Around the time I planted the squash I planted the asparagus crowns we bought from a nursery in town. The plan was to compare the growth and ultimate production with that of our asparagus seeds, since my most reliable resource contradicted all of the other resources by advising me to grow asparagus from seed instead of from crowns.
The asparagus crowns looked like hay that had been knotted together at one end. They were dry, brittle, and very light (in weight). All ten combined were the size of what I thought one asparagus crown would be. So far, I think my trusted source will turn out to be right! I'm certain they must have been treated with something to be sold in a package that way, with instructions to plant them in a couple of months. I expected them to be packaged in dirt.
To plant them, the directions on the package said to dig a trench, spread out the roots and plant at the bottom of the trench (sorry no photos, they were accidentally deleted in a computer crash). It was confusing and I felt like I was hurting the asparagus crowns, which were very brittle. But it seemed to work okay. Then you cover them, but you only fill the trench about halfway - once the crowns start to poke through, you cover them up again.
Anyway, it's been a few weeks (perhaps even a month) since I planted them, and I have not seen them come through. Neither the package nor any of my resources have had much to say about planting asparagus crowns, so I don't know if this means they are not going to live or if this is normal. The next planting (the sixth and final planting) is when the asparagus seeds are set to go in, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Fifth planting
I planted two varieties of squash for the fifth planting, when the soil temperatures reached 65 degrees. This is my first time growing squash! Evidently the most difficult part is germination - not only is the soil temperature especially important for squash, but you want to plant them when there will not be rain before they germinate. I'm not sure if this is only because the water would lower the soil temperature or if exposure to liquid causes problems (either prevents them from germinating, or perhaps the embryonic plant is especially susceptible to diseases when it is wet).
Luckily I didn't have to wait too long before conditions were right. I planted three hills of winter squash, a french heirloom from territorial called "galeux d'eysines." I chose this because it was an heirloom and I liked the name. Then I planted one hill of a zucchini called emerald delight (also from territorial). I wanted romulus pm, but that was no longer available and this was the sub they suggested. I ordered my seeds on February 1st, and there were a few varieties that I wanted that were no longer available. I will have to be quicker next year! I have tried a few different types of zucchinis and I think they are all equally delicious, so I chose an open-pollinated variety that looked the most resistant to insects and diseases.
Last year, at a farmer's market in Kansas City I wanted to buy some zucchini from a farmer. When I asked him about his growing practices, he was irritated when he said "you mean, do I spray them? of course I do. it is not possible to grow organic zucchini here." Of course, I know farmers in Kansas City who would disagree with him. Sometimes organic methods are more difficult but I think it is worth the effort to not poison the earth.
Anyway, germination was excellent and it was really hard to thin down the seedlings because they all looked so strong!
Luckily I didn't have to wait too long before conditions were right. I planted three hills of winter squash, a french heirloom from territorial called "galeux d'eysines." I chose this because it was an heirloom and I liked the name. Then I planted one hill of a zucchini called emerald delight (also from territorial). I wanted romulus pm, but that was no longer available and this was the sub they suggested. I ordered my seeds on February 1st, and there were a few varieties that I wanted that were no longer available. I will have to be quicker next year! I have tried a few different types of zucchinis and I think they are all equally delicious, so I chose an open-pollinated variety that looked the most resistant to insects and diseases.
Last year, at a farmer's market in Kansas City I wanted to buy some zucchini from a farmer. When I asked him about his growing practices, he was irritated when he said "you mean, do I spray them? of course I do. it is not possible to grow organic zucchini here." Of course, I know farmers in Kansas City who would disagree with him. Sometimes organic methods are more difficult but I think it is worth the effort to not poison the earth.
Anyway, germination was excellent and it was really hard to thin down the seedlings because they all looked so strong!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Beans continued
Here are photos of the baby beans, as promised. The first photo is of the dry soup beans, and the second photo is of the green beans.
We ended up putting bird netting around the green beans because I kept seeing crows hanging out in that bed, and when I would run out there it looked like they were pulling plants out just for fun. Jerks. Turns out that if they were the culprits, they were probably just looking for worms. It seems that they moved on to the carrot bed instead.
