Beer Bash News & Seedling Update.

My goodness . . . I slept till noon, which I never do. And then when I first started to write to you, I remembered that my keyboard needed cleaned badly. The space bar was no longer working on account of the bowl of soup I had spilled into it a few days ago. Thank goodness all it needed was a good cleaning. There are, however, any number of keyboards hiding out in my office. Maybe one of them would have substituted if this one wasn’t revived. Thankfully I didn’t have to figure that out. And thankfully I have regained enough feeling and control with my hands that I didn’t break anything . . .

I have some Internet gardening buddies that are waiting and waiting to hear how the seedlings are all coming along. They e-mail me – but I make them read it here. My poor shoulder and arm still pain me too much to write the same info in separate e-mails.

First the Beer Bash.

Enough of those dang slugs have crawled into the little taverns and drowned that some of the seedlings that had been languishing in the ground are starting to recover. That is a good thing. I have a number of kinds of broccoli, giant walking stick kale, and Florence fennel that are recovering. The larger Brussels Sprouts, Red Russian Kale, and various Chinese greens are also doing better – with less slug damage. With all this garden recovery and slug reduction I bought a second 40-oz bottle of Miller High Life. The stuff smells like piss. I wouldn’t drink the dang stuff back when I went years at a time without a sober moment. And I am damn sure not going to drink any now. It is hard to imagine that any self-respecting slug would volunteer to drown in the stuff. Maybe I should just piss in a jar and see if that would work as well. Ok folks, here is the really weird thing. Instead of dumping out the old dead slug infested beer, I just added more taverns. And, drum roll please, the old bottles with tons of slugs in them are still attracting more slugs than the new taverns with fresh beer. Imagine that. Dead slug brew is more interesting to slugs than fresh Miller High Life. Hmmm . . . Maybe it is actually an improvement. LOL . . . Personally I will never know. If I were in the right frame of mind I could probably come up with some sort of philosophy or another to explain all this. Like maybe addict alcoholics like the risk of self-destruction so much that an almost sure thing is better than something with little risk. Dang and I didn’t think I was in the mood. All I really know, is less slugs are good. From my perspective. (Not from the slugs’ though, I don’t imagine.)

Seedling Up Date:
Here is the first Seedling up-date, in case you want some history:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/02/agapanthus-surprise-seedling-news-i.html


The Agapanthus is doing well:


There are signs of life in most cells in those 6- 6 packs. The ones that never spent any time on the porch or in the heated tray are definitely doing the best. Also the ones that consistently get the most sun seem to be doing a bit better too. I will try to keep them all arranged towards the sunniest part of the window. Some of the cells have more than one seedling – so in a few weeks if I have empty cells I will separate the more crowded ones and be back to 6 full six packs. (I see at one time I counted that I had 5 – 6 packs. I was mistaken. Counting is one of my problems since the accident.)

Here is the last Agapanthus Up-Date:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/02/agapanthus-update.html


Cucurbits:

Some of them have bit the dust. The Armenian Cucumber was the first to go. The heated tray where I started it, at first, only had one light. It was not enough and the poor thing got leggy, and then broke. I have since gotten another light and things under there are happier. I might not be when I get the electric bill . . . LOL . . . We shall see.

Last night I hit the tub about 8:00 and asked Son to bring in the baby plants. He said he would and then forgot. I didn’t get them in till about midnight, and they had all ready froze. Wonder of wonders the the snake gourd took it and dosen’t even seem to have suffered a set back. It now has one true leaf. The yellow straightneck squash keeled over right away. The Turks Turbin is still alive, but may not make it. Another keeled over cucurbit was the sweet potatoe squash. I started it in the heated tray – and I just don’t think it liked it. I will try again later – when the pourch is warm enough.
Still more failed cucurbits: Buffalo Gourds – they germinated last year – but didn’t make fruit. I have made two attempts to sprout the seeds two different ways this year. So far no luck. I think I will open a newer gourd and try again after bit. Also not germinated are Tiger Melon and Cream of Saskatchewan Watermelon. They are seeds from a seed bank and may be old. I will try again later. Ok last but not least- I have 4 Tinda – from India seedlings. I have not had much luck with these – ever. But I am trying again. The didn’t germinate in a 6 pack cell – so I did the old paper towel in a clear plastic cup trick. Now I got to transplant them into little pots with soil . . .

Misc: Most of the Arugula has been planted out – and is doing great! The Basil is getting its first true leaves. Something is attacking the Blackberry lily still in the six pack –. First I am going to try diatomaceous earth – if that doesn’t work then I will try Tobacco tea. The Bronze Fennel, Brussels Sprouts, and Cabbage are coming along slowly. The Cardoon is planted out and doing poorly. I will try again when it warms up. The Chervil, Cilantro, Columbine, Corn Salad, Coreopsis, Dames Rocket, Egyptian Spinach, and Ephedera are coming along slowly. The Feverfew – wasn’t actually up before – as I reported. But I think it is now. Either that or a weed. The Florence Fennel is almost ready to be planted out. The Garland Chrysanthemum is coming along nicely. The Giant Red Chinese Mustard has been planted out and is doing great. I now have them in 3 different ages. The Italian Parsley is almost ready to plant out. The Kale – 2 kinds, Kohlrabi, Miners Lettuce, & Pak Choy – 2 kinds, are growing slowly. The Pink Peony Poppy bit the dust. I don’t seem to have good luck with poppies –except the CA Native kind. The Purslane, Sweet Autumn Clematis, Sweet Cicily, Tobacco, Vitex, White Butterfly Weed, and White Sprouting Broccoli are coming along. Whew.

Other Seedling News from my Blog:

Here is my seed list, with some germination tips:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/01/seed-list.html

Here is how the seedlings fit into my whole garden routine:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/01/simple-garden-routine-useful-for-bad.html

I was fussing around with the Seedlings over here – which I also did today:
http://harvestsgardeningsecrets.blogspot.com/2006/01/heading-south-for-few-days.html