From the past few weeks (sorry, didn't have time to post sooner):Item #1 - get rid of the forest of weeds in the back. check.check.Item #2 - cut the mint back to a manageable amount. Check. There is still way more than we're ever going to need, but we have the space, and it's to the point now where it won't overtake the rest of the garden. Item #3 - see what survived over the winter.Tarragon - check.Rosemary - check.Oregano - check.Old Man Sage, season III: check.Basil - no sign in the garden patch. Strange, but maybe the seeds didn't take from last year? That's ok, that's what seedlings are for.A few days later ¦Initiated a soil test with this kit I picked up. Tells me the soil pH, nitrate levels, phosphorus levels and potassium levels.Here's the completed test:Results? Neutral pH, healthy potassium and phosphorus levels, very low nitrate levels. Not an exact or perfect fix, but since we have Miracle Gro out the yin yang, I have been adding a little extra here and there. Not too much, but for a few weeks I put in 110%-125% the amount I normally would, seemingly not drastic enough to overkill anything. This crudely fixes two things: 1. Adds nitrates to the soil, as the MiracleGro mixture I have is mainly just that.2. Somebody tell me if this is wrong, but it's my understanding that it will tilt the pH of the soil into slightly acidic territory, which is exactly what I am looking for. Neutral is ok, but 9 out of 10 internet how-to pages I've read say it's better to have slightly acidic soil. For those of you in the know, I'm sure this is total rookie thinking, but for me, I'm happy to be at least thinking about it this year. It's a start.Later that day, I turned over the soil, pulled more weeds, and did some watering. I also mixed in all of that sand dumped in there last year so it's evenly distributed in the garden. Overall, it's adding a pinch per square inch, doesn't seem to have changed the soil texture very much, if at all. It looks prettier now:That evening, I picked up Parsley III and transplanted it.A week later, I went to the seedling sale at Kilbourn park. Wondering what to get this year, we all discussed what we'd use, what we could use more of, and what we didn't use much of at all last year. Based on that, I picked up mostly peppers. 2 Jalapeño seedlings and two Thai Hot Pepper seedlings. I love these sweet peppers we had 2 summers ago (Alameda peppers, maybe? ), but I can't seem to find any. If I do, I'll grow em. Also, for the sake of trying something new-ish, I'm trying these Dragon Hot Peppers. They're supposed to be like Thai peppers but somehow different. I'll compare them once I get my hands on some. Also, I got two strains of basil, since I haven't seen any sprout out this year. Here they were when I arrived at the studio:Here they are after I transplanted them:Jalapeños:Thai Hot Peppers (2 on Left) and New-fangled Dragon Pepper (right):New Basil (there's a sweet basil strain and an Italian Basil strain):Oh and look - in the buckets are what are likely 2 basils after all (also pictured, Old Man Sage: Season III. He looks a little bummed out, but water made him happy later):...so much basil.Since things have grown and changed over the past few weeks, I'll have to write up another update here soon. So it shall be. Stay ye tuneth.

spacebar wrote:Initiated a soil test with this kit I picked up. Tells me the soil pH, nitrate levels, phosphorus levels and potassium levels.Here's the completed test:Results? Neutral pH, healthy potassium and phosphorus levels, very low nitrate levels. Not an exact or perfect fix, but since we have Miracle Gro out the yin yang, I have been adding a little extra here and there. Not too much, but for a few weeks I put in 110%-125% the amount I normally would, seemingly not drastic enough to overkill anything. This crudely fixes two things: 1. Adds nitrates to the soil, as the MiracleGro mixture I have is mainly just that.2. Somebody tell me if this is wrong, but it's my understanding that it will tilt the pH of the soil into slightly acidic territory, which is exactly what I am looking for. Neutral is ok, but 9 out of 10 internet how-to pages I've read say it's better to have slightly acidic soil. For those of you in the know, I'm sure this is total rookie thinking, but for me, I'm happy to be at least thinking about it this year. It's a start.Weekend Guy and resident soil scientist.Sharp!Slightly acidic sounds right for some reason...you could ask Larry Meiller.

Rog wrote:...you could ask Larry Meiller.Thanks, Rog. I'm going to listen to a few episodes here when I have a moment - I'm bound to be well educated after even an hour.I think we left off just after I transplanted the little seedlings......I said to myself after transplanting these things a few weeks ago "Self," I said, "you should make some new pest control spray", and I promptly forgot to do so for 3 days. Upon returning to the patch, I noticed something ate all of the leaves off of a jalapeño plant. I didn't get a good picture of it, mainly because my being irritated with the situation overrode my desire to take pictures. Just looked like a green stem coming out of the ground.After this, I promptly made a new batch of the pest control spray, and have not experienced any difficulties since.Aaaaaand, I lucked out, as the jalapeño managed to grow itself some new leaves and is back in the program. I might try and keep this one alive over the winter since it's a tough one!So, fast-forwarding a few weeks, here are some pictures of progress to-date:Dos Jalapeños (the tough one is in the back, looks small but is recovering well):Lots of Thai Hots:I also pulled enough weeds to fill 2 freezer bags. No pictures. They're weeds.Thai Dragon:Mint (L) and Oregano (R) (sorry about the focus):Tarragon (L) and Rosemary (R):Parsley III:Bucket Basil #1 (the two seedlings didn't make it - this makes me sad, but glad bucket basil came back!):Old Man Sage, Season 3 and two more members of the family Bucket Basil:

First off, sorry I'm behind on these. I have no captions for each one, mainly because they just grow, no drama. Just been watering and weeding (actually, intern Alicia has been doing a lot of the watering when she's here, volunteered even! How nice!). The only note I have is of Old Man Sage, Season 3:He flowered and immediately turned brown. Not calling him "dead" exactly, as there are new leaves growing through the dead branches. Never seen this before, but since there is green, I assume Old Man Sage will last a while longer.Moving on, here are pics from this afternoon:UH OH!Baby's first rat hole. Home to either a small family or one big ass rat. Off to the hardware store, where I stocked up on steel wool. Shoved in a bunch of steel wool and rats stuck inside can't chew their way out. Outside rats can't chew their way in. So either that's the end of that, or there will be a new hole down there soon. This should do it, though.Now for the pretty plant pictures:I see peppers, not many and not ripe, but progress nonetheless.Lots and lots of Thai Hot Peppers, but they aren't ripe yet. Picked a few anyway just for snicks.So, the Dragon Hot Pepper is tall and healthy, but no peppers yet. It's just starting to flower, so I'm guessing it's just a later growing plant than the Thai Hots.Saw a few bees and wasps hanging around here. I opted not to weed anywhere nearby.Just fine, just fine.

Tommy wrote:I noticed the other day that someone tried to beautificate EA by tagging the front of the building...Odd Future?

I noticed the other day that someone tried to "beautificate" EA by tagging the front of the building...

How's the garden looking this year, Jon?

Hey, tmoneygetpaid,This spring, someone in the neighborhood stuffed the rat hole with enough poison to kill a night's worth of attendees at the Vic. I got a little weirded out by it and didn't want to eat anything grown within a 10-foot radius, which is coincidentally the size of the garden. Also, the poison did nothing. Killed maybe one rat, the hole survives no matter what we stuff in there. Although it occurs to me now that I could probably soak that hole with a very large amount of Pest Control (not poison) fluid. I may try that, as absolutely nothing else helped.But yeah - I figure if we can make it a year without dumping all the rat poison ever into the garden, maybe I won't be so scared to plant next year. That aside, Old Man Sage, Jr. survived another year, as did some lovely smelling mint.

Good job Russ!