Anyway, I wanted to use this post also to talk about one of the problems I've encountered with the beans. Not all of the seed packets make it clear whether that variety is a bush type or a pole (vining) type! I wanted to plant the pole types together, of course, so that it will be easier to build the trellising. It has been a few weeks since these photos were taken, and it is clear we planted one bush type in with the pole beans. That is not the end of the world, but it also looks like one of the ones we thought was a bush type is actually a pole type. This would be tricky to cope with. It isn't certain so we're going to wait and see, but it's a frustration that could have been avoided if seed companies labelled their packages more carefully. In the future, I will take this into account when purchasing my bean seeds.
We ended up putting bird netting around the green beans because I kept seeing crows hanging out in that bed, and when I would run out there it looked like they were pulling plants out just for fun. Jerks. Turns out that if they were the culprits, they were probably just looking for worms. It seems that they moved on to the carrot bed instead.
Anyway, I wanted to use this post also to talk about one of the problems I've encountered with the beans. Not all of the seed packets make it clear whether that variety is a bush type or a pole (vining) type! I wanted to plant the pole types together, of course, so that it will be easier to build the trellising. It has been a few weeks since these photos were taken, and it is clear we planted one bush type in with the pole beans. That is not the end of the world, but it also looks like one of the ones we thought was a bush type is actually a pole type. This would be tricky to cope with. It isn't certain so we're going to wait and see, but it's a frustration that could have been avoided if seed companies labelled their packages more carefully. In the future, I will take this into account when purchasing my bean seeds.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Hardening off seedlings
If you have started seedlings indoors, like I did, it is relatively easy to control conditions. The baby plants grow up with consistent temperatures and water, sunlight gently filtered by windows, and never have to deal with rough conditions like wind or insects.
This is good for seedlings, particularly plants like tomatoes and peppers that seem to be a little weaker when they are young. But when it is time for them to go out to their permanent spots, putting them out without gradually introducing them to the challenges of the outdoors could shock them (slowing their growth) or, without having had a chance to build-up defenses to these challenges, they might perish.
So, we must gradually introduce them to outdoor conditions. This process is called hardening off. The basic idea is ease the transition. Precisely how this is carried out depends on how much time and energy you are willing to put into it and the outside conditions when you are ready to begin the process.
Some of my resources suggested a simple process of merely putting the seedlings in a cold frame for a few days before planting them. This did not seem like a good solution for me, because by the time my plants were ready to go out, it was already pretty hot. The cold frame protects them from wind, rainstorms, and critters. And, they can stabilize temperatures so that plants don't have to deal with as much shocks in terms of temerature lows. In my situation the heat seemed to be the most difficult element, so putting them in a cold frame would have been detrimental.
The alternative is more time consuming. You gradually introduce them to the elements by putting them outside for short increments. How quickly you increase their challenges depends on how much time you are willing to spend moving flats of seedlings around all day. Pay special attention to water during the hardening off process. Here was my process:
day 1: put plants on covered front porch facing west for an hour in the late morning.
-they had to deal with outside temperature shifts and wind, but the wind was lessened by the walls of the porch. they did not have to deal with sunlight.
day 2: put plants on covered front porch facing west for a few hours in the late morning
-conditions same as day 1, but they have to deal with them longer
day 3: put plants on covered front porch facing west for several hours in the morning, then moving to the uncovered back porch facing east through the evening
-conditions same as day 1, but they have to deal with them longer (moving them to the east porch keeps them from being exposed to direct, unfiltered sunlight)
day 4: put plants on back porch facing east for one hour in the early morning, then move them to the front porch for the rest of the day (including the evening)
-they are getting the first taste of unfiltered sunlight and unfiltered wind. the early morning sun is gentler than the midday sun.
day 5: put plants on back porch facing east for a couple of hours in the early morning, then move them to the front porch for the rest of the day
-same as day 4, but increasing the time
day 6: put plants on back porch facing east for several hours during the day, closely watching them for wilt and sun scald.
-same as previous day, but adding the harsh midday sun.
day 7: put plants on back porch facing east all day and all night.
-adding the challenge of nighttime lows
Anytime the plants wilted or showed signs of sun scald, I immediately transferred them to gentler conditions and gave them extra water [and pulled back a little the next day - either repeating the step or even going back to the previous step. If anything, I wish I had been more careful. My tomatoes almost all survived the hardening off process, and my peppers handled it like champs. But three of my celery plants died, and two of them look like they will not last much longer. My actual process was usually much longer, because of days when the weather was too harsh or we were out of town.
