And the results are in! Surpising to say the least.

 So with all my knowledge and experience this is a surprising result from the soil tests.

The colors don't lie.

So the way these tests work is the darker the color the more of that particular nutrient you have in the soil. From left to right is (Empty pH tube) Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (potash). So no discernible nitrogen and the other two are considered 'very low'. Right, then how come I have a plant that looks like this:

June 28 2021

I'm not going to  mess with it if the plant is basically healthy. Will likely put some more food on it this weekend and maybe look for a bag of compost or something to put around the soil to keep it moist and cooler for both plants. I noticed when I was digging for soil samples the back side of the plant (shaded) was still very moist but where the sun pounded on it was bone dry down an inch or more. I may go get another test kit from a different company and try again but fertilizing first and waiting a week is a better idea.

What did I say about using mulch around plants? There ya go.

One thing I am noticing is the leaves are tending to be kind of wrinkled and almost thicker, which is a sign of the nutrient issues I'm having. So for now, not going to do anything but feed it and try to keep the water up a little better. I will likely be able to pick some peppers today or tomorrow depending on the size. Jalapeños should be about the length of your thumb or slightly bigger. I might leave a few on to ripen to red and see how they taste as well.

If it was cooler I'd plant cilantro (already been there I know) the seeds on the plants in the planter box are almost ready to harvest so I'll likely nip a couple tomorrow if Rocky goes in that direction.

I was in the bookstore earlier and browsed through the home and garden section. This being a Barnes&Noble they usually have a great selection. Not a single Sunset Western Garden Book to be seen so that verifies that they've stopped selling them through retailers at least. The latest edition I could find listed online was 2012 which would be their ninth edition as far as updating goes I guess. The Square Foot Gardening book is out there, all updated and looking new and of course 'Vegetable Gardening For Dummies' which is a fantastic source for basics with a dash of humor.

The Square Foot Gardening book and show has been around since the seventies and is based on 'French intensive gardening'. Where you take the absolute minimum space a plant needs and then space your plants accordingly. So you get tomatoes crammed almost shoulder to shoulder at 2 foot spacing (on center remember) and peppers even closer. I don't like planting that close and thankfully I have the space to do so. It also had a section on 'caging' your garden in various ways using pvc or wood frames with netting or chicken wire to protect the plants from birds. So far I don't have that problem but will see when the flowers up top develop fruit. 

One thing I keep telling gardeners is keep a garden journal. However way you want to do it, paper, electronic, whatever but keep track of what and when you plant, how you water, what the weather is like when you do water, what fertilizer you use....all that stuff. Kind of like tracking your symptoms when you go to the doctor. That way when something goes wrong and you want to consult someone you can say 'I was watering roughly every other day for about twenty minutes and it was penetrating the soil down about four inches. Last time I fertilized was about a month ago and used...blah blah blah blah. 

Instead what I would get is, 'oh I don't know... I watered when it looked dry/water every day like the instructions said... oh I don't remember when I fed it' 'oh am I supposed to feed it? The soil said it had fertilizer for three months' even worse from the English as a second language class, 'Fertilizer? Food what's that?' ::Deep breath and heavy sigh:: 

Or the dreaded (general garden answer) 'oh  my gardener takes care of it I don't know what he does'. ::slow simmering frustration steam coming out of ears::

It's YOUR garden! YOU take care of it. YOU figure out the watering system, you want healthy plants you need to find out what they need. Don't have the time or energy, then put in artificial grass and have a mow and blow company come through and take care of your yard and put your trust and $140/week in them.

I honest to god had a lady say she just wanted pretty plants but didn't want to do any gardening. Then go get artificial ones and spend the same amount of money on high quality ones that don't fade.   Another one wanted a fruit tree but didn't want to really eat the fruit just liked the flowers. Can you see where I'm coming from? Gardening is for those that enjoy being out there and doing things to nurture and improve their yard and their mental health. If you don't want to do that then get  a condo with a balcony four floors up. 

Gardening is also not for high maintenance, anxious, nitpicky type of people that will come in every day asking questions.  One man said he had a particular fungus on his citrus tree, I looked at him and said, how do you know? (The disease he mentioned was a very rare dysfunction and rarely if ever showed up in citrus). We went round and round because he wanted a specific type of fungicide that doesn't exist in California let alone standard retail. We went to the computer and I showed him as he looked over my shoulder, 'not available in stores, cannot ship to California' 'well do you have anything like it?'

(see reaction above)

 

You have to have a borderline hippy type attitude that some things you need to accept as part of having a garden and moderating any incursions of disease or pest with lowest impact possible. You have to be careful though and not go the other direction of 'if it doesn't survive in my garden then it doesn't belong there' attitude. Everything needs encouragement and nurturing to an extent in order to thrive and produce better results. Just like people and pets.

 

Right now I have signs that there's a huge caterpillar on my tomato, have I seen more damage? Nope, therefore it's done chomping and gone to ground, when the plant is dug up later I  may well find the pupa case and can throw it out then. One is not a problem so I'm lucky and didn't go spend money on a product I'm only going to use once or twice. Do I talk to my plants? No, I talk about my plants, I talk about what's going on when I see a problem but I don't name my plants and treat it like a third person or pet. I may be crazy but not that far gone. 

I even have a badge to prove it!