I have so many empty spaces in my community garden plot that I would love to fill with greens. I have seeds ready for about 10 of my favorite lettuce varieties, as well as arugula, spinach, frisee endive, cilantro, and radicchio.
I'd love to have a garden full of these like I did this spring. But with such hot dry weather, its hard to get them going. I've been planting weekly for 3-4 weeks and not much is coming up. Its hard for me to get to my plot to water daily. One stretch of 3 days without water kills all the seedlings :(
Last week I covered all my newly seeded areas with some old white row cover. Talking with other gardeners, they have the same problem and are covering with cardboard and any materials on hand to protect from drying out. I noticed nice little sprouts today. Hope I can keep these going.
I also seeded some indoor trays at home a couple days ago. Just in case the ones at my plot don't make it. I noticed this morning they have come up. I will turn on the indoor lights tomorrow. Seems funny to do this in summer, but I think it may be the only for me to properly tend them.
Its remarkable how different this summer is from last summer. A real New England summer! Hot, humid and dry. I'm hoping for a long fall for a good season of greens.
Kathy - I use fiberglass window screen material to cover my seeds when i plant them. When they germinate, I raise the screen 3" off the ground with some 2x4s. It works great because it shades them and softens the effect of a hard rain. You can see the lettuce bed here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tendhergarden.blogspot.com/2010/08/small-but-amazing-things.html
I keep checking on my seedlings too. So many burnt to a crisp because it was so hot.
ReplyDeleteThis summer has been extremely dry and hot here in the Finland too.Let´s hope for a long and warm fall:)Great blog!
ReplyDeletemay those sprouts keep growing. yes, much different from the cool wetness of last summer.
ReplyDeleteEven hot and dry in Finland! I love to hear about other locations.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking at Johanna's photos of her garden bed with screen covers.