Above, you can see my first hardened-off seedlings. Note the sun scald, particularly on the plant in the middle. I am happy to report that this damage did not deter the growth of this seedlings at all! These tomatoes (the romas) have been out for a couple of weeks and I can't even tell which ones had sun scald damage anymore - the new growth has completely overshadowed those leaves and all of the plants look equally healthy.
Ideally, you would not let the plants wilt or get sun scald. But it can be difficult to know how they will do. Had I started earlier in the season, this process on this exact timeline would probably be fine. By the time I started, even the first hour outside on the shaded porch made some of the plants wilt so it ended up much slower forme. It's easy to grow impatient (especially with the relatively time-consuming process of moving the trays of seedlings around) and difficult to guess what the plants are ready for. But although the peppers and celery only just recently went outside, I am proud to report that the tomatoes have really taken off since they were planted out!
And just as a note, it was fun to watch the plants get stronger - I could really tell that they were growing sturdier as the days went along!
Overall I was happy with the hardening off process. I will do the same thing next year, except I will be ready to start earlier and I will take it a little bit slower.
This is good for seedlings, particularly plants like tomatoes and peppers that seem to be a little weaker when they are young. But when it is time for them to go out to their permanent spots, putting them out without gradually introducing them to the challenges of the outdoors could shock them (slowing their growth) or, without having had a chance to build-up defenses to these challenges, they might perish.
So, we must gradually introduce them to outdoor conditions. This process is called hardening off. The basic idea is ease the transition. Precisely how this is carried out depends on how much time and energy you are willing to put into it and the outside conditions when you are ready to begin the process.
Some of my resources suggested a simple process of merely putting the seedlings in a cold frame for a few days before planting them. This did not seem like a good solution for me, because by the time my plants were ready to go out, it was already pretty hot. The cold frame protects them from wind, rainstorms, and critters. And, they can stabilize temperatures so that plants don't have to deal with as much shocks in terms of temerature lows. In my situation the heat seemed to be the most difficult element, so putting them in a cold frame would have been detrimental.
The alternative is more time consuming. You gradually introduce them to the elements by putting them outside for short increments. How quickly you increase their challenges depends on how much time you are willing to spend moving flats of seedlings around all day. Pay special attention to water during the hardening off process. Here was my process:
day 1: put plants on covered front porch facing west for an hour in the late morning.
-they had to deal with outside temperature shifts and wind, but the wind was lessened by the walls of the porch. they did not have to deal with sunlight.
day 2: put plants on covered front porch facing west for a few hours in the late morning
-conditions same as day 1, but they have to deal with them longer
day 3: put plants on covered front porch facing west for several hours in the morning, then moving to the uncovered back porch facing east through the evening
-conditions same as day 1, but they have to deal with them longer (moving them to the east porch keeps them from being exposed to direct, unfiltered sunlight)
day 4: put plants on back porch facing east for one hour in the early morning, then move them to the front porch for the rest of the day (including the evening)
-they are getting the first taste of unfiltered sunlight and unfiltered wind. the early morning sun is gentler than the midday sun.
day 5: put plants on back porch facing east for a couple of hours in the early morning, then move them to the front porch for the rest of the day
-same as day 4, but increasing the time
day 6: put plants on back porch facing east for several hours during the day, closely watching them for wilt and sun scald.
-same as previous day, but adding the harsh midday sun.
day 7: put plants on back porch facing east all day and all night.
-adding the challenge of nighttime lows
Anytime the plants wilted or showed signs of sun scald, I immediately transferred them to gentler conditions and gave them extra water [and pulled back a little the next day - either repeating the step or even going back to the previous step. If anything, I wish I had been more careful. My tomatoes almost all survived the hardening off process, and my peppers handled it like champs. But three of my celery plants died, and two of them look like they will not last much longer. My actual process was usually much longer, because of days when the weather was too harsh or we were out of town.
Above, you can see my first hardened-off seedlings. Note the sun scald, particularly on the plant in the middle. I am happy to report that this damage did not deter the growth of this seedlings at all! These tomatoes (the romas) have been out for a couple of weeks and I can't even tell which ones had sun scald damage anymore - the new growth has completely overshadowed those leaves and all of the plants look equally healthy.
