The Patchwork Kitchen Garden: The Sixth Week
"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." - Mark Twain
This quote couldn’t be truer this week. This week the weather seemed a tad unpredictable. One day it’s beautiful and sunny, basically perfect weather for gardening, and the next day it feels like Autumn with a sharp chill in the air. There was rain in the forecast and out of nowhere there’s not a rain cloud in sight. But overall the good weather outweighed the bad and I was luckily able to progress with some of my gardening projects.
I was able to get my cucumbers, some peppers and three of my many heirloom tomatoes into their forever home. I was very nervous about putting my cucumbers into their final resting spot because they had gotten so large in so little time. While they were still inside I had to jerry rig bamboo skewers in their seedling pots to support the many tendrils that they were shooting out from every orifice. Needless to say they’ve been getting out of control and I’ve been desperately waiting for the weather to cooperate. The tipping point for me getting these ambitious cucs in the vegetable bed was the appearance of a single flower. Yes, my one cucumber decided to produce a beautiful little flower. This made me feel reassured that my cucumbers were mature enough to embrace the elements of the great outdoors.
So on the warmest day of the week I decided to plop them with some of the other started seedlings in their designated spots. However, my confidence was immediately shaken when I was trying to coax the overgrown seedlings out of their pots, as they’re very tall and unwieldy at this point. In the moment, I was very concerned about disrupting their root systems too much. Cucumbers don’t like to disturbed too much and it could lead to their sudden demise if they are but no pressure. Of course I struggle getting them secure in their spots and then an hour later the leaves start to wilt and my heart sank. Then I turned to my pepper plants that I just had put into containers and they too had wilting leaves. I thought, “what the hell was going on?!” All these seedlings have been growing since March and in very good health with decent root maturity. Then it occurred to me, I forgot to harden the plants. Yes, they were experiencing transplant shock, all of them!
I let out a big sigh and watered all my sad looking seedlings. All I could think was that I killed them. But of course they seem to be proving me wrong. Every morning since I planted this set of seedlings all the leaves look happy and the plants themselves just seem happy. But when the afternoon sun hits the plants they begin to look a little sad. I figure they are probably just adjusting to their new surroundings and just like when you move into a new home these babies are going to need some time to settle in. My cucumbers already started holding on to their new trellis instead of the puny bamboo skewers I originally gave them, so it’s already starting to look up. Hopefully by this time next week all my worries will cease and all these plants will be adjusted to their new home and the rest of my seedlings will be in the ground with the rest of their friends.
I think I rambled long enough about my trials and tribulations with the seedlings. I didn’t even get started talking about the rest of the garden. Even with the wonky weather so much has been happening it’s really hard to keep up with it all. I think it’s very safe to say that my garden is in full swing and almost fully established. Everywhere you look in the garden there’s just life. I’ve created this beautiful ecosystem where plants are helping other plants and even the wild growth looks well managed. I feel like I have a really good balance of making the wild growth look purposeful but yet natural, like it was always meant to be there. It’s simply beautiful and it’s a real joy just to wander and awe at my surroundings. The broccoli and lettuce are really looking beautiful. Not to mention the peas and potatoes are getting bigger each day, especially the peas. I can’t wait until the peas engulf the trellis with new growth and flowers, I’m really looking forward to it. But that’s not the only plant that’s thriving, the corn is really starting to spring up and is about 2-3 inches tall. Not to mention, I finally have a couple of beans sprouting. Three bean sprouts to be exact. I’m so happy that I had some seeds survive the blue jays and squirrels. It's positively wonderful and I’m still amazed that I’m actually growing my own corn and that I actually have beans growing. Especially the beans, they honestly just seemed like a lost cause.
With all the wonderment there’s still been a few bumps in the road and the battle with the squirrels carries on. In the beginning of the week when checking the garden, I discovered crater size holes in my mushroom bed. I had a little internal cry then I covered back up the holes. On the plus side though all I could smell was the overwhelming scent of mushrooms. The smell lingered in the air and I feel like it’s a good sign if the mushroom bed smells like what it’s supposed to be producing. I was just hoping that when the squirrels dug up the straw that they didn’t eat any mushrooms that were about to emerge. Then to my amazement, when I was taking pictures of the garden for this article I saw a little something poking from the straw. Yes, I have Oyster Mushrooms! The tiniest two clusters but there they are nonetheless and they are the prettiest little mushrooms I’ve ever seen. I know I’m biased but I couldn’t be happier.
Well that’s pretty much everything that happened this week, I’m probably missing a few things. But if I’m not remembering it’s most likely not that important. Hopefully, next week I get the rest of my seedlings all settled and I have even more growth to share with all of you, until next week.
To see the garden in all of its glory, you can check out the gallery below.
Happy Gardening!
