Carrots and Gooseberries

My husband came home yesterday and wondered why I had gone out in the pouring rain. It was the garden of course. He told me that I had put it in black and white on my blog that I would be resting and I wouldn't garden. What can I say? In all the major planting that I've been doing, I forgot to check my carrots. Remember my experiment?

Carrots starting to germinate

One of the ways I was planting carrots was in TP that had been soaked in water and the seed allowed to germinate inside then planted out. I noticed the little green head of a carrot poking up. Whoops. I was supposed to plant when I saw the first hint growth. You know I was supposed to check on them. I didn't. Some of the roots were already over an inch long. So they had to get in the ground right away. It was hard planting in the cold rainy weather. The worst part really was that I was running this strip down the middle of the tomato bed. My arms barely reach in that far. So I was straining to hold myself up and not fall into the middle. But at least they are planted. I hope they survive their neglect.

Today was a beautiful day. In the 60Fs and mostly sunny. My townhouse mate and I were going out together this time to plant. I let her dig the holes for the three gooseberries (Hinnonmaki Red, Invicta, Trixia) from Nourse Farms. OK I still shoved dirt back in and raked a bit, but I was trying not to strain my arm too much. I did OK.

Two of the plants were beautiful. Well the roots were beautiful. Above is just a stick. The last one was pretty sad. They obviously start them in plugs about 1 1/2" x 3". Then they transplant them. Well the plug was obviously root bound and they didn't do anything about it when they transplanted. The roots had grown too and they were starting to strangle the plant. The root system just wasn't very healthy. I carefully unwound the poor kinked roots so they could grow straight again and not be twisted into their neighbors. I hope it works.

Cranberry

Then we went to plant cranberries. We moved half of the piles of pine needles off of the area and into the front where the blueberries are. Both will be mulched with those. Hopefully it will help bring the pH down. The planting on my side went smoothly. The planting on the other side was slower. I had said to mix the peat moss into the soil when they prepared it, but it was just on top. So I had her mix it in before planting and remoisten the soil. The layer of plain peat had just shed all the water from yesterday. It didn't soak it up at all. Peat can be such a pain when it is dry. Mixing it with the soil helps keep it from happening.

While I was out I planted four rhubarb plants. I was going to get some from a friend, but I couldn't resist it at the garden center. The problem with having a garden that is all planned out and all the plants ordered is that you can't just pick things up when you see them. It has been killing me this year. I see something fun and I can't just buy it. Like mints. I saw a whole bunch of mints (I forget where) and I so wanted to buy one, but I have them coming in the mail, so I'll have to wait for them. So far that has been my one spontaneous plant purchase this year. I'll only get more if something dies or I decide to plant something other than what I have under my lights.