Ideally, you would not let the plants wilt or get sun scald. But it can be difficult to know how they will do. Had I started earlier in the season, this process on this exact timeline would probably be fine. By the time I started, even the first hour outside on the shaded porch made some of the plants wilt so it ended up much slower forme. It's easy to grow impatient (especially with the relatively time-consuming process of moving the trays of seedlings around) and difficult to guess what the plants are ready for. But although the peppers and celery only just recently went outside, I am proud to report that the tomatoes have really taken off since they were planted out!
And just as a note, it was fun to watch the plants get stronger - I could really tell that they were growing sturdier as the days went along!
Overall I was happy with the hardening off process. I will do the same thing next year, except I will be ready to start earlier and I will take it a little bit slower.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Fourth planting!
Fourth planting included six types of beans! According to the seed packets, they needed 60 degree soil at least for germination.
I chose all heirlooms varieties, four for dry soup beans and three for green beans (for canning). The dry soup beans included yin yang and tiger's eye from territorial, and hutterite and indian woman yellow from seeds of change. These were chosen mostly for taste (I was hoping for a bean experience you don't get with the few varieties available at the supermarket - I love beans, so extra tasty ones are especially exciting) but also for appearance - the yin yang and tiger's eye both look fun! The green beans included cannellini, blue lake, and kentucky wonder, all from territorial. These were chosen for flavor. I've never liked green beans very much until two years ago when we had some delicious fresh ones from our CSA in Eugene. Since I'm pretty new to the green bean experience, I chose tried-and-true varieties.
To plant them, my resources didn't give directions on the best method - some seeds do well with competition and others don't. Those that do well with competition should be planted with a few seeds together in one spot, keeping the same spacing between seed groups that you will eventually want for your mature plants. Those that do not do well with competition should be put in individual holes but with less space between them than you eventually want. As they grow, you will thin either one out to get the strongest, fastest plants. Each bean bed had two rows, so I did one of each. I think beans do better with competition, because the side where I planted them four inches apart with 3-4 seeds in each hole looked strongest and grew fastest. Yin Yang had disappointing germination (maybe about 60%), but everything else looked as good as you would want.
Monday I'll post pictures of the young bean plants! They were so cute when they germinated!
I chose all heirlooms varieties, four for dry soup beans and three for green beans (for canning). The dry soup beans included yin yang and tiger's eye from territorial, and hutterite and indian woman yellow from seeds of change. These were chosen mostly for taste (I was hoping for a bean experience you don't get with the few varieties available at the supermarket - I love beans, so extra tasty ones are especially exciting) but also for appearance - the yin yang and tiger's eye both look fun! The green beans included cannellini, blue lake, and kentucky wonder, all from territorial. These were chosen for flavor. I've never liked green beans very much until two years ago when we had some delicious fresh ones from our CSA in Eugene. Since I'm pretty new to the green bean experience, I chose tried-and-true varieties.
To plant them, my resources didn't give directions on the best method - some seeds do well with competition and others don't. Those that do well with competition should be planted with a few seeds together in one spot, keeping the same spacing between seed groups that you will eventually want for your mature plants. Those that do not do well with competition should be put in individual holes but with less space between them than you eventually want. As they grow, you will thin either one out to get the strongest, fastest plants. Each bean bed had two rows, so I did one of each. I think beans do better with competition, because the side where I planted them four inches apart with 3-4 seeds in each hole looked strongest and grew fastest. Yin Yang had disappointing germination (maybe about 60%), but everything else looked as good as you would want.
Monday I'll post pictures of the young bean plants! They were so cute when they germinated!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Potato progress
The potatoes continue to look great. This is the most recent photo I have of them, after weeding and hilling using a hoe. I read that it should be done around the time the plants get to be 6-8 inches tall, but I did them when I could. It seems fine so far. This photo was taken in late May, I know by the small size of the spinach in the bed to the right of the potatoes. Hmm. I must have planted potatoes in early May or late April. It took them quite a while to poke out of the ground.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Second and third planting
After the first planting, made possible when the soil warmed to 45 degrees, it seemed to take forever for the soil to warm to 50 degrees for the second planting. But then it warmed up to 55 degrees soon after, and I did the two plantings so close together that I decided to write them up in one post.
