Spring Island Planting Draws Closer
Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well and getting settled into the new year. I’m almost to the point where I’ve stopped writing 2011 on my checks and everything else.
I’m sitting here Sunday morning, very happy to have gotten over two inches of rain last night on the island, thank you Lord. It has been many months since that amount has fallen out here. My rain tanks are almost at their full 1,100 gallon capacity now, enough to sustain my inside cabin water use through Spring.
The mild winter we have had thus far has me eager to begin preparing for my spring garden, and my attempt to grow a three pound tomato. Last week I started all my tomato seeds in small sponges that sit in a dome covered tray of shallow water. Each sponge has a tiny hole in the center in which I place two seeds, to double my chances of successful germination. I started enough seeds for 48 plants, twelve varieties, in hopes of ending up with thirty strong healthy plants to go into the ground. I’ll have ten plants of the Big Zac variety specifically to grow that three pounder, fingers crossed. Two years ago I hit 2.74 lbs, so I know it can be done.
When the seed sprouts and breaks the top surface of the sponge, I remove the dome and place the trays under fluorescent gro-lites for 16 hours each day. If you have a very sunny window sill or spot, they could be placed there also, however I have found that the gro-lites work much better. I adjust my lites to be only about one inch above the top of the tiny seedlings as they continue to grow. This additional light source ensures that the seedlings will become strong, stocky plants ready to go into the ground about six weeks later.
When the seedlings are three weeks old, I transplant them, sponge and all, in 4” peat pots, always trimming the bottom leaves and burying half of the plant into the soil. Transplanting into a larger container and burying half of the plant helps provide a stronger root system when that plant goes into the ground at 6-8 weeks old. I have used this method of starting my seeds, and small cuttings, for the past three years with great success. I purchase these Bio Dome seed starting kits from Park Seed Company, and use the jumbo 18 sponge ones for starting all my tiny tomato seeds. I’ll also grow some potatoes, squash and peppers that I’ll seed directly into the ground, but the tomatoes started from seed are my gardening passion.
Some nice seashells, sanddollars and starfish are beginning to wash ashore on the beach, a normal occurrence during the winter and into the spring months. At the prodding of a good friend so that visitors could openly see my collection, I took three days and re-arranged my shell, sea-bean and beach/island find treasures in the kitchen. I used three shadow boxes plus fashioned a simulated beach, using actual sand from the beach, to now display everything. I’m very happy with the way it turned out.
After wanting to start one for several years, I also put up a bottle tree in the yard. I just sunk a 4×4 post in the ground, drilled holes all around it from top to bottom, and wedged pieces of small half inch pvc into the holes. As I find colorful bottles on the beach and around the island, I’ll slide them onto the bottle tree to add a little color to the yard. I’ve got a lot of time on my hands out here.
I want to say hi to Bob and Judy Capalety, a wonderful retired couple from California that I recently met in Rockport, where we shared some delicious homemade lemon ice cream. Bob is a retired Fire Dept. Battalion Chief, and he and Judy travel throughout the United States about half of the year, sightseeing and enjoying life.
Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and think about putting a few tomato plants in the ground or in large pots before too long.
-Clint Bennetsen is the only full time resident on Matagorda Island Peninsula, and writes a monthly column about his life in this newspaper.
For comments or questions, you can contact him at ccbennetsen@yahoo.com or dolphin1@tisd.net.
