Day One of the fall gardening season was a smashing success. Other than the bok choy mishap (an entire open packet of bok choy seeds was dropped and spilled into one of the beds) I feel like I had a very productive day. We bought 6 bags of turkey compost and a small bag of dry molasses to amend the beds. Did you know that dry molasses and dried molasses are not the same thing? For gardening, if you aren't using diluted liquid molasses as a foliar spray, you use dry molasses which isn't molasses granules at at. Rather, it's dried grain, often soy meal; it's coated with molasses that is released when watered.
Dry molasses is used to stimulate beneficial organisms in the soil. It provides trace minerals and will accelerate your compost pile. And, for those of us in Texas, it's supposed to deter fire ants. I applied approximately 1/4 pound of dry molasses to each 4x4 bed and turned it under with the turkey compost. I direct sowed carrots, beets, kohlrabi and bok choy in two of the beds. That was all I had the energy for.
By the time I was done my knee was completely swollen. It was as big around as my thigh, giving the apearance that I lacked the damn joint altogther. The limb went from thigh to spindly little calf with no transition. I often think that it's best to keep moving, that movement can only be beneficial. The PT says to go slow and easy. If this is the party line, it may put a kink in my plan to develop an ACL rehab regimen for gardeners. Talk about a niche market!
I am exhausted in a good way. The hours spent in the garden were worth the swelling and moderate discomfort. I'll spend the week planning our largest and newest garden bed. It's roughly 8x10. We learned a lot about this bed over the summer. We learned about plant placement, how the sun travels, the taller plants will need to go on one side so they do not shade the shorter ones that need a little sun too. Our basil needed to be replanted last spring because they were overshadowed by the tomatoes. I still need to plant our spinach, lettuce, brussels sprouts, and GARLIC!!! I think I see High Mowing order in my future.
Sounds like you had a great weekend. I didn't know about the molasses - good tips. I'm glad you shared. Have a happy week!
Posted by: Cat | Sep 24, 2012 at 09:05 AM