[Arid_gardener] Coir, more

[Carolyn Stoffel]

I've been making phone calls today and found that Baker's apparently 
carries coir. Berridge's does not.

I had purchased peat moss, vermiculite, and several kinds of compost to 
make square foot planting mix. I had been given (from Freecycle) two 
City garbage cans cut down, not as composters but more as horse feeders.

I had the mixers in the car and, because I don't bend well, used an 
extra wide galvanized pail and paint stirrer to mix the mix. One scoop 
of this, two of that... Then carried it back to the City garbage can. 
When I had about half what I intended, I added a fair amount of water, 
added more mix, watered again, scattered the ranunculus seeds and some 
gladioulus bulbs across the top, then added another pail of mix to cover 
the seeds and bulbs. That was October 31st.

Started on the second garbage can but was running out of peat moss while 
I still needed a pail or two of mix. Also watered it about half way and 
again before adding plants/bulbs. That can has lots of gladiolus bulbs 
as well as the three onions I bought at the Fall Festival. Added another 
pail of mix (missing something) to cover.

I still had most of the mix components and a standard (35 gallon?) 
garbage can, so I started mixing more pails, using a little more of this 
and a little less of that in an attempt to come out reasonably even. 
This is also much deeper than "square foot" and also had water added 
about halfway and just before planting. The last "load" was pure, cheap 
compost - it was all I had left. I soaked the ranunculus bulbs and the 
20-year-old(?) ones plumped up nicely, better than the few cheapies from 
two years ago. Placed all the bulbs, plus a few unidentified ones 
(mostly about marble size) and gazania and Shirley poppy seed.

I still had a bit of potting mix and found a disintegrating bagful in 
the garage, so I dumped that on top, then decided that it was too much 
and moved some of it to Citycan2. That was last Sunday.

I've been out regularly looking for sprouts and I'm not seeing any. 
Realistically, I know a lot of it is so old it probably won't grow, but 
I stand there .ordering. it to do so. Idjit!

If none of it grows, I have all winter to decide where to dump the 
garbage cans and make the mix shallower for spring planting.

I still have some seed, mostly old, for spring planting - four o'clocks, 
Santa Claus melons, zinnias, spaghetti squash, and jicama.

I keep looking at heirloom seeds and finding some of interest but I just 
can't imagine myself planting whole packets - one person doesn't .need. 
20 watermelon plants!

What I've done may not sound like much but it's the FLYlady principle - 
start where you are, you're never behind, anybody can do 15 minutes 
worth of <whatever> (though I spent much longer periods mixing pails of 
"dirt").

I've had a very bad 18 months and was just given some very discouraging 
health news - just planting what I did is enough for the moment.

Carolyn Stoffel