By Jackie Hollenkamp Bentley
…When you have to come home. For a few glorious days last week this was my backyard:
Yeah. It was nice. But, again, the worst part about vacation is coming home to the real world, routines and life. I must admit, however, that I wondered several times how my gardens were doing. I had visions of overflowing greenery and maybe a green bean or two.
*It’s here I must add that I have awesome in-laws who agreed to water my garden beds while we were gone for 10 days. Fortunately, for them, it rained almost everyday in Louisville for the first half of the duration. Following that, they came by daily to keep everything in check.
This is what I came home to see:
[caption id="attachment_22007" align="aligncenter" width="768"] My newest pepper plants after 10 days of non-growth.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_22011" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Jalepeno seedlings that basically remained just that: seedlings.[/caption]Nope. These aren't recycled pictures from my last post (CGGG: Dare to be positive). I came home to my garden looking EXACTLY like it did when I left — with a few exceptions of a new tomato popping out of this puny plant and a banana pepper emerging from its stagnant vegetation.
[caption id="attachment_22008" align="aligncenter" width="768"] A baby mater![/caption] [caption id="attachment_22010" align="aligncenter" width="768"] The first banana pepper of 2016[/caption]But, hey, still riding on cautious optimism here, it could have been a lot worse. Everything could have died. But didn’t. After consulting with my mom, we determined that the poor soil was in need of some nutrients. So, I applied some fertilizer —which made me sad that I had to buy it and not use it from my composter (my compost is still “cooking”). I also added bit more dirt as side-dressing.
Three hours later, it stormed. And it stormed some more. It rained all through the night. More than likely, all that fertilizer was washed clean through the bed where I poked holes in the plastic and where it will do no good for the plants. However, I’ve been hesitant to add more — just in case. Too much fertilizer can be just as detrimental as none.
Today, I did add more epsom salt to the peppers and tomatoes. I’ve never gone wrong with that and, if my eyes are playing...Read more
