Govinda's Garden

Tuesday, January 31, 2023 High: 55.7 Low: 45.6 Cloudy and Rainy More greenhouse work: put up the ceiling braces and window stoppers. Getting towards the end! The seed starts are looking good in the closet. I will need to transplant more soon, as they are sprouting in the damp paper towels. I also need to start rooting the fig cuttings I got.

Monday, January 30, 2023 High: 57.3 Low: 42.7 Cloudy More progress on the greenhouse: put up the front, side, and rear braces, and got started on the ceiling. I've noticed some of the first batch of fig cuttings (which are quite large now) have a few yellow leaves. From what I understand, this indicates either overwatering or a lack of phosphorus. There also hasn't been much sunshine in the past few days. I think I need to fertilize them, so I put a dash of the miracle-gro organics fertilizer and mixed it into the top layer of soil. I will give them water tomorrow and continue to monitor them. Some of them actually started to poke out in places where fruit will grow. I haven't made a video in a while. I'm thinking of doing an informal one, talking about the winter project we've been working on: hinged raised beds, a greenhouse, indoor fig propagation, and the closet grow room.

Sunday, January 29, 2023 High: 47.0 Low: 39.8 Cloudy, Rain Made some progress on the greenhouse today. This blog isn't a place where I am going to share personal things, but it was an emotional day. One thing I've learned about this greenhouse assembly is that it would have been a lot easier if I read the directions thoroughly and followed them accordingly.

Saturday, January 28, 2023 High: 51.8 Low: 24.7 Sunny Focused some time on the greenhouse. Made a few trips to Lowe's to get gravel and filled in the trenches and inner edges. Used a tamper to flatten some of the inner soil. I used a gas tiller that I rented from the tool library for about 10 minutes before the starter rope snapped and I could no longer use it. I removed the 4x4 posts because it made the next step of the instructions impossible. I got stuck on those instructions, putting on the four vertical corners. For some reason, it just isn't fitting right. I think there is something off with the foundation and I might need to unscrew it from the 2x4s. I'll give it another try tomorrow. I'm pretty frustrated and sore right now.

Friday, January 27, 2023 High: 42.5 Low: 27.0 Partly Cloudy, Sunny Today I connected all four sides of the greenhouse foundation and then moved it over to its location, on top of the deck blocks. To my surprise, it was actually pretty-much level all the way around. I only had to make a few small adjustments. Hayley and I threw some of the sod and dirt back in the rectangle to start backfilling. I plan to get some gravel tomorrow to fill in the trenches on the borders and the corners. The idea is to not have the wood touching any dirt. I also transplanted 40 seedlings (5 of each variety). I took them out of the damp paper towels as gently as I could, and placed them in 3" x 3" rose pots fill with a mixture of 1 scoop of organic potting soil to 3 scoops of Sungro propagation mix. I watered them in with a few sprits of water. I actually think some of these seeds would have been better served if they were directly planted into the rose pots. I might have not let them germinate en

Thursday, January 26, 2023 High: 43.6 Low: 33.2 Partly Cloudy Started digging out the hill to create a level surface for the greenhouse. I am still not sure how to build this foundation. I think I might need to cut the 4x4s shorter so they are easier to mount to the 2x4s. Right now I am at the point where I'm happy with the level on all four sides. The concrete deck blocks can be buried up to the point where the 4x4 would sit (so you wouldn't see the concrete block). I attached the greenhouse foundation piece to two of the sides, with a layer of sill insulation in-between the metal foundation and the wood. Tomorrow I want to try to make a corner, with a 4x4 post, and maybe even get all four board set. I need a leveling tool. I know they have one at the tool library but will need to wait until they open on Saturday. In other news, some of the seeds have sprouted. The zucchini and cucumber are big and I need to transplant these into the rose pots soon, like tomorrow soon.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023 High: 56.7 Low: 36.8 Partly Cloudy, Rain in the morning Plotted in the greenhouse foundation. Didn't realize how much of a grade it is. Posted the proven in the Facebook group and got some ideas. Might just move it to a flatter area. I moved the dwarf apple and the contorted mulberry. The mulberry was doing so well! The burlap and leaf protection was doing great, and it's root system was awesome. I hope it survives. Both of them are in containers now. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2023 High: 76.9 Low: 18.8 Partly Cloudy I'm not sure how accurate that high temperature is. Check out the screenshot below. Accuweather reports a high of 57 today. I believe the low, though. Got super cold last night. The greenhouse arrived today! I had about an hour of sunlight and assembled the base. Then I went to Lowe's and got some lumber, concrete deck blocks, and a few other things for the foundation. Next step is selecting the area, digging shallow holes for the deck blocks, and building the lumber frame.

Monday, January 23, 2023 High: 45.3 Low: 31.6 Snow, cloudy Watered (with diluted fertilizer) the indoor figs. They are looking so good! The temperature there stays at about 65, with good sunshine. Didn't do much else on the gardening front. Still have a lot of dirt to move before I can start setting up the greenhouse, which should arrive this week.

Sunday, January 22, 2023 High: 47 Low: 36 Partly cloudy, rain in the morning Did some more research and added it to the gardening calendar page Went to Jesse Israel and got a bunch of seeds and two bags of propagation mix Started the process of germinating 17 different types of seeds. Let the experimentation begin. Set up the seed heating mat Got the two sensors and put one in the crawl space, and one outside where the raised beds are. Super happy about this purchase. I installed an app that shows the readings and will start using this to track the  actual  temperature. I also got a soil thermometer. Here are some findings so far: The temperature in the bed covered with agribon is about 6 degrees warmer than without the cover. The temperature in the crawl space was 50 degrees, when it was 48 degrees outside. I think this was the cause of the fig tree damage. We didn't have the A/C running while we were out of town when that freeze hit, so it likely could have been under 20 degrees

Saturday, January 21, 2023 High: 49 Low: 29 Partly cloudy Broke up some of the soil from the big mound and started putting it in the grow bags I'll use for potatoes this summer. The soil mound is right where I want to put the greenhouse, and it's supposed to arrive in a week or so, so this will be my area of focus for a little while. Inspected the figs some more. It appears that the damage was from the cold weather. The soil was moist but not wet or dry, and the roots of the ones I inspected seemed fine, so I don't suspect any root rot. I plan to make a video showing the cold damage on the different varieties. Used pieces of wood to prop up two of the water collectors away from the house, in an effort to reduce any drippage near the foundation.

Friday, January 20, 2023 High: 69 Low: 34 Partly cloudy Put about 7 loads of woodchips on the south edge (where the good soil is), to prepare for planting some figs and other stuff. Inspected the figs in the crawl space. A lot of the branches are shriveled and dark. I posted on fig addicts and got some more information. Might've taken a big L. These guys were thirsty. Those warm days dried them up good.

Thursday, January 19, 2023 High: 69 Low: 34 Partly cloudy Put on the remaining hinges on the beds. Started chipping away at separating the dirt from the weeds on the big pile in the back and the spot where the beds used to  be.