If you have large containers that you want to hold a little more moisture you could also fill the bottom with pieces of partially rotten wood. The wood acts like a sponge and helps keep the soil moist longer. It also will provide nutrients to the soil as time goes on. Think hugelkultur.
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Going to check for Irish Spring at Costco tonight. The deer discovered and ate another Turkish fir we planted a couple years ago! 
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Hot pepper seedlings (jalapeƱo, scorpions, habanero, ghost pepper) ready to go.
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A 20 min ride in the car with a 24-pack of Irish Spring makes me think this @&$% will repel any carbon-based life form.
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I just planted 16 corn seedlings down, I have a whole grow bag for potato seedlings, Iām surprised they grew so fast after the rain.
Last year picture of homegrown corn
I donāt eat a lot of peppers, but I like growing them, I just like growing things for fun.
This year I have about 15 pepper seedlings, 2 poblanos,4 Ajvarskis, 3 paprikas, 4 cayennes, and 2 jalapeƱo M. If my Sweet banana and Hungarian Wax pepper seeds sprout then I have more. Iām not sure what to do with more, lol.
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Does anybody use shredded leaves (from a leaf mulcher) in the garden ?
We had some last year, and I tilled some into the veggie garden and sent more to the church garden (plus lots more unmulched after we got tired of making so much noise). I also kept a garbage can full for possible spring use. Now Iāve raked piles of leaves in yard cleanup. They are quite dry, and iām try to decided whether to make more mulched shredded leaves or take to the waste diversion center. (We recently signed up for a big composting bin, mostly for yard waste. But it wonāt be delivered by the city for a few weeks).
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Yes, leave mulch is a necessity in our community gardens. That is what protects the soil over the winter (several inches on top of our soil) and then once we plant in the spring leave mulch is used to put around the plants to keep weeds out and moisture in. Initially you may think it doesnāt look āprettyā but newsflash, weeds aināt pretty either!
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I do. I live in Az. Our local dirt has no life in it. Since we moved into our house 3 yr ago, I order a Chip Drop once a year in late fall and spread the leaves and wood chips all around the backyard. The worms do the rest. It gets piled up 12ā high and everywhere and within 3 months, has decomposed to about 3ā. Now after 3 yr of that, thereās actually black soil at the bottom of that instead of just the rock hard clay hard pan that we have here all over the place.
Short answer: yes. Use the leaves! Helps your soil fertility.
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Mix dry leaves with green grass clippings in your compost bin for better results.
Back when we had a giant field garden, Mr. and I would collect all fallen leaves on our very long private drive and use them to put the field to sleep before winter. Kept weeds down substantially.
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In our area, the landscapers blew the grass after cutting around and soon after that I discovered baby plants, so Iām nervous of doing that even, we donāt have grass to cut though, just the HOA strip of grass near the street.
Iām glad you said that. One local zoom talk I listened to suggested hay for weed prevention (they are not fans of weedmat - I have a lot of that under bark chips in flower areas but would find weedmat cumbersome for veggie areas). Iād really like to take advantage of our own leaves, so glad to hear of them in non-winter usage.
Leaves are great to turn into the garden. In my area the soil and leaves are acidic so I like to also add lime. I will till then right into the soil. I also use them to make compost. They are a great source of organic matter. I would put all I could into the soil.
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Not quite a gardening q, but figured this was the crowd to best answer it. Does anyone use watering globes for their indoor plants? We are going to be away for a week and have a pretty fussy fern and some citrus plants - was wondering if a watering globe would work?
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Do you normally water than more than once a week? How many times? I would think that if for instance you normally water them twice and they basically are just missing one watering they would be ok or bounce back if you water as soon as you get home.
I actually run a humidifier next to these plants to keep them a little warm and humid (just typing that out makes me realize I have become a crazy plant lady, I think). So although they only get watered once per week, they are nurtured a little more frequently. Obviously, I wonāt be running it while weāre gone.
If you put some open water near them (like a pitcher of water) would that maybe slightly mimic more moisture in the vicinity as it evaporates?
As I have had one houseplant recently a victim of OVER Watering (didnāt realize I was doing that!) Iām hesitant to provide too much water - which I think is our natural reaction.
My daughter recently got a watering gauge for her houseplants. You stick it in the soil (deep into the plant) and within seconds it gives a reading of the moisture inside. It was interesting how many of her plants did not look moist on top but indeed deeper in the pot the moisture level was high.
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I gave my daughter some tomato plants in 5 gallon container, sheās away for a week, she used a water bottle with a tiny pin prick at the bottom. I think she googled for this information and tried it, maybe you can try that, I honestly never worry about my indoor plants, they are not called ZZ plants for no reason, they let you sleep well, 
, lol.
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I just noticed this thread. I started planting last year, took the master gardener class in the fall, and am now starting to transfer plants from inside to outside. The class really jump started my learning. I also have a SubPod Mini and my worms are very happy so far. They seem to be multiplying. Just like with the college search process, I find you guys are a great resource, but I felt really dumb at first.
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I recently ordered some heirloom tomato seeds from a place called Renaissance Farms. The seeds came in and are in the dirt. Hope these will grow to produce gorgeous fruit as promised. 
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Speaking of tomatoes, I had a packet of last yearās seeds of the variety called Siberian. It is called so apparently because it is cold weather resistant (see below). I thought those old seeds were doomed because they sat in the dirt for at least a couple of weeks without showing any signs of life. This morning, I noticed a few seedlings poking through the dirt! 
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