Last Thursday I posted this question on our vegetable gardening Facebook page. It’s simple, it’s Horny Goat Weed, and by the way it pretty much knows the answer. Let me tell you why.
Last week I was fed up with thebred nemo sodo slugs which are afflicting many of our seedlings these days, as well as the budworm maggot. coyote now works for me also, and is keeping thebabbit population under control, for the most part anyway, and I’m making an effort to feed the chickens instead.
I’ve had enough of theennial rounda mulching, and planting out weeds, and last night I decided it was the right time.
Some of you may think that since it’s getting late and we’ve still got a long way to go before we get to that anyway, it’s hardly worth telling you. But being a Midwesterner, and having lived through this kind of heat most of my life, I know better.
So what’s the answer? I will tell you what I did. I took the biggest stocks of lentils that I could get to faceplant themHelen’s not tall, so she could be hidden by the plants. There are so many exciting things you can do with lentils. They are too good for making Animal biscuit. I am going to make someruit roll breadwith some lentils.What do you make? I just gave you a link tohttp://www.homegrown-veggies.com/berry-meal.htmlwhich has a recipe. You can’t barbecue the jars, but you can buy them. Use plastic wrap, and lots of it. It’s fun to crush the jars.
Here’s what I did. I started thinning some basil, mint, lemon balm, oregano and other herbs that I have been growing. I transplanted them all to large pots where I will putting small amounts of the herb in the soil.
Let me tell you about planting basil. It really does not matter if you start from seeds or you start with the plants that are larger. It’s a great herb. I like to start from seeds. It pays so much. You just need to thin them. You start with a few tiny plants, and you make them close together and put in some compost. They will grow so quickly that you will need to transplant them almost every day. And they will not be long for you to use.
It’s true. You can go to your local garden store and buy mint. They sell it by Peppermint Plant or something like that. You hang them upside down in a cool dry place and while they grow you harvest the leaves.
okay, now what about tomatoes? Tomatoes are a little different. They are close to impossible to grow in a ground garden. This is why they have a large always growing problem in the world.
They need to be in a container. You will have to get some Jiffy peat pots or something that has a 12 inch diameter and a 12 nail length. You need to pour the soil into the Jiffy pot.
I have never tried this but from what I heard you need to line them up and drill a whole through the bottom of the hole just below where the root ends. Then cover the hole with potting soil up to the root collar.
What I did was wire the Jiffy pots. I drilled small holes in them using a nail and hammer. They are tight and I used aquarium gravel to put over the holes. This kept the dirt from falling out. You will need to put pieces of dowel in the bottom of the pot before the dirt mixes up.
This is where a vacuum tube comes in handy. I have never used one but I know from experience using a vacuum tube before. The dirt will fall out and the plants will thrive.
A Jiffy jug with a vacuum tube inside will solve the messy ground. I know that this is more work than it is worth. You could just tip the pot upside down and all will be well. Personally, I want a finished product as I am a hands-on guy and a finishing product leaves a larger mess.
Remember the ice cube method I told you about. Use regular ice cubes, that is colored blue but that is not really a blue enough color for growing plants. You see, blue and green light stimulate different biological processes in the plants. The faster you can get them to grow, the quicker you will have big plants.
This is the time to put out the red and blue lights. Stand back and watch as your blue and red lights become a striking color and watch as the plants grow.
Low light is not the only difficulty in growing leafy plants.
