Christian's Garden-- Sprouting

A few days ago I visited my friend Christian to check up on his garden. Amazingly, in less than a week, he has sprouts from each of the seed varieties we planted, with carrots being the lone exception.

A row of kale sprouts

Through my experience I've found that seeds planted in late summer tend to have a much easier time germinating than seeds planted in late spring. Obviously the warmer soil temperatures have much to do with this, but nevertheless I've had much more success with late summer plantings as a general rule. The only trick is to maintain soil moisture while seeds are still germinating, which usually means watering in the morning and night to keep the bed fairly wet.

Christian devised a rather clever way to incorporate the stones we pulled from the bed at the time we tilled it by using them as a border between his garden and the surrounding yard. It won't keep the cats out, but aesthetically it's quite pleasing. Eventually he plans to construct a more permanent barrier from all the curious animals on the property: raccoons, possums, squirrels and the aforementioned cats.

I also gave Christian a handful of tags to mark the rows, as well as an oregano seedling to plant in the 'herb garden' at the south end of the bed. Once the sprouts attain a larger size (perhaps a couple of inches in height) it will be time to thin them out and spread some additional compost. Until then we're hoping for more beautiful late summer weather.