The second planting included two types of carrots and one type of onion. I chose carrots based on shape - I wanted short, fat, cylinder shaped carrots for easy slicing and dicing rather than cone shaped. I selected scarlet nantes and red core chanterey, both from seeds of change. They are planted in one of the raised lasagna beds. It was difficult getting the soil depth right when planting carrot seeds here, as well as onion seeds. Here are the results, a few weeks after planting.
You can barely see them, but there are a few fern-like carrot types in there. I was pretty satisfied with the germination, but gradually fewer and fewer carrots have been present. I'm not sure if they're dying due to poor soil or weather conditions, or if animals are getting to them. We rabbit-proofed the fence and we never see rabbits in the garden anymore, but we do see crows pretty often. I expected to get over 100 carrots, and right now there are about 10 plants. I would be shocked if any more germinated. The onions are doing about the same, which makes me think that the problem is poor soil. I've read that birds and bugs are repelled by onions, so if critters were the problem, the onions should be doing fine.
Luckily, carrots and onions can be sown again for fall harvest. I will work the soil some more, adding in fertilizer, and I will do some more research about planting, water conditions, temperature, to make sure I'm giving them the best shot.
I don't have photos of onions, because the slim little creatures just don't show up on camera. But I chose two storage-type onions, Newburg (from seeds of change) and Copra (from territorial). It is about time to re-sow onions! Both are open pollinated types.
Then we have broccoli. I chose Arcadia and Comet, both hybrids from territorial. Anytime I chose hybrids, it means there were truly no other options or that as far as I was concerned, there were no other options (see the "first direct seeding" post). Pictured below are the Comets, with at least one seedling in each spot. Success!
Not pictured are the arcadia, which were not so talented. I only got two out of five spots with seedlings for the arcadia. But, they did germinate about a week before the comets. Currently the two arcadia are doing well; the comets, for whatever reason, have fallen to two seedlings as well. An additional suspect: there is a tree hanging over the broccoli and carrot/onion beds. Since those are the only veggies not doing well, I am suspicious that it is providing just enough shade to limit their growth. I'm not sure if that explains why some of them are dying after successful germination...
But again, broccoli is a crop I can do a second sowing of for fall harvest, so I'm not freaking out yet.
I am keeping the broccoli bed weeded with a hoe - I try to get out there pretty frequently and just scrape the soil. It goes quickly and as long as I stay on top of it, the weeds are small enough to be conquered by the hoe.
Finally, I planted the second type of spinach - Bordeaux, another hybrid from territorial. I am disappointed to report that although I initially thought it had germinated, I never saw any plant with true leaves and there is nothing there any more.
Another thought is that I just waited too long. Once the soil warmed enough to plant these, it just got too hot for them. I wonder what would have happened if I had just planted them all when the soil warmed up to 45 degrees? Perhaps the broccoli, carrots, onions, and bordeaux spinach would still not be doing well, but who knows.
A friend who used the lasagna gardening method suggested putting a little seed starting mix in the furrows created for planting. I will probably do this when I try these varieties again in the fall.
The second planting included two types of carrots and one type of onion. I chose carrots based on shape - I wanted short, fat, cylinder shaped carrots for easy slicing and dicing rather than cone shaped. I selected scarlet nantes and red core chanterey, both from seeds of change. They are planted in one of the raised lasagna beds. It was difficult getting the soil depth right when planting carrot seeds here, as well as onion seeds. Here are the results, a few weeks after planting.
You can barely see them, but there are a few fern-like carrot types in there. I was pretty satisfied with the germination, but gradually fewer and fewer carrots have been present. I'm not sure if they're dying due to poor soil or weather conditions, or if animals are getting to them. We rabbit-proofed the fence and we never see rabbits in the garden anymore, but we do see crows pretty often. I expected to get over 100 carrots, and right now there are about 10 plants. I would be shocked if any more germinated. The onions are doing about the same, which makes me think that the problem is poor soil. I've read that birds and bugs are repelled by onions, so if critters were the problem, the onions should be doing fine.
Luckily, carrots and onions can be sown again for fall harvest. I will work the soil some more, adding in fertilizer, and I will do some more research about planting, water conditions, temperature, to make sure I'm giving them the best shot.
