Plants Go To College

Since I posted last, I've started slowly repotting my seedlings into larger pots. Slowly, because I was afraid that I'd do it wrong and kill everyone at once. Instead, did a couple a day and watched them to see if the new soil killed them or if they suffered some other unforeseen consequence of change.

I started with the second most healthy ones and when they survived, moved on to most healthy. Then down the chain until I got tired of cutting drainage holes into Solo Cups.

Once I had a good amount of them into new homes, I started the process of "hardening off", putting them in the real world for a couple hours at a time. Then, Sunday May 15, I let them stay outside all day while I went to Waterbury to play disc golf. Of course, it hailed that day.

Somehow the seedlings were fine and I left them out one or two more days while I went to work. Then came this weekend where I would be going away for three full days. I kept the plants inside but SOAKED them with water. I came home on Sunday night and BLAMMY they were huge!

Look at these little kids, all grown up and drinking from Solo Cups (!!)

The interesting thing is that the seedlings that I left in the starter pack are still very much alive, they are just not getting any bigger. These two cherry tomato plants were planted on the same day and got the same water and same sunlight. 

I think there's a metaphor in here somewhere about how there's nothing like moving to a new place to grow, but that would just be entirely too relevant to the way I've been feeling lately.

Baby's First Day Out

I Get By With a Little Help from my Folks

This was a big week for my garden. Three things happened: 1) My parents arrived with tools, advice, and free labor. 2) I got my soil results back (so much phosphorous...) and 3) I signed up for a CSA just in case I don't get any vegetables.

My Dad and My Dave survey the land.

My parents now have two of their kids living within an hour of each hour so they can visit us on a Friday, Brian and Sarah on a Saturday and drive home on Sunday. They drove up Friday night and we grilled fish, drank wine, and had a very belated birthday cake for my Dad.

The next morning, we explored downtown Randolph a little more (there's not much to explore, but we did try out the couch in the coffeeshop instead of the chairs!) and then had perfect weather to get started in the garden.

Dave "supervising" Dad tilling.

My landlords had clearly started a garden and let grass grow over it, so that's where we decided to have our patch. My dad roto-tilled the patch while the rest of us did some heavy looking on.

My mom kindly donated many of her gardening tools to our garden and walked us through expanding it with a pitchfork. (When we were turning over the dirt soil there were tons of worms!)

Post-garden-expansion-weed-cleaning-up

Some backstory to gardening in my family. Both my grandfathers had major green thumbs, and my mother does as well. I got to see that bond between my Grampie and my mom when he would come to visit and they would tour her garden together.

My Papa (my mom's dad) grew up on a farm. My mom has great memories of visiting his farm when he was dating my Grammie. ("What's this cow's name?" "Bessie" "What's this one's name?" "Hmm... also Bessie") Then when my mom started her own garden, he did the same thing for her - passing on knowledge and helping out.

I'm really lucky now that my mom can do the same for me. 

My mom's garden was and is amazing. As I kid, I loved that while playing in the backyard, I always had access to snacks. Fresh cherry tomatoes and beans were refreshing treats. And chives always looked cool to chew on and spit out. I can't wait until I'm eating the same fruits of labor from my garden.

Victory! Garden!

Anywhoo, after a beautiful and dirty soily morning, we finally had a dirt patch! It's been a very rainy week since then and now it is sprouted with weeds. I know this means that I have a long summer of weeding ahead of me, but hopefully also means that the soil is super fertile.

Until next time, when I add Limestone to my dirt soil...