I was really busy down in the basement today. I definitely wore myself out again, but felt like I got a lot accomplished. I’ve been gone all week at a tradeshow, and Frank did a great job keeping everything watered well.
It’s amazing how much the plants in the boxes I did last week grew. One week made a huge difference. The little plants do so much better in the soil in the boxes than they do in the plug trays. I’ve learned that before — the faster I get them all planted out, the better I do, and the fewer plugs I lose. They just don’t last that long, so I really have to rush to get them all in.
I got twenty-four of them done today. (No wonder I’m exhausted!) That brings me up to 36 total, which is half way there. Frank got the lights working on the shelves as I planted again, and says we need to go buy both tubes and fixtures tonight if I’m going to work on them again tomorrow, which I definitely hope to do.
The only thing I added to my routine is the addition of Soil Moist. This stuff is supposed to hold on to water and release it as the soil dries. I figure I need all the help I can get in these window boxes. I saw Paul James talk about it on this episode of Gardening By the Yard. One of the things he said was that more of it was not better, because it would make the soil all gummy and hard to work. So I sprinkled it fairly lightly in the middle of the box.
I also transfered the cosmos seedlings into larger pots. I planted them on March 24th, but they shot up so quickly that they were definitely ready to be moved. I think I can trim the tops of them if they keep being so leggy. They’ve been right up against the lights the whole time.
The only casualties in the boxes were a few of the morning glories. I knew they were going to be dicey, but it’s still sad. These things were beyond root bound — some of their roots were almost a foot long. I tried to be really careful today when I finished planting them out, so hopefully I won’t lose anymore of them. Next year, I’ll try them in peat pots so I can plant them into the boxes without having to disturb the roots. Live and learn, I guess.