Teaching people how to treat you, seed planting and moon gardening
March 5, 2007 at 12:44 PM
by Ashleigh
I ran across this link on teaching people how to treat you, from Get Rich Slowly (great site for the pennypinchers amongst us) and I love the ethos.
I'll be writing my own 'owner's manual' today. It's a fantastic idea.
My mom has been working out some of these things with me from stuff she learned in AA.
Her opinions about life is influenced by one's inner dialogue are really interesting, plus of course, she had a bad inner dialogue for so many years that it makes it even more fascinating when you hear about the steps that she took to change hers.
I also did a bit of research on gardening in moon phases which I've seen come up on quite a few gardening blogs.
It's pretty interesting, except for the fact that I planted my seeds on 3 March, an eclipse day, and the moon gardening guidelines say 'never plant at an eclipse'. Now we just wait and see how they do. I'll be planting the next lot at the correct moonphase. Here's a moonphase calculator.
Yesterday we went to the moestuin and did a bit more work on the pathways.
My plot is really very wet. Without permeable polythene sheeting laid underneath the woodchip pathways they would be completely sodden and start to disintegrate within a few weeks. So yesterday we laid polythene and shovelled woodchips on top of it. I plan to get some decorative stepping stones to lay in amongst the chips.
Anything to avoid muddy feet.
There is only one part of the plot with really terrible drainage that will need sand dug into the soil to improve it. For winter crops I will need to avoid that area, but in summer it should be fine.
On 3/3/07 I planted 12 each of Sweet pea bijou, Early May peas, Sweet Genovese Basil, Kelvedon peas, and Orange Berry tomatoes. They're in egg trays on the windowsill with clingwrap over them.
These should get off to a good start (if the cat doesn't dig them up) and I'll be able to plant the peas outside sometime in early April. The tomatoes and basil will stay inside at night and go out in the daytime, at least until the nighttime temperatures are higher.
In two weeks I'll plant another lot of seeds indoors. First we need to eat more eggs to get more eggtrays.
Hopefully I'll be able to start the beans off in situ in early April on their wigwams. Sebastian is really looking forward to the wigwam construction.
Carrots, and lettuces too, will get planted directly outside once it's a little warmer.
My plum tree isn't flowering yet, while some of the other fruit trees on the site have already started. I guess it's because we have an exposed position with the wind coming directly off the polder.
The kids got to see the pony yesterday and the chickens, so they were happy. Seb and Joe had fun jumping on the pathways to help push them down into the earth.
The wind was cold though, so after a while Joe started fretting about coming home. At least it was sunny and bright!
Comments
Your gardening adventures so far sound wonderful, Ash. I hope your seedlings grow okay despite being planted on an eclipse day. ;)
Ashleigh, I've been catching up reading your blog since I've been on vacation. I love the way you write! Hope your doing well- take care.
Wow, you started early! I started my tomatoes and green peppers in the third week of March last year. I meant to start earlier this year but I need to buy more potting soil. Eggtrays, what a wonderful idea! Thanks for the tip.
Good luck!
Thanks for the link. I read the post and it's fascinating and rings very true.
As for your Five Things post, I liked it and I'm not going away. It kind of reminded me of my teenage years. One day maybe I'll be brave enough to blog about them.
March 5, 2007 3:09 PM