i got up first thing this morning and went to prep my seeds for sowing: today was flower day. many of my herbal flowers and some of my "just for show" flowers were ready to go in. our problem this week since we've tilled up the soil is that all of the neighborhood cats seem to think that the kitty night spa is in our backyard. feel free to NOT poop wherever you want to kitties... as i planted my very precious flower seeds, i knew that i had to do something to keep them safe from getting dug through. enter black netting... laid ever so gently across the ground so that the seeds can sprout through and as they do, the netting will get lifted up and staked until there is less and less free space for the kitties to dig through. i love cats. i do not love the cat owners out there who's idea of having a cat is to let it prowl all through the neighborhood day and night, sowing their wild oats all over the place. here is my herbal/floral bed with all of its seeds set in:
the trees, remember, were all there already when we moved in. there were tons of rocks in this bed before, stifling these tress. in fact, i have a beautiful nectarine tree that is getting too much moisture and therefore producing mutated fruit. exit all rocks, enter amazing flowers and healing plants: lavender, echinacea, dill, achillea (yarrow), daisy's and a few other assorted things... many of the other herbs can be set in another couple of weeks. it's still too cold for all of them.
another part of evolution that just purely flattens me is this idea of sister plants. how some of them act like a "big brother" protecting others from predators of different kinds. naturally. so today, i planted some of those heroes: marigolds and nasturtiums. there are many predator bugs that simply hate these beautiful flowers so planting them next to some of your fruit producers helps to keep them safe. i am also planting some sacrificial radish clusters which are essential. one thing that keeps me coming back to this idea of evolution is that i never want any of my babies to die, but some of them are ok with it. so what if i don't have tons of beautiful radish leaves? the radishes will still grow underground while their delicious greens are eaten by the bugs, because somehow the radish plant found itself a job... and with it job security; by allowing itself to be loved by the predators first and it's thankful brother and sister plants second, and then by me last... 'cause i find them absolutely delicious and irresistible. anyway these ecosystems that build each other up are really amazing to me. i first learned about them from Orson Scott Card in the Ender's Game series, and then more from Michael Pollan when i read The Omnivore's Dilemma, but mostly that was all in a bigger, broader scope than just a little farm. finally though, i read this beautiful book called The Wisdom of the Radish by Lynda Hamilton, who just happens to be a farmer from here in sonoma county. i would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to anyone starting a little farm... it's absolutely beautiful, funny and wise. it took all of these vast notions that i had been contemplating for years and put them in a close knit context for me that i could actually take and use every day.
here are the marigold seeds just waiting for me to cover them ever so slightly. they like light on them, so you can't cover them very much which will be the same for most of your flower/herb seeds. remember to read the directions. they matter a lot! some of your flower or herb seeds won't want to be covered at all, just kind of stamped into the ground (achillea/yarrow) and it's just plain rude not to respect their wishes!
an update on the bigger seedlings:
yup! those are all tomato seedlings that got separated and thinned out this week from their original containers. this pic was taken right after i moved them so they are a little wilty, but now several days later, they are perked up and much more hardy. we've only lost four of them from the moving process. those ones lost their stem density after their transplant so they didn't make it and of course, i purposely weeded out about ten or so of the smaller, runts or super new ones that i couldn't sustain. evolution again. the strongest ones got picked to move onto the next challenge. they are especially happy in the southern facing window that we have in the house... which just happens to be my bedroom. this way, they see sun rays all day long. so after your seedlings get started, put them in a south faced window. surprisingly, so far, the cats haven't picked on them at all, although they did pick on some of the babies in the living room window. they got in trouble and haven't done it since, but there were a few tomatillo casualties in the process. now mother has them protected with the blind so that no more mischief can be made...
it's official! we have a choco baby bell pepper sprout, which means that all of the pepper types we've planted have sprouted!! YAYAYAYAY! on monday, i will separate those guys, as well as the eggplants and the broccoli is actually almost ready to just get planted in the ground so that may happen realllllllllly soon. monday is also mapped out as gutter day, so you will get some pics then. three gutters are getting purchased and hung on the fence. then we will plant lettuces, strawberries, baby carrots, chives, little radishes and some other things that will grow in shallow dirt. it's surprising how much can actually grow in a gutter! we have a friend who planted all of their strawberries in gutters last year with the best success, so we are going for it! more in a couple of days, after all of that has gotten under way and there is more adventure to report...
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