Planted bulbs, Garden Update

 Recall the passion fruit vine I recently planted? It is not happy. The other day, I took a closer look at it and discovered 7 snails on or around it, which I removed. Then 2 days later, there were 2 more. I'll keep checking it and picking them off. I hope it recovers. My friend saw how sad it looks and told me not to worry as she'd already asked her other friend for more cuttings.

Remember the lettuce wasn't looking so good and I gave it fertilizer. That was an organic vegetable fertilizer brand. I think that was too much for it, as it quickly withered and died.

In other sad news, the asparagus starts that I'd enclosed in protective plastic sleeves (old juice jugs with top and bottom cut off) is browning. I'd guess the overheated in the sun. I've removed the sleeves, but kept the wire spikes I put in with them to dissuade rodents. I hope they're happier now.

And the great, yet inevitable, garden tragedy of the week is that right after fertilizing, the squirrels discovered the chard and beet seedlings. They had a feast! Hubby and I have been researching wire enclosures to decide what to make to exclude the squirrels from the garden.

Some of the flower seedling I planted over a month ago are starting to sprout, so we'll keep our fingers crossed for them.

The succulents we moved around a week or so ago are looking pretty good. A friend gave me another succulent that we put in the back border. Speaking of the border, we also planted snapdragon and alyssum starts there (and alyssum in the veggie bed). We also planted about a dozen of each ranunculus and freesia bulbs in the back border. I hope they get established and return for years! Time will tell.

Planted and Fertilized at home

Ah!  Spring is definitely here, and I've go the bug!  I spent almost the whole day in the garden, after starting the morning at Zumba.  I pulled out some old veggies and gathered fennel and basil seeds before planting.  I put in basil, dill, and chive seeds.  Plus I had starts of Celebrity Tomatoes that I planted, which are VFNT resistant.  If anything can survive my diseased home garden beds, they seem the most likely candidates.  They went in the North and West beds.  I hope they at least taste decent.  Also, I planted marigolds (for looks and to discourage nematodes), snapdragons, and celosia.  The latter I've never grown before.  The flowers went in North, West and South beds, plus pots.  DH harvested the worm bin and put the castings in the North and West beds.  Finally I gave a very thorough fish fertilizing to the Carrotwood tree and the hedge on the North side of the house that I'm hoping will pep them up, along with the deep watering they've been getting.

Fertilized at home, Carrotwood Tree

Today I used seaweed and fish emulsion deeply on the citrus trees.  Trying to perk up a little mandarin in back.  Used this on a quetionable apple tree on the back slope to see if it would leaf out better this year.

Also used the seaweed and fish emulsion on the N. Bed, S. Bed, W. Bed, and pots.

Still trying to help the Northern part of the Carrotwood Tree.  Used the seaweed and fish emulsion deeply there, then wound a new soaker hose around the back area and watered deeply.  Please let this help!

Finally, took that seaweed and fish emulsion to the front yard and fertilized the North hedge.  Somewhere on that hedge the dial-a-sprayer must have clogged, so I don't know how much fertilizer that hedge actually got.

Fertilized with Fish Emulsion at home, Pruned Roses

I fertilized the South, North and West garden beds with Fish Emulsion today.  The lettuce and beet seeds that I planted in my nematode-infested North bed are hardly germinating.

Pruned all the roses, so now my house is littered with vases of roses that were still on the bushes.  What do other people do in warm climates?  You have to prune sometime, right?  But it always seems a shame to cut off so many flowers.

While pruning roses, I found more raccoon scat.  That thing loves my garden.  DH was kind enough to clean it up for me, wearing gloves and mask and such.  Nasty diseases in that stuff.

Fertilized

Did Gro-Power inn the front and on roses plus some ornamental pots.

Did Dr. Earth's Citrus Fertilizer on the citrus.

Did some Miracle Grow Organic (until gone - yea!) and some Dr. Earth's Vegetable fertilizer on N, S, and W beds, plus the vegetable pots.

Also, used worm tea in the N bed.

Fertilized with Fish Emulsion at home

Used the Fish Emulsion on the North, South and West Beds, plus pots, front and roses.

Amending Soil to Fix the Zero Nitrogen Issue

I am aware that some organic vegetable gardens may have very low water soluble nitrogen levels, but ZERO seems a bit low to me.  I'm hoping this is the issue with my North and West beds, because it is one that I can fix.  Just to be sure, I dug up a few of my pathetic tomato plants to take them back to the nursery for show and tell, along with my soil test results.

I came back with some new tricks.

The first is blood meal.  I've heard that it is easy to burn plants with this as it can be too nitrogen-hot, but really, with ZERO, is that going to be an issue?  (Were those famous last words?)  One of the nursery guys told me to use it in 2-5x quantities on the label and he wasn't concerned.  Another just said he's had trouble with it attracting animals, so he recommended I scratch it in.  I don't want to attract the raccoon pair that's recently been sited in the neighborhood.

I used the blood meal in the North Bed: 4 1/6  cups total.
Blood meal in the West Bed: 1 5/6 cups total

I clawed it in for both locations.

The second photo shows what I'm hoping will be my new best friends: Dial N Spray and Fish Fertilizer.  Today I used the Sprayer for the first time and it was super easy.  We had something like this about 12 years ago that wasn't nearly as intuitive.  I used the fish emulsion on the North Bed, West Bed, South Bed, Pots, and Front.  (Plus the camellias were in my way, so I foliar sprayed them, too.)

I hope to see some improvement in the sorry state of some plants.  I hope I'm on the right track.

Fertilized

Fertilized the veggies using a Miracle Grow Organic Fertlizer I got at Home Depot, which I don't really trust.