April Showers...

Not sure how many May flowers we are going to be getting out of all this rain, but I hope it is a lot!

My seedlings have been doing well for the most part. I have unfortunately lost all of my turnip seedlings. Left them one day too long and they dried out. I was disappointed in myself, but I will direct sow some this week. The beets I started aren't doing well either, nor the chard. Not sure what is happening with those. Maybe just low germination rate. I will also direct sow them. The sweet potato slips are now in containers with soil - so we will have to wait and see!

Fungus gnats have been a huge problem this season. They may have contributed to the demise of some of my smaller seedlings. I am trying a remedy of my own thinking to try and rid my plantings of them. Instead of paying a ton of money for a product that is formulated to treat for fungus gnats, I got some mosquito dunks (which contain the same strain of Bt that the gnat product does) and put a chunk of a dunk in a gallon of water. I use that to water the seedlings every second watering. I also moved the more infested plants outside - seemed to be more prevalent in the pot that I am trying to root some bay in. Fingers crossed! If it doesn't work, next season I will probably purchase that other product.

Due to business booming, I've not had the chance to do a whole heck of a lot in my own garden. I still need to construct my two new raised beds for veg. And I need to get more things planted out in the hoop house - as it will be coming down in another month! Luckily, one of my clients had a walk-in greenhouse that she never used and was kind enough to give to me, so I've been able to put some other seedlings out there.

I have found out that my thumbs might just be greener than I had thought...as I have been the only one that had success starting our year old Ramapo tomato seeds! I wound up with 61/62 seedlings out of 65 seeds, when at least 2 other people only managed 20 seedlings out of 65! It will cut down on our Master Gardener Association fund raising, as we will be selling the seedlings at Earth Day, but I am glad mine did so well!

Another day of wet weather, means I can take the day off and go work in the hoop house!

Happy Gardening everyone!

Sweet Potato Slips - Step TWO!

Two of the sprouts finally seemed large enough to try rooting. This morning I gently twisted the sprouts from the sweet potato. Then I laid each sprout in a small dish of water, where they will stay until they root - which hopefully will only take a few days.



The other two potatoes do not seem to be rooting well - but they have sprouts. I will monitor them a few more days (now that I've changed their water) and see what happens. If no more growth happens, I may try shaving a bit more off the bottoms to see if that will encourage more roots. Fingers crossed!