How Does Your Garden Grow?

KimB

How Does My Garden Grow? In the Hot

This year of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge. The global tragedy continues to unfold, the effects of illness, death, vaccine trials and vaccine queues, food shortages, overwhelmed workers, income uncertainty, housing difficulties and the myriad other aspects of our modern societies inequities were laid open for the whole world to see.

Only a few countries managed the situation well. The USA was not one of them.

During the first lock downs and lock ins, human perseverance come to the fore. As the shelves in the stores of our affluent cities lay bare, shopping options decreased and old techniques began to resurface. Old cookbooks with recipes that showed raw ingredients rather than listing cans of preprocessed food, were sought after. People with internet access found sites that promoted Olde Tyme Ways like making your own butter, provided you could find the right milk, 'cause most urban dwellers are forbidden to have cows, sheep, goats or chickens in their back yards. Friends exchanged tips and techniques on making-do, as well as sharing the occasional good luck when finding hard to acquire items.

During the winter, I spent a good deal of time considering what I could do with my limited resources and abilities to ameliorate our situation. Shopping was out. We relied on some friends to drop food at our door. Things were shaky and eating was my main concern.

I thought about my small container garden along side the house, but rejected using it as things rarely worked out as planned. The summers are hotter than hot and without shade the plants just cooked in the containers. I had a shade cloth rigged that covered the garden area which did improve things, until our HOA sent the Cease and Desist Letter informing me that "having a shade cloth visible from the street was against the HOA rules". Even requesting a temporary use until harvest time was met with a big NO. It was discouraging.

Still the containers remained a possibility.

One of the big DIY stores did home delivery and while looking on line for repair items, I found packets of vegetable seeds. Most of the standard types and most them with the invisible ink message: Failure In Waiting. Several types of tomato seeds were also listed. Checking the pennies in the bank account, I figured I could order 2 packets of seeds: 1 Roma type and 1 Medium Round type.

Tomatoes are a hit n miss item for the containers and the heat, plus growing from seed is another OH? problem.

I set out to solve a few obstacles in growing the seeds by changing my expectations.

1. I would not expect any harvest
2. I would not expect the seeds to germinate
3. I would not expect the plants to survive very long
4. I would use the activity for stress release
5. It would give us an opportunity to "look forward" to something new

First I had to check and repair the drip water lines. Over the years, I've had to readjust my thinking about drip irrigation too, from "text book" to "practical". I had the extra parts and lines to adjust system with new insights: Hot Hot Hotter and No Shade.

Next, one of the main water pipes had broken and I needed to repair that. This was a whole adventure in itself. I had to order parts "by picture" and when it comes to irrigation pipes that can be a challenge. It was an adventure for sure, but in the end, I got the pipe repaired and the water flowing again.

I planted 2 pots with 5 seeds each. I hoped for 2 seedlings. I covered the 2 pots with some shade cloth and waited. In short order, 10 seed begain to sprout!

H-Frame

I had some old wood garden stakes stored and I got those out and began to build a small frame completely Ad Hoc. A screw here and there and I had a small H-frame double the height of the containers. I made a few of H-frames and set them next to the containers to hold up the shade cover. This wasn't going to last too long when the plants started to really grow, but it gave them a chance to get started.

When the seedlings got to transplant size I asked my friend if she wanted some for her garden. It was a surprise when she said they were not doing a garden this year and my attempts to re-home some tomato plants fell though.

I had 10 nice tomato plants ready to transplant but no home for them.


What to do, Percy?

Morning Shade

Well, what I did was fixed up more containers, repaired and adjusted more drip lines and transplanted the young plants to new homes in the side yard. I now have a bunch of containers with large tomato plants.

They do have a few flowers but with global warming, heat domes and record 115F/46.1 heatwaves in progress locally, I doubt that any tomatoes will happen.



But then, I didn't think any of the seeds would sprout either.

Hopeful Flowers