't germinated at all. Probably a rookie mistake like covering the seeds (smaller than poppyseeds) with soil so sunlight didn't get through. So this morning I sprinkled a few seeds right on top of the soil. Cross your fingers! Yesterday at work, one of my coworkers was waxing poetically about making mojitos. If half of this spearmint takes off, I bet I'll have enough mint to give him a packet of mint so he can have a happy happy hour!

I only planted one square of tomatillos (one plant, really). Yesterday I was reading another gardening blog which mentioned that you needed at least one other tomatillo plant close by (pollination, most likely). I had a brief moment of panic about my lone plant. I did have one empty square in the same box with my tomatillo that was originally slated for more lettuce mix. This morning I planted another tomatillo seed there instead. The original plant has a three-week head start, but at least it'll have a pollinating pal.

I transplanted the (dead) cactus into my compost bucket. It was time. That square now has lettuce seeds. The three week lag time after my original planting day should give me a steady crop of lettuce when the first round of lettuce is done or bolts, whichever comes first.

Rain + warm weather = Lots of growth!

We've had a good amount of rain every day for the past week, so the seeds are really taking off. I first saw sprouts three days ago. Since then, the plants that had sprouted are growing quickly. I also have new growth.
I've seen a lot of difference with the eight-ball zucchini plants

The green beans are also looking very healthy, with all nine plants in each square pushing up through the dirt.

The radishes have all sprouted. I only planted one square. I know I like radishes, but I'm not sure if everyone else has acquired a taste for them.

(Sorry for the crazy formatting on the pictures . . . still learning the ropes on blogging.)

Scott was wondering whether he drilled enough drainage holes in the bottom of the boxes. We followed the directions in Square Foot Gardening and drilled one hole per square. I guess we'll see if that's enough drainage.

I'm going to have to come up with another way of labeling my plants, too. We cut strips from an empty gallon milk jug and wrote on it with a permanent marker. I noticed today that some of the lettering has already worn off. Good thing I sketched my garden boxes and labeled what I put in each square! I have some wooden popsicle sticks in my storage room at school. I think those might wear better over time, so I'll bring a handful home tomorrow.

Unbelievable!

I checked my garden today after work. We had a couple days of solid rain, so the soil was staying nice and moist. Today . . . SPROUTS!!! My lettuce has sprouted, one basil is poking out of the soil, my radishes have all sprouted, and my zucchini plants are going great guns already. I sure didn't expect to see such results three days after I planted.

Photos to follow soon.