SOIL Grow journal 📓 2021

[amy24]

I joined the community last year after years of reading posts for advice. I was intrigued by people creating grow journals through their whole operation. As the next grow season starts soon, and I prepare my soil, I decided to start my own.

I have an established herb garden - mint, lavender, borage, sage, chamomile, etc... I had my plants growing among the herbs last year. They are all great companion plants for a variety of reasons (pests, disease, nutrition). As soon as I harvested the plants, I basically began prepping the ground.

I planted fava beans and winter wheat as cover crops to help add new nitrogen to the soil. And all season long, Ive been dumping my egg shells, coffee grounds, and banana peels along with the occasional paper bag to help everything break down. The other day, I added some ash from my fireplace and bonemeal. Then today, I tilled the whole area and added compost, sea soil, and some leftover coconut coir to the area so it can all start breaking down. I will till again and then put a heavy black plastic over it to really speed up the process.

Hoping all my OCD tendencies will pay off haha 😆 😉

[CaptainWiese91]

So you have not planted the cannabis seeds yet ?

[amy24]

Nope, will wait until spring, mid-March

[Rwise]

Did you know that coffee grounds contain caffeine? Did you know that caffeine is an herbicide? Ouch! Now if you "wash" the caffeine out well, the rest is good to grow. I dont take the chance with my grow.

[amy24]

Sorry, I should have said used coffee grounds. Coffee grounds that have already been used, excellent source of nitrogen, highly recommended as a fertilizer in the seedling stage.

[MeEasy]

I like what you are doing it looks good. I'll be following along. I do have a recommendation take out the Christmas lights they won't break down in the soil with the organic material they're just gonna be a problem especially with the rototiller. 🤠🌲

[amy24]

Haha I noticed those in the background after! They’ve only been sitting there for a week, you would think I would moved them by now 😬😆

[ChrisTheMick]

A festive grow. Theyre gonna be festivus buds

[SoOrbudgal]

LOL atta girl you let us know when you got your garden ready to plant. We will help you get going. I really love gardening outdoors.

[amy24]

Feels good to be out there again!

[amy24]

So I guess I post again just as a reply?? Just started germinating this week, a week earlier than I usually do but my good grower friend already had his in soil so I decided to start with a round. Started with five feminized white widow seeds I had ordered last year but didn’t end up using, plus 10 or so random seeds that came from some plants I let grow a bit too long last year. Did the soak in water for 12-18 hours then transfer to a paper towel deal. One from the random group grew a very long taproot right away so it’s already in a red solo cup by a south facing window starting today. I have always used sea soil, I just filtered it through my hands to get rid of any of the big chunks to try to make it more delicate for the little seedling haha. It’s been about three days and 3/5 white widow seeds have cracked and are forming a tiny little taproot now. Fingers crossed for more, if not, still lots of time to try again with more random seeds.

[amy24]

Pics

[Sylvester]

Nice strong shoots there Amy.🙂

[Sylvester]

Well done Amy, I like the look of your garden 🌻🦋 Tea leaves are good source of Nitrogen too.
🌙 Sowed on New Moon in Pisces too! 🙂 Water sign & New Moon; they were bound to take off well.
With growing a garden , I guess you already knew about that.
I will be following along too. An outdoor grow is a fantasy I have , shared garden makes almost impossible.
Best of wishes.

[amy24]

I actually don’t know much about planting with the moon but love the tip! Sounds right up my alley, if you have any good sites to suggest, I’d love to learn more.

[Sylvester]

Indeed , great old paperback that used to come out every year is the Farmer's Almanac, they always mention the New Moon.
I'm sure it still exists , perhaps online now.
Many handy sites on you tube about growing.
I follow Astrology, so the Sun & Moon closely , you really couldn't have picked a better time.
Astro.com is the site I use for present situation & plotting charts, it's free & easy to use.
Accuweather site shows the Moon phases & tides too.

[amy24]

Don’t know if I need to be this detailed but since I’m clearly obsessed 😉 decided to share yesterday’s steps in the garden. Also got two more germinated seeds (white widow, feminized) into red solo cups so have three by the window now.

