Hard-Hearted Hardening

The peas, scarlet runner beans and beets got put out into the rain today.  They're going to have to get used to it soon enough.  The peas need staking now.  They flop over in the pot.  The scarlet runners are huge!  They presumably are not going to be able to expand much more in their current environment.

Speaking of which, the basil, long neglected, got some attention today.  I am amazed to announce that the roots worked the way through the egg carton!  

I have been meaning to move them into larger containers for a while.  Their growth seems to have halted abruptly.  Hopefully, moving them will be good for them and will encourage more growth.  Actual, basil-like leaves for example. 

Unfortunately, 2/3 of the way through, we suddenly remembered what day it was and where we had to be when and ... well ... the job stopped abruptly 2/3 of the way through.  I'll tackle it again probably in the morning.  It's been too long and tiring a day to finish it now.  I think I broke roots on half the plants I put into bigger pots today, anyway.  They must have more than one root, right?  Maybe I'll find the energy to do the last two this evening.  I do feel bad when I see them sitting orphaned in their eggcups. 

The secret string bean is not yet leafed.  It does have little nubbles appearing by the bean-cheeks (which are probably called cotyledons, but really, I think I'm on to something with bean-cheeks).  

The nasturtiums are wonderful.  It sounds like they're not going to be transplanted happily and that's a shame.  I'll be well and truly sorry to have done them in because right now their little plate-like leaves wave at me whenever I go into the room and there's no finer pick-me-up than that.

Outdoorsy types

The peas are back outside (they came in overnight) and they've now been joined by the beans.  

The beans are enormous.  Well, one of them is.  Actually, 4 of them are screaming upwards.  The fifth will soon join them and I continue to hold out hope for the wayward sixth, breech born.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when it finally emerged, like a sea serpent.  

It must have spent the last week ploughing head first through the soil, under its seed, trying somehow to find the light of day.  I am very sorry for this guy that I put his seed in the wrong way up.  

Oh. So, Not Perfect After All?

The bean with the little leaves within no longer has leaves, little or otherwise.  I sure hope it wasn't my meddling with the seed casing that was the problem.  I don't quite see how it could have been, but I am of course fretting that I did something.  

And The Rest

A side effect of all this germination and so forth is that the plants which usually live inside our walls are getting a little bit more water than is normal for them.  As long as I'm making the rounds with a watering can in my hands, it is easy to toss a couple of drops their way.  We can only have plants in our house that can withstand long periods without water.  They must also be relaxed about how much actual sunshine they receive.

Oddly enough, the plant in my office gets the opposite treatment.  I get to work, look at its parched soil and think "Oh god, do I have to water you now, too?" and it gets neglected.  The plant in my office, however, flourishes without water.  It is an absolute necessity.  Any plant that shall live in my office must be able to survive for 4 weeks without any human intervention; that is the LAW.  It can be sort of sad-looking and really, really in need of attention at the end of those 4 weeks, but it has to be able to bounce back.  I've left it that long on more than one occasion.  I've also re-potted it twice since I got it (in 2004).  I suspect it will be time to re-pot it again soon.  I look forward to the day when it gets promoted from desktop plant to floor plant.  I purchased it from a grocery store floral department in a burst of positivity just as I was moving in to my office.  I liked that it claimed to enjoy "dry conditions" and I liked its name: Dragon Tree.  

At the time I got it, I thought that I would get myself a new plant every year that I was in the office.  I thought that it would be delightful to have a room filled with potted plants when I retire.  Fortunately, I sort of missed the opportune moment in the second year (I was presumably away or something) and the idea faded.  I don't think that I could find all that many nice plants that could survive the abuse that the poor old dragon tree suffers.  A forest of dragon trees would be just silly.  Or insanely obsessive.  Anyway, not really a projection of the kind of dignity I'd like to pervade my office.  

So, for now I have a dry dragon on my desk, 2 pots of philodendrons and a sentimentally significant christmas cactus.  And an outdoor garden in a state of ever-increasing readiness.

