Mix Soil, Repeat

Things are moving along OK now.  I've got four full barrels of potting soil that I'm aging before using, and a full barrel of a mix I made with fallowed soil. Next time out, I'll repot those eggplant with it.

It's a simple formula, and it seems to work fine...dump non-productive containers, mix the soil with compost and rock powder to enrich it, age it if needed, then refill pots and plant anew.

As the soil dries out from transpiration through the crop leaves, I irrigate with well water plus additives to feed the roots.  Everything is organic, except for a tiny pinch of epsom salts in the water. Magnesium is very hard for roots to absorb in alkaline soil, so I splash the leaves with it too.  And as these things go with gardening it will either work or it won't.  So far it's all working very well.

I'll have daikon ready to pull soon.  Those are good in salads or as a garnish in little cubes...or in stir fries and soups.  Which root crop produces the most food?...tough question to answer.  Sweet potatoes take much longer to produce their tubers, but they're starchier and more filling...and have more vitamins than daikon or turnips.  But the turnips and radishes grow so quickly.  In four months they can produce two crops for every one of sweet potato.  And you can eat the tops as well as the roots.

I'd say the turnip is the champ when it comes to producing food by the pound.  The tops are super-nutritious and everything grows really, really fast.  And they tolerate a wide variety of soils.  So long as it doesn't get too hot and their roots don't dry out, they'll always come through.  This year I'm growing Golden Globe.  If the climate were cooler here and the soil less alkaline, I'd grow a lot of rutabaga. I really like them and they produce great big roots.  Boil or steam, mash, mix half and half with potato...delicious.

But if the weather is too hot they get strong-tasting, unpleasant to eat, and hard to digest.  So I've given up on them for a while.  We'll see how the Golden Globe turnips do.  If it gets too hot for turnips, I'll have loads of peppers and eggplant to eat.  A smart gambler hedges his or her bets so they don't lose their stake.

I've heard hedge funds are a good investment...but suppose people decide they like fences instead of hedges in their landscaping? Sounds too risky to me.

That's a joke.  At least laugh to be polite.