The coleus garden

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I just started a new planting area here in The Tropical Paradise that I am calling *The Coleus Garden*. It's where I had a gigantic rock up until this morning. I rolled it away, and will tend to it later, and revealed a nice planting area that gets morning sun and afternoon shade, which should be perfect for my coleus, which I started from seed. Yeah, they're pretty tiny, but they're there! And they will grow fast. Along with the coleus, I have planted several types of leaf lettuce, and along the edge, more alyssum. In addition to adding fresh potting soil, I added some dry slow release plant food (Osmocote®) and some polymer moisture crystals for each planting.

I have determined that this is a slug-free zone (I lost my battle with the slugs last month in spite of putting out beer and killing quite a few), and this slope does not get automatic watering (which is why I put a big rock there in the first place) so I will have to hand-water it. I did put a nice decorative piece of quartz in the center, for visual interest, which I will move out as the plants fill up the space. I have more coleus seedlings growing out in the pots in the courtyard, as they get big enough, I will move more in. On the right, you can see that the carrots are doing well, and the frond hanging down on the left is from a Dioon spinulosum cycad.
Coleus seedling

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