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Time to Cultivate


So, I hear our son Darren’s voice from somewhere above me, which is odd, I look around and sure enough there he is on the roof, taking a video of the third of an acre John and I call home. How cool is that? I’m hoping that our daughter Andrea (she’s in control of this blog, fortunately) can include this here. (*note from Andrea, no luck, but find Kachemak Gardener on Facebook to view video).


What you will see is me in action, with an unhappy knee. I’m cultivating the vegetable plot. This is what we need to talk about ~ cultivating. I have peeled back the floating row cover on just one edge. Using the long handled cultivator I’m breaking up the surface of the soil. If you don’t do this the water (and I’m sure you are watering) will start to run off the surface instead of reaching the roots of your hard earned seedlings. I’ve been watering through the floating row cover since the plants went in and it works good enough but the time has come to make an impact. To make absolute sure that the water is soaking in. Next I fed all of the seedlings with a dilute solution of fish emulsion. You want to water before you feed, keep that in mind. Then I sprinkled Sluggo Plus lightly over the bed. This will deter the cutworms that are a plague. 

I’ve talked about this already ~ there are pros and cons to using this material but I have had enough with physical barriers (i.e. landscape paper cut around the stem; cans of this and that that the seedling is growing through; skewers slid down the side of the stem ~ my all time favorite of this ilk).  So I am done screwing around and just want to get the job done, thus Sluggo Plus. It has to say Plus if you want to fend off the cutworms and not just slugs. 


Cutworms will methodically go down a row of anything (carrots, spinach, etc.) and I mean anything and cut the stem down at ground level. Then you need to keep an eye out to reseed the empty spaces. You can scratch around on the surface near the affected plant and catch the culprit red handed. Or not. 


Once all of the cultivating, watering, feeding, observing has been accomplished I pulled the row cover back over the bed, fastened it down and bid them all well. 


The early morning fog and heavy dew is very helpful when there is no rain in the forecast. I still water every morning including the greenhouse. John is watering the perennial beds that also have a good share of annuals tucked here and there. He uses the water we collect in a barrel that is the runoff from the sump pump. This water usually goes into the drainage ditch between us and the neighbor on the west, but in the summer we put it to use. He has a small pump in the bottom of the barrel and a hose and off he goes ~ getting the job done. 


Denice gave me chunk of sorrel a few years ago and, believe me, a little sorrel goes a long way.  I have been know to cut it down at least three times in a season and it keeps coming back for more. For now, I cut off enough to include in a salad. The lettuce in the greenhouse has been glorious. There are at least four plantings our there. I start four seeds every ten days and that keeps us in salad for a very long time. Now I have seedlings in the ground and plant a short row from seed every 10 days. It really seems to work for us. There is also a short row of radish and arugula, two kinds of lettuce, the sorrel, radish tops, spinach is on the way as is chard. Salads. 


As for the perennial beds I still need to move some plants around but this knee is slowing down the whole process. This is going to be a free-for-all garden this summer. It may prove to be just the thing.  

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