Chilli Struggles

Unfortunately the transplanted chilli babies are looking a little worse for wear today. I am not giving up hope however, and gave them all a good dousing of water before I left for work. The seedlings in the original egg carton seem to be doing a little better than the ones in the new carton.

CHILLIES IN ORIGINAL CARTON

Onto a completely different topic however, a partial lunar eclipse occurred last night. As I was driving back from work, I saw the moon in the sky ahead of me. It looked like someone had taken a small bite out of it. As I drove on towards home, it seemed like the bite grew bigger. I put this down to my (sometimes wayward) imagination and also thought it might have been one of those optical illusions which could occur in nature.

About an hour after reaching home, when I went outside to give the seedlings their nightly watering, I noticed the moon had now become a HALF moon! This time I knew it was no illusion or imagining. I had an inkling it might have been a lunar eclipse, but as I don't remember having really witnessed one before, I wasn't sure what it truly was. A couple of hours later, my boyfriend observed the moon was actually full. Strange... I thought.

Today, the news headlines confirmed what I witnessed last night. Apparently partial lunar eclipses only occur around four times every two years. Within Australia, last night's eclipse was visible only to its Central and Eastern parts. I wondered how this may affect plants, and their dependency on cycles and perhaps even the moon. I know of practitioners who truly believe in gardening during certain phases of the moon. A subject I know very little of, but which I am curious to find out more.

Pumpkin Patch Creation

Well I planted my first actual plants in the yard. I allocated an area next to the clothesline which we've named the "Pumpkin Patch". I've been successfully germinating some butternut pumpkin seeds in egg cartons, thanks to some encouraging words from a kids' gardening book. Unusual I think, but original.. it's called "How to Guzzle your Garden", by Jackie French. The author basically sees gardening as an enjoyable pastime, likening it to eating. I even thought of planting herbs in old joggers, as suggested by the book, but have since put it on the backburner. It would give the yard an interesting look!
Out of the 12 little eggholders in the carton, 6 have successfully grown into seedlings about 6cms high. I figured it was time I transferred them into the garden, and prepared an area about 1m x 1.5ms. I filled it with topsoil, manure and topped it with organic compost. It was a bit difficult getting the seedlings out of the eggholders, as the potting mix was shallow and not very compact, but I did my best. There were tiny, ever-so-fine roots which actually extended much longer than I thought from such a small seedling! As it was getting dark by the time I actually got all six seedlings into the ground, I just watered them - finally bought a watering can today - and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I will mulch them tomorrow with some of the hay bale. But I'm happy to say that butternut pumpkin is IN THE GARDEN! Whether or not it will survive is another story.

BABY PUMPKINS