Thursday, May 9, 2013

New Plants on the Roof


On Deck corn is on the roof! The seeds were sowed at the beginning of May, once the overnight temps moved into the 50's. The netting keeps out any curious birds. I've been checking every day, but so far no signs of sprouting. This is my first time growing corn so I'm sure I'll be watching this container like a hawk the entire growing season.


The Jasper F1 cherry has been planted ahead of schedule in the 22 gallon tote, the one I regularly use as a mini greenhouse. The nights have gotten warmer and this container is one of the few that I can completely enclose overnight to trap heat so I felt comfortable taking the chance.



Potatoes are a surprise crop for this year. I stopped by HD to buy more of my trusty all-weather white duct tape, ended up browsing the garden section and found Yukon Gold seed potatoes in the flower bulb rack.

No signs of sprouting yet. This is another first for me so I'll also be observing this pot very closely throughout the season. I've read potatoes do not like wet feet so they are in a standard pot instead of a self watering container. No water reservoir means I'll have to take extra care to make sure the pot never dries out. I see some soda bottle drip irrigation in my future.


The strawberry plants are doing well. The first flush of flowers have appeared.





I'm going to swap out the black plastic mulch for white soon. The black is starting to retain too much heat.

The remaining plants continue to be hardened off. They're up to about 12 hours outdoors per day.

Yukon Gold Seed Potatoes & 16" Round Pot: $11.97

2013 Running Total: $176.63

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4 comments:

  1. Hello, I have a question about the support system you have for the netting in the 1st photo. My question is where did you get it?! I could use something like that instead of lashing bamboo sticks together.

    Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. It's the support cage that goes with the Garden Patch GrowBox, so it only works with that container. For other planters I make cages out of bamboo sticks or use metal tomato cages.

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    2. Thanks for the reply! Guess I'll continue lashing bamboo. :)

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  2. Haha it's pretty tedious isn't it? I try to keep my bamboo lashing to a minimum.

    ReplyDelete

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