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Fish Pee and Sunshine

Greening my thumbs

Greg Vialle Thursday 11 of July, 2013
I have a horrible track record of killing plants. I've even killed a few cacti out of neglect. My record with animals isn't much better, except perhaps with cats who are fairly self sufficient and not afraid to verbalize their desires. So I'll be throwing into my blog some occasional updates on my gardening and other efforts, as they are tangentially related to the project at hand.

Moringa oleifera:
I bought a pack of Moringa seeds on Amazon, and planted a dozen or so, using a germination station. I got seven to sprout, six of which have subsequently died, following repotting and/or relocation to the basement. The remaining survivor I took to work, where I have an office with a nice sunny southern exposure and about 200 humans worth of CO2. The plant doubled in size but now has recently started turning yellow. My coworker, Julie (from whom I purchased the treadmill of a previous post, and who has such a green thumb she has literally gotten sticks to grow- yes, literally), did some quick google research and discovered that it is most likely magnesium deficiency. We'll see- I've added a Mg rich spike to the soil. Not sure what this will mean for growing Moringa in fish pee.

Out in the yard:
It was a rough spring here , so I didn't get much planted until May. It snowed every Tuesday in April and every weekend it was balmy, tricking many trees into premature blooming.

The composter seems to be going strong, despite being a fruit fly magnet. Probably need to add more shredded paper. I've harvested some partially ripe compost in the planting of several fruit trees, berries, and putting in a garden. My planting does not keep up with the generation of compost. At least it's not going into landfill. Well, actually I may use some of it to fill in some low spots in the yard. Here's what I've planted in the yard:

So far the squirrels have ravaged all my grapes, peaches, and most of the cherries. Anyone know a good squirrel recipe?