It's Monday and you know what that means....
I applied my MMMs by 2 gal watering can again. EM-1, MycoGrow, Azomite in the proportions for 2 gal. I have ran out of molasses but the EM-1 contains molasses also. This time I also added liquid Fish Fertilizer into the mix.
I really had to try something extra in my mix because the peppers and eggplants are still a pale yellow (as I reported earlier) and their size has barely, if at all, increased since being planted into the garden. Maybe the N in the Fish Fertilizer will improve their color.
The tomatoes are growing sturdy. They have small tomatoes forming. Their color looks good now (some had a purple tint before).One plant had an aphid problem which I was able to manually take care of and one hornworm so far. There has been a few lower branches that have had spots on them. I remove these as quickly as possible. I am really hoping to see less foliar diseases as I strive for healthier soil. There are quite a few leaves that have edges curling inward and some branches curling as well. I don't know how to interpret this. I've read that it could be from disease, inconsistent watering or hard pruning. Any of these could be the case in my garden.
The poor squash has been tormented by squash bugs. I smash them and their eggs daily. Most plants are rebounding from earlier damage though. Some extra seeds may be needed to replace a few that are a loss.
The cucumbers are still very small and bothered a little by grasshoppers. The area they are in is where I trellised them last year too but this year I put down
newspaper and
wood chips. I'm hoping the mix will improve the soil there and the quality of the cucumbers. Last year they had stunted growth on the blossom ends.
My BTE garden has a wide variety of plants in it, where the other gardens are rows of the same type of plants or a mix of two, the BTE has interspersed veggies, herbs and flowers. Everything there is doing okay except I don't think basil likes heavy mulch. I'll be curious to see if my carrots, which are in two separate pockets planted on the garden edge, will perform as well as those in the posts where I first read of applying these products.
The change in the soil is still not apparent in my observations. The worst area is the uphill side of my largest garden. That's where the peppers and eggplants are planted. Very hard baked clay. But, if the person, whose previous posts inspired me to start my (non-scientific) experiment, says these products can dramatically change any type of soil then i
should still expect miracles in my hard clay soil. Right?
I have probably enough product for two more weekly applications at the ratio I've been using. Would still have MycoGrow left but not EM-1 (unless I made my own) or Azomite. Bring on the miracles.
I do believe that these products are beneficial or else I wouldn't have bought them. I don't know if they are the seemingly miraculous, quick performing, can-do-it-all concoctions as so reported by others. But maybe, I'll be able to notice at least something in this attempt.