Alright y'all!!! Exciting news! This is my introduction to the 2021 outdoor growing season. What better way than to make it part of my Official
@420 &
@Weed Seeds Express GSC Comparative Grow?!?
A sincere and grateful heart to all the other
sponsors for this part of the grow too!
@GeoFlora Nutrients ,
@DYNOMYCO , #earthalive #soilactivator , and
@Sierra Natural Science
***This may be a long post. Nay...this IS a long post. I wanted to include a bunch of pics and explanations. You have been warned. ***
I wanted to dedicate some prime outdoor California real estate for the the Girl Scout Cookies by
@Weed Seeds Express. I decided that I wanted to direct sow two seeds in my raised garden beds. No containers and no restrictions to their root depth. My garden beds are organic and compose of multiple years of amending with a variety of inputs. This will be the 4th year of growing in them but the first attempt to grow cannabis in them. The beds were amended with compost, used potting soil, composted chicken manure, and alfalfa pellets. The beds have been cooking the manure for over 4 weeks. The alfalfa meal has been cooking for just over 2 weeks. I will be approaching these plants similarly to how I grow my typical veggies and fruits. Obviously with a little more care and attention to these plant's growing habits though.
GSC O1 (Outdoor 1) will be grown using
@GeoFlora Nutrients . I went with a light initial feeding to start charging the soil a little extra and give it a head start. I will be top dressing the rest of the way as they recommend based on a 20 gallon container size or just under 4 cubic feet of soil. That may change later but I'm guessing that should suffice.
Here is a look at the top of my garden soil. It looks dry and a little dull right?! Actually, I think it is beautiful. It is loaded with a lot of different inputs. Wait until you see what lies beneath!
Here it is only an inch or less below the surface! I haven't watered this section of the bed for over two weeks. Last watering was a little bit of rain a week ago. This soil is rich, fertile, and ready to grow anything!
I first mounded up a few inches of soil to give me some extra root height. I did this to roughly a 18" diameter section.
I added some
@GeoFlora Nutrients "VEG" to the mound. Again, I went with a light initial feeding as suggested on there bag. 1oz per gallon of soil. So I spread 20oz (liquid oz measurement) . There is already plenty of nutrients in my soil for the seedling that will be bioavailable whenever it is ready and needs it. As it grows and requires more, the microbes will have already broken down the VEG granules and she can gorge herself on whatever nutes she needs.
Then some
@DYNOMYCO was added to supercharge the soil even more than it is!
I sowed a single GSC seed and I feel confident that it will germinate. I just have faith!
I sowed some Crimsom Clover cover crop. This is an excellent nitrogen fixer. I'm not actually planning on mulching this plant with any of the clover. I will be using the cut clover in other areas instead. I want to see what the GeoFlora can do without the "green" nitrogen rich mulch. The clover roots will still bring in some nitrogen into the root zone anyway but gar less than what is found in the foliage of the clover.
I also sowed one of my go to companion plants, marigolds! These marigold seeds are a hybrid that I accidentally produced last year. These plants will suck up nutrients but not enough for me to be concerned. They are a very shallow rooted plant.
After that, I water the seeds in. I prefer to water in slowly instead of a large initial flooding. Meaning, I let my first watering soak in for a few minutes before coming back and doing it again. I go over them 2 or 3 times at each stage of the process.
I then cover my soil with straw mulch (~½ inch or so) and water that in again 2 or 3 times. I then put my humidity dome on.
After that, I finish it off with some coco chunk mulch. This will keep the top soil cooler and protected from the sun, preventing excessive evaporation.
I then did my final watering with the Earth Alive Soil Activator. This is my first time using this product. Thanks again
@GeoFlora Nutrients for sending my some to sample and try in my garden. I used 5oz (liquid measuring glass) in 3 gallons of water. I used all the extra to inoculate various fruit tree containers. A little goes a long way!
I installed a tall tomato cage to support the initial growth and training. The larger supports will be done later.
On to the next one...GSC Plant O2!
To keep things interesting and comparative, I decided that I will not feed this plant any GeoFlora Nutrients. I will instead approach it like I normally would if I was growing a hungry veggie or fruit. Let's use an indeterminate tomato for example. They require a lot of nutrients in order to provide good and abundant fruit throughout the season. For me, I can harvest tomatoes as late as December. That means adding lots of extra stuff to the soil (bone meal, kelp meal, azomite, alfalfa meal, feather meal, etc.). This does mean buying a lot more stuff and a lot more thinking about how much to include of each ingredient. The simple GF VEG measurement and application for O1 took me less than a minute. My process...let's just agree that it took a LOT longer. And a lot more stuff to lug into the garden and back out again. There is something to paying for convenience folks!
I included
@DYNOMYCO again for O2 though because I always use a myco product with my plants to just give them an innoculent boost.
For this one, I planted some cover crop again but utilized the 12" of space around the plant to sow some microgreens. I will be able to harvest microgreens salads throughout the season. I covered up all the seeds I sowed with worm castings, watered in, mulched, and labeled. No tomato tower for this one. I don't know why...I'll probably end up doing it. I was thinking of making a tall square tower using hog panels instead. We'll see.
This little volunteer will be getting a lot of yummy nutrients. This is growing about 6 inches away from the GSC O2. If it becomes unruly or in the way, it will have a meeting with my worms.
That's it for now. If you made it this far and didn't cheat, please give yourself a pat on the back and a gold star. I appreciate you tagging along on my growing journey.
Blessings!
El Especial Numero Cinco is looking thick! 
