day 6

day 6. more sprouts! 13 total, and they look very happy and healthy. i am so pleased with how this is all turning out! if we keep going at this rate we'll have melons in no time! the package said that they would germinate in 10 to 20 days. so far 50% of the seeds are growing at double that rate.

day 5

day 5.  sprouts!  3 seeds have sprouted!  that is way faster than the seed package said they would sprout!  way to go seeds!

day 4

day 4.  so, after thinking awhile i realized it would be much easier to just talk to all of the garden club members individually about their own personal gardening issues than it would be to coordinate everyone's schedules for a meeting.  

so, i talked to chelsea about getting her plantings into the ground.  she's got 2 jobs and a dog.  she's a busy girl, so she just hasn't had time to get her plants in the ground.  i told her i'd remove the mulch and the weed barrier on sunday.  she said she'd buy the soil and manure to till into the bed on monday.  i think we will have those plants in the ground by tuesday!  

she also gave me a sick mint plant she had.  i plucked off all of the spotted leaves and pruned it way back and planted it in a shady spot in our courtyard.  i didn't want to plant it near my mint plants if it was sick.  i think it will do well there.

today i also talked to heather.  heather is a forensic lab tech for the sheriff's office.  we call her and her roommate "the witches" because they have halloween decorations up year round.  they aren't really witches, they just like to decorate like them.  heather bought some beautiful flowers and grasses to plant in the north bed, but she wasn't putting them in the ground.  i stopped by this morning to let her know she was free to put those plants in the ground.  her concern was that there were no sprinklers to water back there.  i told her there were many other garden club members that would be willing to take a day watering until we get the sprinklers fixed back there.

we will even take a day to work on getting them planted as a group.  she still seems hesitant, but i am bound and determined to get them planted in the ground!  i also gave her a key to the "garden shed."  which is really the old elevator shaft that is no longer used.  i am hoping she puts her empty pots in there.

and more good news on the garden front!  chris, the melon farmer, has taken more than half of his melon seedlings to the park city farmer's market this morning.  hopefully they will all sell so that he doesn't have to bring them back to our courtyard for storage!

see, all it takes is a little effort and everything you wish for comes true!

day 3

day 3.  so today, of course, nothing new is happening... except for a little neighborhood drama.  i am the queen bee of the caithness condominiums' garden club.  i created it this year.  the homeowners' association couldn't afford landscaping, and a few of the owners wanted gardens, so i thought to myself, "there's a win-win situation!"  and started a garden club with the blessing of our h.o.a.  

today one of the residents asked me, "when are those seedlings going to be out of the courtyard?"  we have a renter on the garden club that raises heirloom melons and melon seedlings to sell at the park city farmer's market.  so, it's not landscaping for the property that he is doing.  it's his melon business.  honestly, when i saw him put them out there i was a little hesitant as well.  but, look at me!  i've also started a little melon business, myself!  but truly, i can relate to wanting people to get their junky shit out of our public space.  it's tough living so close together, but i guess that's what being part of a community is all about - learning how to deal with each other's shit.  

so, what are the rules?  what is the acceptable time limit for plantings to sit before they are planted in the ground?  are plants that are not intended as landscaping for our building welcome here?  and if they are, then to what extent?  i think these are all questions that need to be addressed by the garden committee and the h.o.a. board and residents.  oh, and a realtor just put up a sign in our yard... again.  not ok.

so, needless to say, i have moved my melon seedlings to a less conspicuous, more private part of the courtyard, that i feel a little more ownership of... my windowsill.  and we will be having a garden club meeting soon.  very soon.

day 2

day 2.  nothing has happened yet except for the greenhouse is foggy.  i think that's a good sign.  i actually tried growing these in a pot earlier in the season, but they failed.  i think the soil they were planted in wasn't rich enough.  the seed package says that the seeds should germinate in 10-20 days.  feels like a long time.  come check back then!  

day 1

day 1.  it has begun!  today i finished planting the seeds for my award winning lambkin melons!  i will be selling these online.  please contact me if you would like to reserve one.  i take cash, money order, credit cards & paypal.  $4 each.