This and That

Wellll, I ventured out today and done the transplanting. Mixed up enough potting mix containing 20% vermiculite ratio for 10 flower pails. Transplanted rest of flowers I had and the spinach and kale my daughter gave me. Plus I put the 6 pack of lettuce she gave me into my 3x4 foot bin. Then I topped off my six remaining container boxes with container mix with vermiculite and then added ferlizer {ironite 12-10-10] watering it in real good afterward. Let that set for awhile and then transplanted my two tomato plants and four pepper plants.

Only thing I have left is to do is the one ground box for the zucchini in back of the fence. Plus I need to do something about the four pails with no place to put them except on the deck. Hang them or build a rack for them.

I will water the container boxes a couple more times where my tomato and peppers are to give the ferlizer time to soak around in the container mix before I do another fertility test.

One other thing I did was redone a flower pail from last year where I had put burlap on the bottom and sides and then added the potting mix with no vermiculite. I wanted to see how the root system was on the flower plant so I carefully tipped the pail into my mixing tray removing the contents without damaging the flower plant. I then removed the burlap and carefully removed the potting mix. The plant root system was not developing very well beyond the original potting mix. No wonder the plant was not doing well as it appeared it was still root bound from the original purchase container size. I did not break the original container mix up and loosen the roots like I did this year on my transplanting from original container to new container. I took the plant when I removed it and loosened up the root bound system tearing away some of the root bound roots and the original container mix. Then I took a hose and washed out most of the old container mix and then loosened the roots some more. Took it down to the bare roots you might say. Then I opened up a deep hole in the new container mix with the vermiculite letting the root system hang down and then filled around it with more fresh mix. Put ferlizer around it [ironite 12-10-10] and then set it where I wanted it and watered it in real good. See if the plant survives this episode.

That ironite 12-10-10 seems to work real well for my flowers as they seem to be doing quite nicely.