Decision made, bed is cleared.

 Another wonderful sunny day, still cool comparatively but warm enough for shorts. I suspect I'll be switching back and forth between shorts and pants for a few weeks. 

I got to chatting with Dolores a little, she met the other lady who waters her weeds in the ground and her tomatoes in the pots. There's a small thyme plant growing in one of the pots and for a fleeting second I wanted to grab a sprig then cancelled that. I would feel invaded if someone did that to my plants. Consent is for everything.

How it started last night. Cleared the bed, raked through the soil to stir it up then watered really, really well. I mean, it started puddling at first and after what I thought was a decent watering, shut it off and then dug my fingers in. It only went down about a quarter of an inch. Trod back to get the hose and do it some more. After a while I noticed it wasn't puddling as much and draining like it used to. Sure enough, it was thoroughly soaked down a few inches.

The cucumber plant still has some babies on it but they don't look very good, blossom end is yellowing which is a sign it may not have been pollinated. I didn't bother putting the bag around it last night for protection  and this is what I found in the morning.

That leaf is completely chewed and it wasn't like that last night.

I made a decision to not wait for the rest of the cucumbers. Season is creeping up and I need the room. Despite how healthy that plant is, it didn't have much in the way of roots. Nothing sizable at least and one was running parallel to the length of the bed. So out it came and I cleared the bark, logs and plants off to give it a good cultivating.

I decided to use what was left in the bag, it didn't add much but it was something at least. I think there may have been enough left to fill the window box but I'm working on this bed right now.

Even as I stood there after working it you can see the difference in the soil from only a few minutes exposure to the sun. There was one slug and several pill bugs I saw and yeeted them out of the bed. The two trays of lettuce seeds at the back, onions on the side and strawberries in the front. Not the finished placement as the pepper is missing. I moved it over to the West bed and that's likely where it will be planted. 

Nothing is getting planted  in that raised bed until I can get more soil in there. At least one, maybe two bags I would be willing to settle for rather than the four it actually needs. I did pack it down a bit with the cultivator and then a long piece of bark so it isn't all fluffy waiting to condense more. I'll be watering the lettuce trays for sure this evening and technically needed to keep them in the shade but oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of shade. That picture was taken at 11:45 am. Complete and total shade all the time now. I doubt even the front edge got much sun so it's going to be lettuces and green onions over there. Not much else to grow in the shade for the next six months. The West bed with the pepper in the foreground. Again, technically shouldn't plant a pepper after a tomato but that's the room I have as the cilantro is coming up at the other end. Oh yeah forgot to mention I found cat poo in that bed the other day, again, I added more bark pieces and haven't had an issue so far.

This bed gets the most sun earlier in the day but the first to get shade (other than the south bed) in the winter. Good spot for the pepper, the potatoes and maybe some radishes. Right, it was going to be my root crop bed. Not sure if it's deep enough for carrots though, I think even the potatoes are going to be crowded unfortunately but any potatoes is better than none at this point.

So that's it for today.  Took me most of the day because stupid blogger wasn't showing photos to choose so had to close it and do something else, have lunch and come back again.

Frustrations seem to be the thing this weekend.