First I pulled up two more radishes and considered that the end of my first crop of seeds. Those buckets have been sitting out for about a year, so the soil was pretty compressed and weeds were starting to thrive. That's why I think the other seeds I planted a couple of months ago--besides the radishes, which, as Tom is constantly reminding me, are extremely easy to grow--haven't been thriving. (I also haven't been that dilligent about making sure the seedlings were getting enough sun.)
Before I planted, I pulled out the stunted vegetables and large weeds and put them in the compost. I then emptied all the containers of their media into a large bucket and stirred it up with a shovel to aerate it. I should have had the media tested at the county Extension office to see if it's pH-balanced and what nutrients it might need, but I wanted to go ahead and plant. I'm guessing that there're still enough nutrients in the media (a mixture of perlite, peat moss, and lime) to have at least one more season of veggies. (And I am using a small amount of slow-release fertilizer.) If these don't thrive, I'll start over with new media for spring gardening.
I planted one container each of radishes, carrots, spinach, red-leaf lettuce, kale, onions, green onions, celery, broccoli, and a salad mix:
One of these days maybe I will bring home the other containers at work and plant them, too.
My neighbor brought home some plants last week. She says they're garlic and some sort of berry (it has thorns that poked me). She transplanted them into some of my pots and I added a little slow-release fertilizer. I'm not sure if they'll be ok. They seemed a little wilty.
Finally, I watered everything and moved all the containers into the sun. It was a good weekend for gardening--absolutely gorgeous and not too hot. It's weird to be grateful for that in mid-December. This has got to be the warmest December on record.
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