The Nu Leaf

Sprouts
It pays to read.

The back of each seed package indicates the number of days each plant should take to sprout. The lettuce varieties indicated 1-3 weeks to sprout; among the longest of any of the seeds I’ve planted. The fact that they germinated in possible record time and that they may soon be too big to keep the lid on their growing tray has put all of the other seeds to shame.

Today curiosity got the best of me and I gently prodded the soil above a seed of each type. I found that all of the plants were indeed growing, but that I just needed to have more patience. The soybeans should be breaking the surface in another 24-48 hours, and many of the tomatoes will follow suit shortly thereafter. I’ve not seen any action on the watermelon seeds, but I think part of the problem is that the pods these other plants are in dry out faster than the cells the lettuce is growing in.

Keeping constant moisture is key, but I feel that giving these pods the air they need to keep from molding is also very important.

Outdoors
Despite the awesome name, I passed up the Hose Cart when it came to finding a proper home for our garden hose. All of the Hose Cart models I saw seemed a bit too flimsy to last for a decade or so.

I opted for a box-style hose keeper with a 2:1 crank ratio to give you more power for cranking in the long, heavy hoses. Tomorrow I’ll have to rehab an very long kinkless contractor hose that we have which is missing an end. It’ll be a much better deal to buy $5 worth of hose parts than to replace the whole thing for close to $60.

I also found some inexpensive quick-connect hose pieces that should greatly simplify the process of adding and removing attachments. Lowes sells a brass adapter kit with no flow control and a plastic kit that cuts off the water flow when you disconnect your attachment. I opted for the plastic pieces for the hose end, and I think I’ll go back and get the brass ones for the spigot end.

After ruminating over dandelions for days, I’ve finally used a product that promises to solve all of my problems. This Weed & Feed spray-on product indicates that it will remove my dandelions and crabgrass while making my lawn grow in thicker and healthier than ever. To be honest, I really want to get my hopes up, but after seeing the lackluster performance of “1 Year Ground Clear” had on our gravel side yard (6 months later, there is plenty of grass growth), I might just go back to using regular table vinegar:

Last fall, I went to the local restaurant supply store and bought two cases of vinegar, each containing four one-gallon jugs of vinegar. For being completely nontoxic, it did a great job of suppressing weeds in the short term. It even put a wilt into some very stubborn ivy we have in our back yard.

No matter what happens with the spray, I want to have some resolution with these weeds soon so I can re-seed the back yard before June.