3 Weeks In

You don't notice a lot of difference when you sit out in the garden every evening. Of course everything has obviously changed but mostly you're tuned into small things, like the progress of the seedlings or perhaps the center of the eggplant plants which for some reason have seen an amazing growth spurt. The few tomatoes that have sprouted are still green, most of the plants look about the same, and really your intense focus is on what might have died, and plugging all the little geysers from the drip hoses.

We've done well so far, having lost nothing. Some of the tomato plants have taken off while others have advanced more slowly, but none have succumbed to the leaf wilt that killed most of our heirloom varieties last year. We're trying grafted plants this year, and we're encouraged based on a few articles we've read suggesting that grafting can be a cure-all for soil borne diseases. Ten days in and we've had 100% success with the transplanted peat pots and a second round of seeded Zinnias and Cosmos are now appearing above the soil. Knock on wood, no visits from our Masked Visitor since we installed the Kleig lights. The Sunflower garden along the outside rails is planted, fenced and staked and full of little plants.

The true story lies in comparative photographs. You can see it plainly here, the left was taken on the 20ᵀᴴ of May and the right last night, 15 days later. These two pretty much tell the story. Click on the left photo, and when the gallery opens, click back and forth between the two. It's quite amazing.

20-May-2013

4-June-2013