Filling Buckets and Planting Seeds

Today was a fairly productive day. Got 7 buckets filled and planted. I was right about needing one more bag of the composted cow manure. I'll get that tomorrow.

One bucket has a grape vine, variety is Reliance seedless. Two have white and purple vienna kohlrabi. They came from the same seed packet so we'll have to see what sprouts. Two more have Detroit red beets seeds. We don't really eat beets but I think we should start.

One has kaleidoscope carrot seeds. My son 'planted' the carrots. Or rather, he took the seeds I put in his palm and sort of dumped them in the bucket. Sort of my fault since I didn't actually tell him to spread them around. Most of them ended up around the center of the top of the bucket. I tried to spread them out a little but carrots seeds are so small and they sort of blended in with whatever they put in the potting soil. But we'll see how they come out. I can always thin them creatively or replant if needed.

I have one bucket that is filled but not planted and three more I'll fill tomorrow. Not sure what I'll put in those. I have some old seeds that I'm testing the viability of in some wet paper towels that I put in baggies and set in the window. One is baby carrots and the other is cabbages.If those sprout, I'll definitely use those. But I have my doubts that they'll sprout at all.

I still have a lot of the potting soil left over. About 2/3 of a bag. The last 3 buckets should take that down to somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of a bag. As you can see in the picture, the manure bag is slightly bigger than 1/2 of the bag. That's a 64 quart bag of potting soil. The manure bag says 50lb. But I think the difference is just because the potting soil is lighter.

Here's something interesting. All of these flowers are from the same plant. Love the variety though.

My son and daughter helped me water the buckets and plant the seeds. Here's my daughter hanging around afterwards. (She's not quite as tall as the fence so she's actually hanging on the side.) 

And I love getting dirty, don't you?

Last, but not least, is a panoramic of my current plants sheltering in the shade of the building. Everything is doing well. The radishes, peas and romaine lettuce in particular are growing nicely in the 30 gal container. The dahlias are blooming their crazy little heads off. The white/purple dahlias should bloom soon. Will definitely get a pic of those.

For now, it's past my bedtime. See yas laters.