Happy Saturday!

The weather this week has put my temptation to the test!

The daytime high temperature has been hovering around 50 degrees-Fahrenheit while the nighttime lows is just around freezing. Part of me wanted to transplant some of the frost-hardy vegetables while another part of me was screaming, “are you crazy?” Of course, I knew it’d be crazy to start transplanting in early February because winter is not over and putting even one seedling in the ground would be a death sentence if the temperature was to drop below freezing for a prolong period of time.

In fact, reading my garden journal, I did just that last year and those seedlings were lost. So, yeah, I’m going to wait.

I have been bringing the seedlings outside and letting them bask in the sunshine this week. Bringing them outside has also provided the little bit of airflow I cannot provide them indoors. They’ve grown quite a bit under the sun and toughened up with the constant light breeze. I also think switching the water source has also helped.

It turned out, the water from my indoor tap is not good for plants. I probably lost around 3 dozen seedlings because of that water. I began watering with water from the rain barrels about two weeks ago. At first, I couldn’t see much difference but after a week or so, the yellowing leaves seemed greener again and the seedlings began to look healthy again.

If you’re wondering, it was the salt from the water softener, plus the salt in the coconut coir medium I’ve been using to start seeds. That’s too much salt.

It was my mom’s idea to install the water softener but now, she’s blaming me that I’m the one that “forced” her to install the water softener. When has she not blame me for something that had nothing to do with me?

The back garden is still mostly frozen, being in the shade and all, so I will mostly focus on the front garden for now. Comparing to December, these raised beds look very different, doesn’t it? I had to remove all the ones that’s either bolted (gone to seed) or perished from the cold temperatures. Mostly, what’s left is kale. I have two types of kale – dwarf curly kale and red Russian kale.

In the past, I’ve tried Lacinato (dinosaur) kale and Portuguese kale but found the leaves too tough to eat. So I’ve settled to grow only the curly kale and Russian kale, although I might try to grow Siberian kale this year. I know many people don’t like kale and let’s be honest, I wouldn’t like kale either if I’m to have the wilting bunch of leaves the grocery store called “kale”. The only kale I eat is the kind I grow myself – it’s sweet and tasty – nothing like the bland stuff at the store.

Can you tell I grow a lot of kale? I have kale just about everywhere in the garden. Currently, the kale in the garden were grown from seed and transplanted late last summer. The red kale might look a little wonky because it was direct-sowed and came up very leggy because of the hot soil in the summer heat. To help it survive, I had to lay the stem flat on the soil and then bury it. I think it looks kind of cool.

That kale is also growing in home-made compost mixed with perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss and it’s watered passively with an olla. I will have to keep this in the shade to hopefully keep it from bolting this year. 🤞

I’d like to thank Natalie for hosting Weekend Coffee Share each weekend. I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you have a great week.