Broccoli Cauliflower

(br>It turned out to be a busy Saturday. After planting onion seeds, I went to Webster Brothers in Walkertown. It's the one place that I can guarantee finding cauliflower to plant. I haven't mastered the art of growing broccoli or cauliflower from seed. Maybe I will try it next spring.

On the way there, my son Jason asked me to help him install a ceiling light and fan. That took the bulk of the afternoon. The fixture was actually rescued from Jenna's room when I installed a new light there and Jason's baby room had a ceiling outlet for a light and fan, but nothing installed. It made for an interesting afternoon because, despite our thinking it through, we didn't understand until faced with the facts that there are two sizes of pipes that can be used to hang such fixtures from the ceiling. We learned this because we purchased the wrong one and had to go shopping again to find the right one. Then, we learned about how easy it is to trip a multibreaker and how challenging it is to reset one. But the fan and light were ultimately installed and worked.

It was evening before I got to plant the broccoli and cauliflower. I used my McDonald's straw trick to guard against cutworms. I installed the straws in the house before putting them in the beds. I put the plants in the beds with the poor soil. Things grew there; it just doesn't seem like the soil has much to it. I fertilized heavily and added a scoop of soil from one of the better beds right at the spot where the plants were placed. I think I will need to water regularly until the plants are established.

Garden Friends and Onions

My activity this past week has involved getting the garden ready for fall planting and planting some onion seeds. I had Sam and Taylor come over and finish cleaning out the beds. It was well worth the cost for their three hours of work.

I planted some onion seeds. This year, I am planting 4 to a square foot. That will give them a little more room. I also planted in a bed that is easier to water. I want to give them a little more water next spring than the yellow of Parma got last year. Hopefully, it will keep them from going to bloom prematurely. I planted 48 seeds from a purplish yellow of Parma onion that I had saved. It will be interesting to see if they turn out to be purplish, too. Then I planted seeds in 136 spots for true yellow of Parma. I had plenty of seeds left over from last year, so I used those rather than the seeds I had gathered from this year. I double planted so that there were at least two seeds in every hole. A couple of years ago, I didn't plant deeply enough and the seeds either didn't sprout or died shortly after. This year, the holes were maybe a half an inch deep, but not fully filled in when I was done. I hope they sprout and that they weren't planted too deep.

The rest of this entry is just pictures of garden friends that I've seen around.