It seems nothing is quite right in my garden just now. At first I couldn't get it soaked enough; then I couldn't get it to dry out. Now I keep trying to dry it out but still all the plants seem to be getting more and more water, except the maydays, which are drinking nothing. As a result, my first pear tree which was growing with Peng Dehuai wilted. The top of the soil was all dry; Peng did fine because of its deeper roots, but not the pear tree. I caught it before it was quite dead, so it might survive, but it's half the size of the ones in Deng Xiaoping's pot which are 18 days younger. Clearly, Deng is making disciples in toughness and rebeliousness. Their aster roommate is also leading the aster movement. It's like the Revolution planter.
I think the morning glories are all overfed, probably because they drink so much water that it makes the manufacturer's formula of "feed every time you water" invalid. They also have way too many leaves and not enough flowers, in my opinion, but I can't find a fertilizer in town with more P and less N. The first year I grew them, without any fertilizer, they were all flower and no leaves; now you can hardly even see the flowers.
The lemons, as I was saying, are overwatered and underfed. I looked at my watering log and I'm amazed how much water I've been giving those poor things. No wonder they're unhappy. I tilled the top of their soil to let the water evaporate faster, but I think it's gonna take a while to dry them out. Maybe I should plant some morning glories with them to soak up excess water.
The English daisies are inscrutable. The geraniums are not-blue from too much sun, but the Five Spot nemophilas are turning blue instead of white. The Penny Black and Baby Blue Eyes nemophilas are sparse and tiny, I suppose crowded out by the earlier-flowering phacelias and Five Spots.
The pumpkins are doing surprisingly well, but really, they're in a pot on a balcony. That can't be good for them.
The Jungle is a disaster, yet again. The Flanders poppies seem to be thriving, until you remember that they started out 4000 and have produced about three dozen flowers. The Shasta daisies are making leaves, but no stems. The globe thistles have disappeared from view, though I believe they're still out there somewhere. The flax is surviving in appalling conditions, given that it loves drought. The hollyhocks are making excellent leaves but nothing else. The lupines tried to grow sideways out of the pot and don't look like they're succeeding in this endeavour; the delphiniums are either identical to lupines at this early stage, or dead. The convolvulus, like I said, has only produced dark blue out of the entire colour mix, though that at least is doing well. The forgotten forget-me-not looks like it's made quite a few stems and might make a good showing yet. The phacelias and the one nemophila that's managed to bloom are eight to ten days behind the ones in the window boxes, which doesn't matter as it was just a way to dispose of excess seeds, but I think they've also strangled the bluebells, which were just a random store purchase anyway. I'm more noting their failure as a sign that I'm doing it wrong than because I care. And there are more things in there that I don't even want to think about.
One thing that's very noticeable in the Jungle is that almost nothing is growing in the centre, and whatever is near the edges is trying to move further out. Clearly, no one likes it much in there. The soil is permanently soaked; I suspect it's overwatered, though most plants look healthy enough. At least it seems neither over- nor underfed.
The asters seem ok. At least their leaves are healthy, and they're making flowers.
The pansies are kicking arse all the way, despite grotesque overcrowding. And the baobabs are alive, which is all I expect from them just now.
I know I said it last year already, but next year, I should plan better, at least for the Jungle. Or just stick to my plan better.
That's the good thing though. Like I keep saying, there's always next year.
I think the morning glories are all overfed, probably because they drink so much water that it makes the manufacturer's formula of "feed every time you water" invalid. They also have way too many leaves and not enough flowers, in my opinion, but I can't find a fertilizer in town with more P and less N. The first year I grew them, without any fertilizer, they were all flower and no leaves; now you can hardly even see the flowers.
The lemons, as I was saying, are overwatered and underfed. I looked at my watering log and I'm amazed how much water I've been giving those poor things. No wonder they're unhappy. I tilled the top of their soil to let the water evaporate faster, but I think it's gonna take a while to dry them out. Maybe I should plant some morning glories with them to soak up excess water.
The English daisies are inscrutable. The geraniums are not-blue from too much sun, but the Five Spot nemophilas are turning blue instead of white. The Penny Black and Baby Blue Eyes nemophilas are sparse and tiny, I suppose crowded out by the earlier-flowering phacelias and Five Spots.
The pumpkins are doing surprisingly well, but really, they're in a pot on a balcony. That can't be good for them.
The Jungle is a disaster, yet again. The Flanders poppies seem to be thriving, until you remember that they started out 4000 and have produced about three dozen flowers. The Shasta daisies are making leaves, but no stems. The globe thistles have disappeared from view, though I believe they're still out there somewhere. The flax is surviving in appalling conditions, given that it loves drought. The hollyhocks are making excellent leaves but nothing else. The lupines tried to grow sideways out of the pot and don't look like they're succeeding in this endeavour; the delphiniums are either identical to lupines at this early stage, or dead. The convolvulus, like I said, has only produced dark blue out of the entire colour mix, though that at least is doing well. The forgotten forget-me-not looks like it's made quite a few stems and might make a good showing yet. The phacelias and the one nemophila that's managed to bloom are eight to ten days behind the ones in the window boxes, which doesn't matter as it was just a way to dispose of excess seeds, but I think they've also strangled the bluebells, which were just a random store purchase anyway. I'm more noting their failure as a sign that I'm doing it wrong than because I care. And there are more things in there that I don't even want to think about.
One thing that's very noticeable in the Jungle is that almost nothing is growing in the centre, and whatever is near the edges is trying to move further out. Clearly, no one likes it much in there. The soil is permanently soaked; I suspect it's overwatered, though most plants look healthy enough. At least it seems neither over- nor underfed.
The asters seem ok. At least their leaves are healthy, and they're making flowers.
The pansies are kicking arse all the way, despite grotesque overcrowding. And the baobabs are alive, which is all I expect from them just now.
I know I said it last year already, but next year, I should plan better, at least for the Jungle. Or just stick to my plan better.
That's the good thing though. Like I keep saying, there's always next year.
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