I don't have photos of onions, because the slim little creatures just don't show up on camera. But I chose two storage-type onions, Newburg (from seeds of change) and Copra (from territorial). It is about time to re-sow onions! Both are open pollinated types.
Then we have broccoli. I chose Arcadia and Comet, both hybrids from territorial. Anytime I chose hybrids, it means there were truly no other options or that as far as I was concerned, there were no other options (see the "first direct seeding" post). Pictured below are the Comets, with at least one seedling in each spot. Success!
Not pictured are the arcadia, which were not so talented. I only got two out of five spots with seedlings for the arcadia. But, they did germinate about a week before the comets. Currently the two arcadia are doing well; the comets, for whatever reason, have fallen to two seedlings as well. An additional suspect: there is a tree hanging over the broccoli and carrot/onion beds. Since those are the only veggies not doing well, I am suspicious that it is providing just enough shade to limit their growth. I'm not sure if that explains why some of them are dying after successful germination...
But again, broccoli is a crop I can do a second sowing of for fall harvest, so I'm not freaking out yet.
I am keeping the broccoli bed weeded with a hoe - I try to get out there pretty frequently and just scrape the soil. It goes quickly and as long as I stay on top of it, the weeds are small enough to be conquered by the hoe.
Finally, I planted the second type of spinach - Bordeaux, another hybrid from territorial. I am disappointed to report that although I initially thought it had germinated, I never saw any plant with true leaves and there is nothing there any more.
Another thought is that I just waited too long. Once the soil warmed enough to plant these, it just got too hot for them. I wonder what would have happened if I had just planted them all when the soil warmed up to 45 degrees? Perhaps the broccoli, carrots, onions, and bordeaux spinach would still not be doing well, but who knows.
A friend who used the lasagna gardening method suggested putting a little seed starting mix in the furrows created for planting. I will probably do this when I try these varieties again in the fall.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
First direct seedings!
We began our spring garden preparations in mid-April, and I expected to begin our first plantings of spinach, carrots, onions, and potatoes soon after. But I decided to strictly follow the soil temperature suggestions on the back of the seed packets, and use soil temperature maps (greencastonline.com/SoilTempMaps.aspx) to guide my planting timings. We had an unusually cool spring, so I did not plant my first seeds until early May! I sowed Olympia spinach from Territorial in one of the raised lasagna beds. A week later, I could see evidence of a very successful germination!!
I'm not sure how well that will show up for you, but I can see the line of embryonic spinach:) Here in the picture below, you should be able to see it better - about a week later, you can see several sets of true leaves!
Much like the celery, I enjoy thinning out the spinach because I like to eat the little baby spinach that I pull:) Both types of spinach I selected are hybrids, rather than open-pollinated. Although there were some open-pollinated varieties available, they were savoy types. I have only tried savoy spinach once, and I didn't like it at all. But I may be willing to give it another shot next year...
I have to be honest at this point and admit that I didn't do a good job keeping track of dates at all. At some point I planted the seed potatoes I bought from seeds of change. I chose two varieties: cranberry red (with pink flesh!) and german butterball. Again, because of the cold spring I did not end up planting the seeds potatoes until I'd had them for about a month. When I pulled them out of the box, I was disappointed to see that they looked wilted, wrinkly, soft, and were growing several eyes. I went ahead and planted them because they were expensive (seed potatoes were by far the highest priced items - from this company, I think I spent about 20 dollars for two varieties!) and I figured, you never know. Well, they are doing amazingly well! It turns out you are supposed to let them sprout before planting, and though I'm still not sure they were supposed to look so wrinkly and soft, I don't see any problems with the potatoes right now. Here is a photo of the potato plants after they'd been in the ground a few weeks. The ones on the left have a purple cast to the leaves - those are the cranberry red potatoes:)
For the potato bed, we tilled it, broke up deep sod with a pick-ax, then tilled it again. The soil was nice and soft when I went to plant the potatoes.
I guess the seed potatoes I got were excellent ones. They were about the size of golf balls, maybe a little larger, and because they were so small I didn't have to cut them before planting them. This is better because when you plant pieces, the exposed flesh is more prone to disease and insects.
I'm not sure how well that will show up for you, but I can see the line of embryonic spinach:) Here in the picture below, you should be able to see it better - about a week later, you can see several sets of true leaves!
