Sunday, May 17, 2009

Taking advantage of the rain.

It's been raining since 7am, the exact time I arrived at work. Two hours of counting plants in the rain. Joy.

Since I'm not here to complain, I'll use the rain and side dress the corn and beans with a high nitrogen fertilizer. I'm doing this because my dad does it. The plants are still small so I hope to see some real growth on them next week. I'll also toss a little on the castor bean plants. As they are mostly foliage, they should enjoy the nitrogen too.

No picture today. Hopefully the weather will be nicer next week. Lots of things are starting to bloom or are pushing buds in the gardens.

Tonight, I've got my mind made up to do a good cleaning on the house. With the windows open, there's pollen on everything. I need to straighten up the basement too. All the rain has caused that funky smell that was here when I bought the house to return. I really need a dehumidifier for that space. Maybe I'll get one if I have a project soon.

It's 63 and raining. 45 tonight, 43 tomorrow night. Back in the 80s by Thursday. Ahhh, spring in NC.

4 comments:

Jeff Vandiver said...

It rained here, too...Luckily, though - there will be abundant sunshine this next week!

Kris said...

Hey Tom, save yourself some fertilizer - beans don't need nitrogen, they afix their own with nodules on their roots. Ihats why the Indians grew beans with corn - the beans made the nitrogen and the corn used it.

Man, your gardens are so advanced compared to here. We still had FROST this morning! (hopefully the LAST frost...!)

Tom - 7th Street Cottage said...

Kris, I know about the beans and nitrogen. But the soil back there has a LOT of compost and very little green. So this will be my only year of doing this. In the fall, the whole area will be sown with alfalfa for a cover crop. I may even toss in some left over millet seeds for the birds this winter. I'd like to build some raised beds and get some really good soil in the potager, but I need to wait until the price on landscaping timbers comes down to $1 this summer. :)

Kris said...

OIC. Yeah, if you're trying to break down composty stuff, you need more nitrogen for sure.

Ooooh, alfalfa cover crop. I'll be looking forward to some winter posts on this. I tried to do that once in raised beds at my old house (alfalfa in one, winter rye in another, but neither did very well.