Started transplanting out small tomato plants this evening. Not expecting all of this group to make it. Some took some damage from winds the other day. Others look like maybe I overwatered and they damped off. Others I may have waited too long to plant out. While planting out, I used a spoon or so of the water crystals for each one.
I still have more tomato and pepper plants started inside. May still start a few more, just in case. I've gotten over the objection to thinning out plants, obviously.
While planting, found a really good thing. About 3" down, the soil is retaining moisture. Last time I watered before this was yesterday morning. Two days of retaining moisture at the root zone is the best I have achieved since moving in here. Lots of obvious organic material in the soil at root level, as well.
I saw some minor improvement in areas where I previously spread the "Gardens Alive Soil Activator". So, went ahead and spread the rest of it over the whole garden this evening.
Even though I used an extended release fertilizer before planting this year, decided to use some liquid fertilizer this evening. For one thing, I suspect that the seed pods dropped by the elm trees may rob Nitrogen and possibly other nutrients at the soil surface. If I'm right, that has a lot to do with the difficulty of getting shallow direct seeds to germinate in this yard. Even some of the grass which looked green before is looking a little brownish in areas where there are lots of seed pods, even if the grass protrudes through to sunlight. I need to rake them all up but decided to give this a try before doing so. In any case, any seeds at the surface do need additional Nitrogen. The long-acting fertilizer may do some good once roots develop but probably not so much good until then.
Any way, sprayed the liquid fertilizer for the garden, then ran the sprinklers to seriously saturate the soil.
Then sprayed the front yard manually with the liquid fertilizer rather thoroughly. Came to realize that since there was at least one large tree near one end of the front yard at one time, there is a good chance the soil is somewhat completely depleted. Several good things, though. The tree was the neighbor's tree. It's dead and has been for a few years. A lot of the roots remain under my soil. As they decay, they will eventually help the soil structure. I did manage to break a lot of the smaller ones into smaller pieces while tilling the front yard. I also tilled in lots of wood chips, fertilizer, sulfur and calcium. The front yard is beginning to look somewhat decent (compared to how it has looked) and flower plants are coming up. Just hoping to get some actual blooms and a fairly even green yard there.
Rose bushes in front and back are leafing out. Still not sure we'll have any rose this year. A couple of the baby trees are forming leaves as well. Even if I see now flowers from bushes or trees this year, I do hope they develop strong root systems for future years.
I still have more tomato and pepper plants started inside. May still start a few more, just in case. I've gotten over the objection to thinning out plants, obviously.
While planting, found a really good thing. About 3" down, the soil is retaining moisture. Last time I watered before this was yesterday morning. Two days of retaining moisture at the root zone is the best I have achieved since moving in here. Lots of obvious organic material in the soil at root level, as well.
I saw some minor improvement in areas where I previously spread the "Gardens Alive Soil Activator". So, went ahead and spread the rest of it over the whole garden this evening.
Even though I used an extended release fertilizer before planting this year, decided to use some liquid fertilizer this evening. For one thing, I suspect that the seed pods dropped by the elm trees may rob Nitrogen and possibly other nutrients at the soil surface. If I'm right, that has a lot to do with the difficulty of getting shallow direct seeds to germinate in this yard. Even some of the grass which looked green before is looking a little brownish in areas where there are lots of seed pods, even if the grass protrudes through to sunlight. I need to rake them all up but decided to give this a try before doing so. In any case, any seeds at the surface do need additional Nitrogen. The long-acting fertilizer may do some good once roots develop but probably not so much good until then.
Any way, sprayed the liquid fertilizer for the garden, then ran the sprinklers to seriously saturate the soil.
Then sprayed the front yard manually with the liquid fertilizer rather thoroughly. Came to realize that since there was at least one large tree near one end of the front yard at one time, there is a good chance the soil is somewhat completely depleted. Several good things, though. The tree was the neighbor's tree. It's dead and has been for a few years. A lot of the roots remain under my soil. As they decay, they will eventually help the soil structure. I did manage to break a lot of the smaller ones into smaller pieces while tilling the front yard. I also tilled in lots of wood chips, fertilizer, sulfur and calcium. The front yard is beginning to look somewhat decent (compared to how it has looked) and flower plants are coming up. Just hoping to get some actual blooms and a fairly even green yard there.
Rose bushes in front and back are leafing out. Still not sure we'll have any rose this year. A couple of the baby trees are forming leaves as well. Even if I see now flowers from bushes or trees this year, I do hope they develop strong root systems for future years.
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