The weather has been warm and sunny. The other week, we bought bags of compost from Home Depot and seedlings from the corner store. Bitter melon, basil, tomatoes, thyme, oregano, dill… The lettuce and bok choy we started from seeds have been doing okay too. I can tell them apart from the weeds. Yay!

I've been turning the compost heap every week, too. Things are breaking down slowly. Maybe we'll get a chance to use it by next year. Perhaps we should've kept a few bags of leaves back, for a second round of compost this year.

2014-05-17 Gardening day

Mrs. W2 (who has an amazingly productive vegetable garden up the street) gave us some of her surplus choy seedlings last weekend. So exciting! I planted them, and now the main box (4'x12′) is full.

I'm still figuring out watering. We're regrowing the grass on the boulevard, so I've been watering that frequently. The internet recommends twice-daily for a few weeks. As for the other plants… I'm learning to test the soil. The soil for basil shouldn't dry out, and blueberries are like that too. Too much water for tomatoes results in blossom-end rot and splits; the Internet recommends 2-3 times a week, checking that soil is moistened 6-8″ down. Lavender is drought-tolerant and doesn't like soggy roots. For sorrel, I should check the first inch of soil for moisture, and water if it's dry. So much to remember!

2014-05-23 Gardening – Things to learn more about or try

I'll get the hang of this eventually… =)