I must say, the seedlings started in the soil blocks (with the soil recipe found in the Burpee book) are doing MUCH better than the ones I started previously in store-bought soil starting mix! I will not go back to the previous method! The soil blocks are so handy (and cute) and the bottom-watering process is easy. I lift out my tray with holes in the bottom, pour water in the plastic tray underneath, then dunk the soil blocks in their holey tray back down into the water. I either spray the tops or drizzle a little extra water on top if the tops appear dry. These new tomatoes (started 3/20) are very cute, eh? The empty blocks are some seeds I planted in some of the blocks that didn’t germinate–I figured it would be worth a try to re-use them.
I made some more soil blocks and started a few new seeds, some for things I hadn’t started yet (sage, summer savory), a few more tomatoes for a later season harvest, some more spinach (some of the ones I’d started never germinated–this way I’ll have a few more to harvest later on, some more endive and lettuce, and some sweet peas. At least I’m being smarter and not planting too many of any one thing all at once. Next year I’ll know better right from the start.
Soon we will need to get some soil ready to plant a few things that can go out previous to the frost date–then I’ll have more room under the lights inside to transplant other seedlings into larger pots. Tim is working on the raised area on the west side of the yard. It had previously been held up by some old railroad ties that were in bad shape and leaning.
He took out a raised bed that had been supported by large bricks, so he put these bricks alongside the new raised area and will fill that in with dirt (photos to come). He also began to take out a small pine tree that was there, then stopped limbing it so we can think about doing something clever with the tree trunk–put a birdhouse or feeder on top? String wires to it like a maypole and grow pole beans or something from it? Hmmm… Here is a “before” picture from last February, I’ll add some photos tomorrow of what it looks like now.
We plan to get rid of the hot tub that is currently set on a brick patio, and replace it with a nice table and chairs. In front of this I might plant some flowers and ground cover, and enjoy this cute little spot. Tim warns me that it will be hot there in summer and too buggy to enjoy, but I’m sure there will be some times that it will be nice. I envision enjoying coffee there in the mornings!