Aside from food production, the garden is extremely useful in the fight against stress. My mother once claimed so, and now I have the opportunity to witness for myself, finally grasped the role of the zen gardens that you can purchase in a box and keep on your desk.
I frequently go for at least a half-hour between the stressful moments and the chilly morning temps to dig between the seedlings and persistent grass that tries to take its place. At the same time, a short explanation of my inactivity here, but I promised myself that I would not talk about it further.
In the tool-shed, I found a device for detecting soil acidity, light, and moisture. Had no clue such a thing existed, and it can be really helpful, especially for gardeners who produce diverse plant crops, because plants, like humans, have varied demands. I'd be glad to say that all of the garlic seedlings are healthy, but owing to the freezing weather, the leaves of some of them have turned brown. The benefit of planting garlic in the colder months is its durability and capacity to recover if the temperature gets out of control.
What I was most interested in was whether the soil was alkaline or acidic, and if there was enough light and moisture, despite the fact that I had just loosened the upper layer of soil with my hands, which had hardened significantly and prevented some shoots from breaking out on the surface.
The gadget is made up of two rods that sink into the ground, as well as a small display with a pointer that can be changed using the bottom button based on what you want to measure.
Let's start with PH; the pointer is on the green division, indicating that the soil's composition is ideal and there is no additional acidity.
Garlic does not require too fertilized soil, but it does require aeration and a gap of around 10 cm between seedlings. The interesting thing about garlic is that it is not a fan of mono-culture, which means that it will not tolerate land that has previously been planted with anything from the same family, sometimes it might happen not to tolerate itself. However, being planted after vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, or potatoes isn't problem at all as long as the land is naturally fertilized and loose.
The pea seedlings are a nice green color with visible leaves; some have shriveled, but both peas and garlic are resistant to cold temperatures, so even if the plant "falls," it will recover. The pointer indicates that the soil is dry, but that is irrelevant in this situation because the device's needles are stuck in shallowly (due to the inability to penetrate the hard layer), so I deepened it with my finger and the humidity is pretty adequate.
I find this humidity measurement option more appealing for potted plants.
And the last measurement is adjusted for light, just to show you how it works because there is obviously light, you could tell by the shadow.
The first eggshells that will be transformed into natural calcium and plant nourishment are already in the process of being placed out to dry in the air with little over a month until spring officially arrives.
Although my garden will not be able to fit on the work table, it will be able to temporarily reduce my tension as I wait impatiently for spring..till the next reading Hive gardeners.