Much like the celery, I enjoy thinning out the spinach because I like to eat the little baby spinach that I pull:) Both types of spinach I selected are hybrids, rather than open-pollinated. Although there were some open-pollinated varieties available, they were savoy types. I have only tried savoy spinach once, and I didn't like it at all. But I may be willing to give it another shot next year...
I have to be honest at this point and admit that I didn't do a good job keeping track of dates at all. At some point I planted the seed potatoes I bought from seeds of change. I chose two varieties: cranberry red (with pink flesh!) and german butterball. Again, because of the cold spring I did not end up planting the seeds potatoes until I'd had them for about a month. When I pulled them out of the box, I was disappointed to see that they looked wilted, wrinkly, soft, and were growing several eyes. I went ahead and planted them because they were expensive (seed potatoes were by far the highest priced items - from this company, I think I spent about 20 dollars for two varieties!) and I figured, you never know. Well, they are doing amazingly well! It turns out you are supposed to let them sprout before planting, and though I'm still not sure they were supposed to look so wrinkly and soft, I don't see any problems with the potatoes right now. Here is a photo of the potato plants after they'd been in the ground a few weeks. The ones on the left have a purple cast to the leaves - those are the cranberry red potatoes:)
For the potato bed, we tilled it, broke up deep sod with a pick-ax, then tilled it again. The soil was nice and soft when I went to plant the potatoes.
I guess the seed potatoes I got were excellent ones. They were about the size of golf balls, maybe a little larger, and because they were so small I didn't have to cut them before planting them. This is better because when you plant pieces, the exposed flesh is more prone to disease and insects.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Up-potting my seedlings
I did not grow up in a household where we gardened. Although members of my family actually live on a farm even today, I consider myself an absolute beginner. My family's knowledge of gardening to not get passed down to me through blood, nor did I pick it up as I was growing up. I have no sense of when things should be planted, how much water they need, how much space they need, or even how to choose the best seedling when thinning plants out. So as I go along this experiment, I base everything on lots of research (and advice from people). Sometimes there is a lot of information and everything works great. Sometimes there isn't. Although overall, I was satisifed with my little seedlings, there came a point where they weren't growing. I wondered and wondered when it was time to up-pot, and how exaclty to up-pot them (move them to a larger pot) but when it got to that point, all my resources were vague or silent.
Above, you can see the celery, including a plant with its first true leaf. Several weeks later all of the celery had one true leaf, but they all remained the size of that little seedling picture above. By the way, thinning out the celery was really fun because when you nibble on the leaves that you've decided to yank, they have the flavor of celery!
Finally, my spouse, who did seem to pick up a little bit of gardening sense as he grew up, hinted that it was really time. So we bought these peat pots (in photos below). If you were doing a large-scale operation, these would be too expensive; but since I knew I would only need about 60, it worked for us. The benefit is that when the plants are ready to go outside, you can just put the pot straight in the ground with the plant in it. Less stress on the plant, and easier for the gardener!
Above, the newly-up-potted celery. See how it is pretty much the same size? Very VERY soon after being up-potted, they took off, steadily growing bigger and adding more leaves!
Above, the tomatoes, sorted by variety and marked since they looked the same at this point. I up-potted the best-looking ones (strongest, tallest, most leaves, greenest), keeping a few more than I intended to plant. I'm really glad I did that. In addition, I saved some of the ones in their cells in case a few of the up-potted ones didn't make it. I was also happy with that decision, though the seedlings in egg cells were harder to water in the new set-up.
Above, the peppers. These are the Yolo Wonders, the rainbow bell peppers were still germinating! These also took off after up-potting - as you can see, they did not have their true leaves yet.
To up-pot them, I bought a new kind of seed starting mix that was closer to soil (the staff at our gardening center recommended that I continue to use seed starting mix since the seedlings were still so small). For some of the plants, I used a fork to dig out the soil pod from the egg carton. I worked the fork around the edge, loosening the soil pod, then lifted up. The problem was I had waited too long, and the roots were growing through the egg carton. I could hear the roots tearing as I lifted. Nearly all of the plants survived in spite of this abuse, but it was a lesson learned - if you are going to start seeds in egg cartons, be ready to up-pot pretty much as soon as they germinate! Or at least as soon as their embryonic leaves appear. After I couldn't handle the sound of the tearing roots anymore, I peeled the egg carton in layers (since it was so wet, this was relatively easy). The roots often didn't grow straight through the egg carton, but would grow through a layer and then snake around in between the egg carton before poking out.
