RADISH AND SQUASH







    I have pulled the radishes, with their big sprawling leaves and their tiny radish bulbs. The tiny size of the radish bulbs was a disappointment, which made me look for answers. The first answer was the sunlight, but I could not control the amount of direct sunlight. The second answer was the soil was too loose. I based this on the radishes I grew in front of the Oakland Carnegie library, in which the soil had been very hard and packed. The third answer was that the soil composition was off balance, as I had only used an organic potting soil. In response to the soil quality, I started adding coffee grounds to the soil as a way to add nitrogen.
    Because the radishes had grown full bright green leaves, I began to think that my garden space was not conducive to growing root vegetables. In addition to the radishes, I had planted Fennel seeds, which had failed to pop out of the soil. However, the spinach and the chard and the summer squash were doing very well. The squash, in particular, were very happy as they expanded  and created a canopy over the chard and the spinach growing next to them.
    I did not realize the space that squash needed, as I had planted my seeds using the square inch method. The squash however were growing up and out, so that they were now occupying two square inches and counting. The space the squash were occupying was great evidence of the vitality of my garden, but I was still waiting for the flowers to appear, even though there were bees aplenty buzzing around.
    My squash excitement highlighted my revolving relationship with the garden. My ongoing relationship with the garden had started with the anticipation of planted seeds and their potential to grow. My relationship had then moved to a patient waiting, as I checked the status of seeds appearing above ground. Now my relationship was emotional, as I worried about my radishes and I marveled at the exuberance of the squash.
    The growth of the summer squash spurred me to plant kabocha squash seeds in the spaces where the radishes had been. But now I was engaged in a two track maneuver, as i had seeds that I would plant directly in the ground and I had seeds starter containers where I could transplant the young Kobocha squash plant into the container spaces. I had been watching you tube videos on starting seeds in a starter container, where the already established plants could take root and engage in the art of expansion of root and leaves, without the energy of trying to build roots and build the first leaf.

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