the greens perpetuate

"Perpetual greens" is what is says on our garden map. That is the mission! We failed at first by planting all our lettuce and greens at once, but now we're popping/seeding lettuces in as we pluck the first ones out. Today I went down and direct seeded a bunch of lettuce in the old lettuce rows. Only three lettuces remain in the ground from the orginals. In each spot I seeded, I first scooped out a bit of soil, threw down a handful of compost, pressed it firmly but not hard to restore capillarity, tossed 8 or so lttle seeds loosely onto each spot, came back with a heavy sprinkle of compost, pressed it down lightly, and watered.

I also planted the beans, which have been growing dutifully out of their mudballs for weeks now, sitting outside on a tray. I planted them with two sprouting next to each other. We will see how they do.

Still no flowers on the peas, though they're four feet tall or more. Too much nitrogen? Mike thinks so.

I fertilized with fish emulsion today, 4 tbsp in 2 gallons of water, mostly doused the little lettuces and beans, and gave a bit to the other new plantings, including the chard, bok choi, tomatoes, and peppers.

I "up-blocked" the little basils on Tuesday night. There are now thirty or so 2" cubes with the little basil cubes stuck in them. Some of them had a long root that had hopped to the little block next door, which I had to cut. The stems of some of them have shriveled, though not fatally. I have been waiting too long to upblock. I think the right time to do it must be within a couple days after they sprout, though the roots seem to reach the edge of the block and tell the plant to just freeze and wait until there's more soil. I added more peat moss and compost, measured in handfuls and guessed, a bit more moss than compost. The new cubes hold together really well. Their sides are sheer, they're hard.

Time: ~ 2 hours (including basil up-blocking)