Lisa’s out of town, and the weather continues hot but no longer totally oppressive. I watered the potatoes and mushrooms, then finished replacing the zone 7 sprinklers with dripperline. I got about 50 feet up on the upper center bed as well, but it needs another run. I was getting hungry so I quit at the end of the spool. I’ve upped zone 7 to 20 minutes of water instead of 10. I think it’s still less than the sprinklers took. though.
I also switched the balcony window boxes to a little battery-operated timer up there, and put drippers into the tomatoes, basil and peppers. I tested the timer by flipping it ‘on’ and that worked, but I’m a tad worried about it actually coming on for 10 minutes every day. I noticed that a lot of the dripperline up there seems to be getting blocked. I hope I can get the entire yard done before I have to start replacing too much of it.
The tomatoes and peppers up there are doing great. I’ve never seen pepper plants that big. Mine have always been maybe 18 inches high, even if they’re covered with peppers. Lisa says her plants hit 6 feet in El Paso. I may have been wrong when I told her that pot would take three plants.
I think, by the way, that planting the potatoes on top of cardboard wasn’t too bright. The plants around the edge seem to be thriving much more than those in the middle. I fear a shortage nutrients, water or both. We put that cardboard down last fall, which the lasagna gardeners say should be plenty of time. The onions planted on top of the cardboard also look rather scrawny. Lisa points out that the weeds seem to get through the holes around the potatoes. What can I say?