Experiments and Outwitting the Jays and Gophers

When all other things are equal, I try to plant by the moon. My husband is razzing me about this. He's a scientist and thinks it's all based on superstition. Because the people I talk to in nurseries and at farmers market are divided on the issue, I have tried to stay on the safe side. If there's nothing to it, I haven't lost anything. But to humor my husband without risking too much, I decided to plant the remaining three lemon cucumbers in a six-pack tonight (Actually May 22, since I'm writing this after midnight), not a great day for moon planting. These three plants were in dire need of planting, and were already beginning to yellow, so I felt they would gain more by being set into more nutritious soil than they would lose by being planted on the wrong day. Time will tell. 

When I was at Farmers market this morning, one of my favorite vendors who supplies many of my tomato and pepper seedlings, Ralph Johnson, confirmed something I'd read about getting rid of gophers. He says he killed eight large ones by putting bubble gum down the gopher holes. I immediately went out to buy some, and put it in a lot of holes this evening. Time will tell whether this experiment will work. 

Today my first borage seeds have sprouted and so did a couple of radish seeds. I knew if they are to remain, I would have to protect them from the hungry blue jay (See picture)who has been supervising my planting from the top of the fence. I contrived a way to prop an old screen door over the largest seed bed, and I propped a couple of flat gopher cages over the radishes about to sprout in the raised beds. I'm hoping these measures will insure that we will actually get some radishes this year. 

So much planting and transplanting!

My first artichoke is developing nicely and I could probably pick it and eat it any time now. Another smaller one is also on the way.

On May 6 I transplanted two Cal Wonder and one of the varieties in the sweet pepper mix into pots. I planted French breakfast radishes in circles near rim of pots where I will plant squashes tomorrow. I also planted a few green onions next to the Roma by the fence.

On May 8 I transplanted the best of my Gourmet Eggplants into a pot. I also planted a few cilantro and Gold Rush Asylum near the irises, which aren't too far from the black walnut tree. I planted a couple more borage in the garden -- one by the fence tomatoes and one by the Roma.

When I got to the other house I moved the pellet seedlings of basil, carnations, and Gold Rush Asylum into cups, since they were getting too big to stand much longer in only the pellets. I brought most of them home to start hardening them off in the cold frame, since it's still in the mid-forties at night.

I did learn today that one has to be very careful when using newspaper to block weeds. If it isn't weighted down well, it blows away and can cover new seedlings. And in even one day of being covered by a wandering paper, the sowbugs will finish eating a very small seedling. I discovered this had happened to my only Stupice and one Brandywine today. They were very tiny. And now there is nothing left of them at all.

Finished Translanting the Tomatoes

What a job! I bought five more heirlooms at Farmers' Market this morning and decided to plant five more of my own transplants that have been languishing in the cold frame, in the ground. So I planted the five I bought into raised beds or containers to protect them from the gophers and planted the others, which are mostly duplicates of varieties I had already planted in raised beds, in the ground. Hopefully, since they are right next to the fence, they will sidetrack the raccoons before they get to the raised beds -- if the gophers let the plants live long enough. The actual transplanting isn't what wore me out. It was filling all those containers with good amended soil and amending the soil for the tomatoes I planted in the ground. It's the preparation to plant that takes the time and energy.

It looks as though some of my poor seedlings that were put in the raised beds a couple of weeks ago are showing signs of reviving. There appears to be a tad of new growth. That's good news. I hope that the fifteen tomatos I have put in their permanent homes will produce enough to keep us in tomatoes this summer. Except for the Roma, all the varieties I bought at Farmers' Market were new to me. The grower said they should do well here. So now I have Roma, Brandywine, German Queen, Pruden's Purple, Cherokee Purple, Red Pear (I think) Yellow Pear, Stupice (if it pulls through), Celebrity, Silver Fir Tree, Black Krim, Anna Russian, Peron Sprayless, and one I can't remember because I'd never heard of it before I bought it this morning.

I'm hoping to plant a few more carrots and radishes tomorrow if I have time. And I may try and plant some peppers and eggplant into their permanent homes. In a couple of weeks the basil and cucumbers and squash should be ready to plant.