Pick Your Fairy Tale Reference For This One

I guess I could get cutesy with something from "Jack and the Beanstalk" or "The Princess and the Pea." But forget it...I'm not feeling so Hans Christian Andersen-inspired tonight. It's pouring rain outside...again....and I rushed out to cover my New Mexico chile plants. They're struggling to grow because of over-watering (on my part..not Mother Nature). And for my efforts, I'm pretty soaked.

But I can feel good in knowing my sugar peas are doing wonders over in the back corner of the garden. I started them from seed, or pea, and quickly they have ascended upwards, grasping on to my A-frame trellis.

What's the fairy tale secret? Well, it could be this magic potion suggested to me at the garden center. In the botanical world it's known as garden inoculant. It contains stuff that I could not begin to spell or pronounce. Simply, it's a bacteria that gathers nitrogen. And we all know that nitrogen is a good ally in our garden kingdom.

I followed the instructions and soaked the seeds in inoculent and water before planting them in my pots. The inoculant helps fertilize the soil and promote better growth and yield.
Well, after a month or so, I can safely report the plants are quickly shooting for the sky and grasping onto anything they can. That is why I built the A-frame trellis. One close look shows you how the vines wrap tightly onto anything for support. The trellis so far has done the trick, but last week I had to add an attachment for the plants not close enough to grab onto the original frame (It's also smart to sometimes gently "guide" the vines to wrap onto the support). Within a day or two, the new piece was swallowed up in vines, stalks, and leaves. I'm betting by this weekend, the pea stalks will reach the top of the A-frame.
I haven't seen any pods.But when I do, odds are it will be underneath the trellis. The vines start producing mature peas at the bottom first. So I'll keep my eyes "pea"-led for some in the next week (sorry).

"Feed Me, Seymour!"

I finally got around to feeding all the plants today. The food I use is Miracle Gro's Tomato Food. Despite the name, it works for vegetable plants other than just tomatoes. When looking for vegetable food, the three important elements to look for are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Each nutrient serves a very important purpose. Nitrogen helps build green tissue in plants. This makes the plants grow stronger stems and leaves. It gives the plant leaves a dark green color. A lot of all-purpose plant foods are very high in nitrogen. That's great for other plants to grow all season. But we don't want vegetable plants with just big, green leaves. Phosphorus helps build strong root systems. So naturally, this is important when the plants are young and developing. Potassium is essential because it helps the plant develop fruits, flowers, and toughens it up against diseases and pests.

You Can Find This At Home Depot for $5

The Miracle-Gro tomato food ratio for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium is 18-18-21. That is a very nice balance between the nutrients. So I use it all the time rather than going heavy on nitrogen and phosphorus early in the season and potassium late. Plus it's pretty cheap. Each box costs about $5 at Home Depot. I'll probably go through two boxes this year.



Watering Soil Level Gets The Water To The Roots Faster

I feed the plants every 10-14 days. It's pretty simple; I take a scoop of the food, dissolve it in a gallon of water, and spread it with my watering can. It's very important to water your plants at soil level at the base of the plants. Watering the leaves doesn't do much good. The water needs to get to the roots for the plants to fully utilize it. Also, I prefer to water in the morning for two reasons. One, during the hot summer the plants dry out fast and watering in the morning give them more of a chance to use as much water to keep cool and hydrated. Two, plants use the combo of water and sun to photosynthesize. Watering in the morning gives the plant the most opportunity to use as much water as possible while the sun is out. If you water at night, that's eight hours of the plant absorbing water with no sun.

So that's my take on feeding and watering. A little TLC and NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) go a long way in having a healthy garden with big, tasty vegetables.

About Our Garden...

The Garden June 30th, 2008

The Garden May 27th, 2008

Because our backyard is not very big and completely landscaped when we moved in, I had to resort to planting all of our garden in pots....very large pots for vegetables and fruits; and small pots for the herbs. Not only does it save in space, but I can move the plants around the backyard to maximize sunlight exposure. Last year I started fairly small; a couple tomato plants, two bell pepper plants, yellow squash, and basil. We had a very dry summer which greatly hampered the tomato and bell pepper plants. But the basil and squash did great....as long as I watered the heck out of them.

So this year, I went bigger. Bigger in the size of the garden and the pots I put it in. I also used exclusively potting mix from Merrifield Garden Center rather than any organic soil or dirt. When using pots, ALWAYS use potting mix. Potting mix is best for containers as it's lighter, doesn't compact as soil does, drains better, and allows more air to get to the roots. I also made sure there were enough holes in the bottom of the pots for proper drainage.

The list of things I planted is to the right. I was really curious to see if I could grow okra and cantaloupe. So far so good. We've received a lot of rain this year along with some constant warm temps. I planted much of the garden in late-April and things really took off around the first of June. I've maintained a watering schedule of every-other day. Also, I "feed" the garden every two weeks. Food for food? That's right. The plants need a lot of nutrients aside from the H2O and sunlight. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are the biggies (I'll explain some other time). I found that Miracle-Gro tomato food has been great the two years I've used the product.
Hopefully this gives you a quick introduction to the "Left Thumbs" garden. As time goes on, I'll "dig" deeper into particular plants and how I take care of them.