Haven't posted on this sub in a while so I thought I'd share some updates from the garden. Not too much this season since we had (no exaggeration) six straight weeks of rain from the beginning of May through mid-June, so the only stuff that's really doing well is stuff I planted after that. On a brighter note, some "dead" sod I got for free is doing marvelously thanks to the rain, so least there's that!
The azalea cuttings I posted about three months ago all died. Every one of them. I put them in a nice little green house, put fresh aloe vera gel from my aloe plant in there, used rooting hormone... nothing! The only thing I can figure is that the soil I used was too thick. I just got some dirt from the yard but it was probably too thick with red clay and didn't drain as well as it should have.
I finally got some slips to grow from a sweet potato I got at the farmer's market (so it's an organic, local tater). I've been trying to get it to grow a slip for weeks so this is pretty exciting. Got it rooted and in the ground and another's on the way, so hopefully I am not jinxing myself here by saying I might have sweet taters this fall.
Also looking promising are my watermelons. Vines are big and healthy. Lots of male flowers and females flowers have just started arriving but aren't open yet. I am checking them in the morning and will help germinate them with a little paintbrush when the ladies open up their flowers.
Anybody have any experience with sweet taters or watermelon? I've got them growing on mounds of compost / manure soil that's been tilled nicely.
edit - got some purple hull peas a-goin too... those practically grow themselves. If you're ever looking for something to replenish the nutrients in the soil in between grows, throw some out there. Then after you pick the peas, chop up the plants and leave them there in the bed to decompose.
There doesn't seem to be anything here yet