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Re: Bad seeds, I guess...or Santa Ana?

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

At 12:25 PM 10/25/99 EDT, you wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>Early this month, I proudly assembled two more 4x4 and put corn in one 
>(Silver Queen) and black-eyed peas and carrots in the other.   Seeds from 
>Home Depot.  I've used Mel's soil, watered, chanted ancient prayers to the 
>corn and carrot gods -- and have a grand total of six corn plants growing.  
>That's all.  Not sixteen.  No beans.  No carrots.  (Although the carrots I 
>planted during the summer in a traditional garden, the ones that never 
>sprouted, are now coming up!  Guess it has just been too hot for them!)
>My master gardener sent me lists of what I can plant when around here, and I 
>replanted the spots in the corn that hadn't sprouted.  Haven't done anything 
>with the 4x4 of beans and carrots.
>Now.  A couple of possibilities, I guess.
>1.  We've had a couple of Santa Anas, very hot winds blowing in off the 
>desert.  It's been over 100 a couple of times last week (we're in southern 
>Cal.)  Maybe it's just been too hot for my beans and carrots??
>2.  Seeds were old or bad or something, but the germination rate still seems 
>significantly low.
>3.  This one just occured to me -- birds??  Lots of crows around here.  But 
>the dirt is nice and smooth and doesn't look like it's been pecked over
and I 
>haven't actually seen crows nibbling on my boxes.
><sigh>  They are pretty boxes.  Copper tape around to keep the snails out.  
>Even edges.  Hand watered....  <sigh>  I've studied Mel's book, looking for 
>answers...
>So.  Perhaps this is more of a lament than anything else.  According to the 
>package, beans and carrots shoudl have at least made an effort to show up a 
>couple of weeks ago.  But the heat?  
>So again.  Who would replant?  Anyone know any good bean/carrot chants?  The 
>only one's I've got are for corn.  (Just kidding -- really.)
>Still have around 50 tomatoes on the vine I'm waiting to ripen.
>Cyn
>
Cyn, Santa Ana winds are hot and dry. Gardeners use the term "desiccating"
(sp?). It's more than possible that the winds sucked the moisture away from
your seeds. Once you moisten seeds, you have to maintain the moisture until
they germinate. I think you were poorly advised to plant corn at this time.
Corn takes a lot of heat, and I don't think you're going to have heat in
the next four months that it will take for corn to ripen. Margaret L


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