PLANT OUT! (W. Houston)

[Mojo]

Couldn't stand it one more day! Lows tonight only in the mid-40s, highs all week creeping back towards mid-70s.

Prep: previous massive tillage (the worms call it the Tining Time and make li'l sacrifices to appease my wrath). Addition of horse manure, cottonseed meal and rock phosphate. I'm stubborn, even though I'm in Houston I refuse to do raised beds --although with as nice as my furrows are this year, some 2x12s and stakes and you'd never know the difference. No gypsum this year, though, the soil is getting fairly friable after several years of amending. Furrows are 3-3.5 ft apart, with plants spaced approximately 3ft apart.

Planting: the advantage of using 24oz clear plastic cups for seedlinings is that I can clearly see when the plant roots are telling me "bury us!" Holes dug and half-filled with Green Light starter solution (mixed per instructions), then PLOP, a bit more solution, then filled back in, with a tiny bit of solution on the soil at the top. After all plants in, a light watering of entire bed.

3 x Black Krim
3 x Persimmon
1 x Chadwick Cherry
1 x Moonglow
1 x Gregori's Altai
1 x Early Goliath
2 x Cherokee Purple
3 x either Cherokee Purple or Early Goliath (I mixed up the labels )
7 x Golden zucchini (can't make ratatouille without zucchini)

And I'm not done yet. I've only planted out about half the total available bed space. I've got about a dozen Gulf States Market in cups or pots awaiting a bit more maturity, plus I haven't even gotten around to the "miscellany" like cukes, green beans, and what-not. I do know that once the zukes give up the ship in June, they will be replaced with eggplants.

UPDATE: I took pics this morning...

--the "old" bed, not fully planted out. It's just as well, the unplanted portion doesn't get good full sun for another month yet.


"New" bed, well-spaced and fully sunlit. Note overwintered pepper near metal stake.


Rest of "new" bed. Jasmine starting to bloom.