I don’t want to be too hyperbolic, but given my devotion to this project, my seedlings are sort of like my babies. That’s why, when I took a four-day trip to Florida last week, I was a little nervous to leave them alone. Though I had a trust-worthy friend coming by to water them (and take care of the cat), I was still fretting what I might see upon my return.
A few examples of my fears:
- Mold all over the seed starter kit.
- A hungry Henry Littleboots ravaged the baby plants, leaving nothing but bits of roots and paw-prints on everything.
- Nothing. No growth. No change.
As you can see from this picture, I was pleasantly relieved. Spring had sprung in my little plastic container! The main crops you see on the right are lettuces – spinach and kale, as well as some mixed salad greens. We also have sunflowers jutting up, chives, and a little basil for good measure.
I spent the next morning transferring the larger seedlings into their adult pots and placing them in the greenhouse. It’s going to get up to 80 degrees this week, so I think it is certainly time for them to be placed outside.
When I transferred them I used organic potting soil (purchased from A World Of Flowers), and I mixed in some coffee grinds and orange peels. I know this isn’t proper compost, but I have read that both of these things are good for plants. So far, the mixture is helping my radishes grow into pork taco garnish at the speed of, well, light.
As you can see, my greenhouse is filling up quickly. I don’t want to extend the garden over the entire balcony, as I need somewhere to sit and yell at teenagers this summer. However, I am interested in some kind of tree or vine – lemons or tomatoes. Has anyone had particular success growing either of these outdoors in Greenpoint?
I also decided that I would accept the challenge of planting asparagus. Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and something I look forward to all year. Like tomatoes, it is truly better in season. The unfortunate thing about asparagus is that it is not easy to grow, and you can’t cut the stalks the first year. This means that though we may have a green village to look at, we will have to wait until next summer to harvest them and wrap them in prosciutto and smother them in butter. Also, the roots look like alien tentacles.
While it’s all been good news so far, we do have a little problem. Henry cannot seem to leave my indoor palm tree alone. We wake up to this sad sight almost every morning. Does anyone have any tips for keeping cats out of houseplants?
(For some reason I thought putting wine corks over the soil would deter him. Silly me.)
Has anyone else started their small garden yet? Let me know how it’s going @everydaycaitlin !
My friend kept his lemon trees inside his house during the winter, and his cats found the pots (square foot-and-a-half) nice for digging and peeing in. We laid black contractor bags over the soil, wrapping them around the tree trucks. That worked for a while, then they peed on the bags. Then we placed big rocks and other things on top of the bags, so the cats were now pretty far removed from the soil. This seemed to do the trick; keeping the litter trays extra fresh helped too! Perhaps the contractor bag method helps keeps the soil nice and moist too. Hope this helps, and good luck!
Thanks for the tips! Keep ’em comin!
We had the same problem with our cat growing up – try using pine cones on top of the soil!