Adventures in seed care

Here is something cute and funny for your Friday morning.  Fernando meets the watering can!  Nothing shy about this guy, he stuck his face right in, got a little surprised when it moved, and backed up about 2 inches.  He's keeping his eye on that thing.

Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

I am hoping, praying, and about to stand up and do a dance to insure that we actually get some rain today!  The weather forecast has been such a tease.  Two days have passed since that first little rain cloud appeared in the 5-day with not so much as a drop.  This morning the humidity was 90% but still it did not rain. 

In this terrible summer drought where all the lawns in my neighborhood are brown, I have been dragging a 100-foot hose into the backyard to give the garden a little sprinkle each day before work (sadly, the outdoor faucet is nowhere near the garden; thankfully, hoses come in this length).  I then fill a watering can and water the potted plants on our deck and the flowers hanging in front of our house.  Lately, none of this has seemed sufficient.  To say the container plants are struggling is putting things quite mildly.  To say that the garden looks like something out of an old Twilight Zone episode that takes place on the moon would be quite accurate.

I have read arguments in defense of both night watering and early-morning watering, but have had far more success with the latter, though it is sometimes a real pain.  Watering at night creates moisture that can attract slugs and other critters that like to chew on leafy plants.  Since I am attempting to grow a number of leafy plants, and did notice some holes in them early this season, I switched to morning watering, and it has been a success.  Well, as successful as it can be, given these arid circumstances.

Either way... I dread opening the next water bill!  And I will continue to hope, pray, and probably dance for rain.  But just when I thought I had it bad, I heard this story on the radio... and realized that while my desire for large quantities of healthy backyard produce is rabid (and I also love a good thunderstorm), I am not depending on it for my livelihood.  C'mon, Mother Nature!  Do it for the farmers!



I live in the burgundy!  Where we are suffering the worst drought since the Great Depression.

Tomato talk

I won't go into all the reasons that I love tomatoes... but one of those reasons, and why I recommend growing tomatoes to absolutely anyone, is that they are very easy to take care of.

One of the best things about tomatoes is that they are among the most (if not the most) self-expressive plants.  Watered them too much?  Their leaves will turn slightly yellow.  Not enough water?  They look just like this:

See how the leaves are curly?  This is especially important to look for in tomatoes that you have growing in pots (as this one is), which tend to dry out a lot faster than a garden bed.  At the time of this photo, I'd just watered this particular plant the day before, but a streak of very hot weather and a ton of sun left it thirsty.

Once you water it, the leaves of the tomato plant will go back to looking "normal" in a very short period of time (I'm talking minutes/hours).  These guys bounce back quick.