gardening update, Monday 4/24/17

The Lazarus pepper continues to chug along. I don't think the current flower is going to produce fruit, but the plant itself seems to be gearing up to sprout some more leaves and flowers, so hey, we'll see what happens over the summer. :)





The new pepper seedlings all continue to do well. (...I'm going to have to find pots for all of them, aren't I. Oh, bother.)


( four squash photos under the cut )

Meanwhile, the squash are doing... not so well. Of the four I transplanted last week, only one (Meeny) seems to be thriving. One (Miny 1) already died and has been replaced by one of the previously un-transplanted seedlings. The replacement is now unhappy in turn. Another of the initial transplants (Eeny) is in the process of dying; I expect it to be withered by morning. And the fourth (Mo), like the replacement transplant, is... let's go with 'not happy' and leave it there, yeah?

The moral of this story is that I should A) not plant squash at all until mid-April and B) plant them directly in their final homes -- probably two or three seeds to a container, and then thin to whichever seedling seems healthiest after three weeks or so.

We learn by doing, I suppose, and I have plenty of squash seeds left. I will plant a couple of them in Eeny's container later this week, once I know whether I'll be replacing Miny 2 and Mo as well. (I have no seedlings left to transplant; the remaining three have all died.)


[[original Tumblr post, for when the embedded images inevitably break]]

stuff done: Friday-Monday

1. Donated to the OTW's fundraising drive.

2. Arranged a phone call with Susan for Tuesday evening.

3. TOOK A NAP.

4. Transplanted a replacement squash when one of my initially transplanted seedlings died. (The replacement is not terribly happy either, alas.)

5. Called Vicky to catch up now that I'm not drowning in 50-60 hour work weeks and she is past a work glut of her own.

6. Attended church to hear Rev. Weis (our ministerial candidate) preach the first of two sermons she will be giving before we vote on whether to call her as our settled minister. I think the service went well, and (pending getting to talk with her in a small-group setting, when she meets with the Stewardship team on Thursday), I have high hopes that the whole thing will work out. *crosses fingers*

( more items under the cut )

15. TOOK A NAP. And this after I slept eleven hours Sunday to Monday, yikes. I think I am catching up on three months of sleep debt, though I'm sure the start of allergy season is not helping.

16. Cleaned my bathroom, including scrubbing the shower ceiling for mildew which is a smelly pain in the neck but needs to be done a couple times a year.

17. Finished the rough draft of my last prompt meme ficlet. Now I am going back to add some emotional through-lines and sensory details so it's not just faceless mannequins exchanging toneless dialogue in front of a blank white screen. I have no idea why this ficlet has been such a pain to write. It's not like the premise was complicated, but getting words onto the page has been like pulling teeth. *hands* Some stories are like that, and I will never know why.

18. Attempted a bit of exercise, now that I am not in a constant state of overwork and sleep deprivation. I should probably try to work out some kind of routine for that, and also something to DO while I exercise because otherwise I break off out of boredom and never get anywhere.

Perhaps that is a use for podcasts...?