I added Langbeinite (the Down to Earth brand) to give the potatoes more magnesium and potassium. I scratched about a tablespoon into each grow bag and into the three in-ground spots, then watered everything in.
The compost pile reached 78°F today, up from 68°F yesterday. I’m happy with that jump. I diluted some urine with water and poured it over the pile before covering it with cardboard. I held off on doing that for the first six months because I wasn’t convinced it was useful, but after reading more I decided to try it. Hard to say if it’s what helped the pile warm up, but it doesn’t smell bad and there’s plenty of carbon from straw and alfalfa meal.
This morning I found a small bird stuck on the pole that holds the tray on the hill. At first I thought it was dead, but when I got close it tried to fly. Its foot was wedged between the pole and one of the hooks. I held its body up with a shovel and freed the foot with my other hand. It flew off fast, but the leg looked mangled. I removed the extra hook so it doesn’t happen again. There’s another pole in the yard with the same hook setup, so I wedged something between those hooks too.
Going forward, I want to track planting dates more reliably. I have a spreadsheet with plant lists, dates, and notes, but I stopped updating it consistently after summer. Now I have mustard, carrots, radishes, and a few other things growing in different spots, and I don’t know when to expect them to finish. Radishes are easy because they push up and grow quickly, but for the others I’d like a better sense of timing.