Shuffle

It is a quite interesting fact that bamboo grows so fast that you can hear it.  I sometimes think that these beans must be doing the same.  I can't hear them, though, so I probably should stop thinking that.

The beans and nasturtiums flat has been moved wholesale to the place where the peas were.  The mint remains (too tiny for me to believe it's time to move it). 

The peas and beets have been put outside for the day.  The beets were tragically dry and I have probably really done them in.  I'm only completing the job that Chutney began, I guess.  Time to start the real, outdoor garden and put seeds directly into the ground.  

On the germination windowsill, only the basil (and one pea that I can't quite bring myself to just kill because it didn't thrive and won't thrive) remain.  And with that, it's only the basil that I haven't killed yet.

Time for me to think about what goes under the plastic next.  In my grand plan, I thought I'd be putting cucumbers and zucchinis in this weekend.   Also beets and late leeks. I thought I'd be planting beets every week.  In retrospect, that would have been a good idea.  

I am so excited about the leeks that I just can't say.  If I'd been on the ball earlier, I would have tried early indoor starting for early leeks.   I love leeks but they're expensive to buy.  I'm betting they're temperamental to grow.  I know that other people with plots in our garden grow leeks, so it can be done somehow.  

The marigolds haven't had any attention at all lately.  I've been lavishing all my attention on the fast-growing beans.  I have been thinking that they (the marigolds) would be earth-ready soon.  My book says that they should go into the earth when it's warm.  It's not going to be warm for a while yet.   Must find new, bigger pots for those guys.  

As can be gathered from the previous paragraph, I've consulted my book.  I think the peas, beets and beans can go into their respective bits of real dirt this weekend (which the meteorologists are currently predicting will be rainy.  Oh, goody).  I don't know where the basil and mint will be going once they are ready for the earth.  Probably some of each will go into a little pot like the one the chives are growing in. (They're doing nicely, by the way ... I know I haven't said much about them of late.)

Field of Beans

Some news today!  The beans were so tall this morning that I couldn't keep them under plastic, so the whole flat moved upstairs (to the not-very-bright window).   The biggest peas went out into the backyard to harden off for the day.  Tomorrow, I'm going to put all of them out.  

I've been keeping an eye on the (as yet un-potted-up) marigolds to see if they're pushing roots through their bottoms.  I thought they weren't.  Now I think that they are and I just can't tell a marigold root from a random bit of coir. There are, at any rate, things that look like bits of the pot but are sort of wetter and paler than the rest.  

The burgeoning beans are also bursting out of their pots.  I don't have anything to pot them up to.  I might be able to move them into the pea yoghurt pots when the peas move into the ground, but the yoghurt pots aren't much bigger than the pots the beans are currently occupying.  They might have to make a quick move straight into the ground.  

The nasturtium package is quite clear about NOT disturbing its roots, so the whole apparatus has to go into the ground for them.  

We went to our plot at lunchtime and I did a little bit more clearing.  We were really just passing through; not meaning to get anything done other than go from A to B.  The peas need a home soon, though!  

Beanpole

Now I understand why people who shoot up to great heights very quickly are called beanpoles.  The growth is astounding!

The sprouting count is up to all 6 scarlet runners showing something, two of three beans believably up and one lurking subterraneously.  The nasturtiums continue as before, with two potentially dormant pots.  I'm happy with our results so far.  

My favourite at the moment is the bean that lurked below its cover for so long.  It burst out of the ground, still pushing its skin ahead of it.  I couldn't be patient about it.  

I know I shouldn't mess with the sprouts when they're so young and delicate, but I really, really, really wanted to see what was hidden beneath the skin.  I'm delighted that I did.  

It has a secret hidden between its lovely green bean-cheeks.  

It's got tiny, perfect, pre-formed leaves hiding in there.

Max: 6.8 Min: -1.5 Rain: 0.3mm