[SoOrbudgal]

Good job amy24 it's warmer here where i'm at but still too early for my plantings. Amy how do you treat for bugs in your garden? Girl just make sure you time the outdoor planting and you harden off those starts before they get into the soil. I can't stress enough waiting till you have more than 12hrs of daylight sun up to sun set. I can't wait either I'm clearing out the thick moss out of my beds now. Have fun

[amy24]

SoOrbudgal Awesome, thanks for the advice! Sunrise and sunset around 7 right now so should be good by the time they are ready but I did start a tad early this year so 🤞 it all works out. I just started germinating a few more seeds just in case too. For bugs, the companion plants (mint, lavender,etc) around are supposed to help plus I also plant garlic randomly around my garden just for pest prevention. Also will plant marigolds and sunflowers when they are ready, they are supposed to distract the pests. I also ended up doing some tea tree sprays throughout the summer. Been meaning to try neem oil - any experience using that?

[SoOrbudgal]

Cool beans amy24 just as long as they get a great big veg start it's all good. I'm not starting my seeds till maybe mid April maybe later. No don't use neem, i use dish soap or a product called safer. Also diamascus earth on top of soil i would make a ring out from the base. I put 2 tbls of dish soap in a sprayer filled with water. Hit aphids on my camillia and rose bushes with it. We have alot of " rust " on plants from wet and cold. It clears up also Epsome salts is really good to.

[amy24]

Thanks for the tips! ❤️ I will also use on my roses! Going to go read about diamascus earth right now too!

[amy24]

Lots to report...I was up to 7 seedlings, went camping for three days and tried to convince my husband to let me take them with us haha but alas when we came home a couple had died and then over the next few days another couple bit the dust. I think it was my fungus gnat problem from my house plants I tried to kill them all in February but there were a few stragglers and I found tons of them living in this bag of flower bulbs I bought recently. I could literally see a little “bite” or stress point on the stems as if they had been pinched and then they just dried up. I still have two strong seedlings, one from the first round of seeds and one from the second. Good learning point here, the first round I used sea soil like I always have, but this year realized it’s been a silly seed starter because it’s just so dense. Second round, I switched to an organic potting soil starter mix and that seedling is doing WAY better than the first one. The sea soil one from a week earlier looks stunted beside the starter mix seedling.

Also did more to my garden plot haha I just can’t stop. I was reading about trench composting for my root vegetables and thought I mays well dig a big hole under my planting area and trench some stuff there! So I did. Dug deep into the clay part of the soil and really tilled it up and added peat moss, sand and seal soil to break up the clay. Then, I added banana, coffee grounds, wood ashes, seaweed, worm poo, some compost from my bin, egg shells (and the carton) and some dandelions I had pulled out of the yard earlier. (Side note dandelions have big long tap roots that get lots of nutrients from deep in the ground.) Then I put all the soil back on top, making sure to break up the thick clay chunks and break it all down. I’m going to try to take it super easy on the fertilizing when they are flowering this year so happy to have a deep pocket of nutrients waiting to be used

I have six more seeds soaking, and that’s the last of them. I can only grow 4 plants so wondering if I should get more seeds or just clone the ones I have when I top them which worked a little too well for me last year to the point where I had way more than I was allowed. One is definitely feminized the other is a total random.

Hope you all are enjoying your start to Spring too! 💐

[Canuck147]

Bummer you lost some younguns. Good on ya to keep at it. Maybe get a few autoflower seeds - they only take 90 - 100 days or so from seed to harvest.

I think once you get them growing they are going to do very well in that grow medium you concocted .

[amy24]

Still growing! Lots of sun this week! Was bringing them
outside with me in the afternoon, now have been putting them out right when I get up in a super sunny spot in the yard and the. Then they end the day in my super sunny window. ❤️

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking good boy do they love the sunshine, that's where mine would be if i did'nt have big pots big plants right now to many steps to take back an forth.

[amy24]

Jealous of your big pots! Do you think these two are ready to go in the ground tomorrow?