An Uncertainty of Weather
The weather has been fluctuating in intensity to the degree that we’re uncertain of the future health of our plants, or when to start planting new ones meant for May sowing. Temperature-wise, we’ve been seeing the daily highs vary by 30 degrees at times, alternating between high humidity, sunshine, and heavy rain / cloud cover. This fluctuation does appear to have an effect on the plants we’ve already sown outdoors, such as the bush beans. They seem to be reacting to the change by alternating root growth with leaf growth. Some days the plants don’t appear to grow at all, while we can see from plants we’ve uprooted (assuming them to be dead or dying) that they were merely extending out their root structure. So with only an above-ground view, it’s difficult to determine how well our plants are faring.
I’ve combatted this persistent element of chaos with an indoor plant care station, a rather piecemeal setup composed of various items found around the house (mostly sourced from our reptile care accessories). I’ve been using this station to monitor root and leaf growth in a more controlled setting, to begin seedling growth of new plants, as well as to nurse plants uprooted from the garden back to health. This station has seen a moderate amount of success - though the leaves of plants grown indoors (and in different soil) appear notably darker than those grown outdoors.
Crazy changes in weather aside, we are noticing the slow creep of growth in all of our plants…