I filled the new pots halfway with the seed starting mix (again, prepared with about equal parts warm water), then set the soil pod in the middle, then spooned more seed starting mixture around the edge. As you can see in the photos, I left space between the soil line and the top of the cup. With the celery, this was a good thing. With the tomatoes and peppers, this was a bad thing. Later on I learned it is best to bury the embryonic leaves when you up-pot or transplant tomatoes and peppers - you end up with a stronger plant because roots will begin to grow from where the embryonic leaves are. My tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing fine, but perhaps they would be stronger or further along if I had used that technique.
Lessons learned:
I don't regret starting the seeds in egg cartons - they were free, decent sized, and when I had seeds that weren't germinating very well I didn't have to feel like I wasted any resources. I wish that I had up-potted each individual cell as soon as the first true leaf appeared. I think some of my seeds were stunted by staying in the small cells too long.
In the future I would also like to get grow lights for my tomatoes. The peppers and celery seemed to do fine, but my tomatoes seem leggy, thin, weak, and lacking color compared to my expectations. We will see how they end up producing, but I suspect if I'm going to commit to starting seeds indoors, grow lights would give me much better results and would be well worth the investment. Based on what I paid for materials to start my seeds this year compared to what it would have cost to purchase transplants, grow lights would pay for themselves in one year.
Finally, I wish I'd known about burying the embryonic leaves. I did plant the tomatoes out last week (more on that to come!) and considered doing it then, but at that point the plant seemed too well developed. I don't know. I wish I had planted one that deeply for comparison, but it really seemed like a bad idea at that point.
All in all, I'm glad I started seeds indoors and though I made a couple of mistakes, I would consider this part a success!
Above, you can see the celery, including a plant with its first true leaf. Several weeks later all of the celery had one true leaf, but they all remained the size of that little seedling picture above. By the way, thinning out the celery was really fun because when you nibble on the leaves that you've decided to yank, they have the flavor of celery!
Finally, my spouse, who did seem to pick up a little bit of gardening sense as he grew up, hinted that it was really time. So we bought these peat pots (in photos below). If you were doing a large-scale operation, these would be too expensive; but since I knew I would only need about 60, it worked for us. The benefit is that when the plants are ready to go outside, you can just put the pot straight in the ground with the plant in it. Less stress on the plant, and easier for the gardener!
Above, the newly-up-potted celery. See how it is pretty much the same size? Very VERY soon after being up-potted, they took off, steadily growing bigger and adding more leaves!
Above, the tomatoes, sorted by variety and marked since they looked the same at this point. I up-potted the best-looking ones (strongest, tallest, most leaves, greenest), keeping a few more than I intended to plant. I'm really glad I did that. In addition, I saved some of the ones in their cells in case a few of the up-potted ones didn't make it. I was also happy with that decision, though the seedlings in egg cells were harder to water in the new set-up.
Above, the peppers. These are the Yolo Wonders, the rainbow bell peppers were still germinating! These also took off after up-potting - as you can see, they did not have their true leaves yet.
To up-pot them, I bought a new kind of seed starting mix that was closer to soil (the staff at our gardening center recommended that I continue to use seed starting mix since the seedlings were still so small). For some of the plants, I used a fork to dig out the soil pod from the egg carton. I worked the fork around the edge, loosening the soil pod, then lifted up. The problem was I had waited too long, and the roots were growing through the egg carton. I could hear the roots tearing as I lifted. Nearly all of the plants survived in spite of this abuse, but it was a lesson learned - if you are going to start seeds in egg cartons, be ready to up-pot pretty much as soon as they germinate! Or at least as soon as their embryonic leaves appear. After I couldn't handle the sound of the tearing roots anymore, I peeled the egg carton in layers (since it was so wet, this was relatively easy). The roots often didn't grow straight through the egg carton, but would grow through a layer and then snake around in between the egg carton before poking out.
I filled the new pots halfway with the seed starting mix (again, prepared with about equal parts warm water), then set the soil pod in the middle, then spooned more seed starting mixture around the edge. As you can see in the photos, I left space between the soil line and the top of the cup. With the celery, this was a good thing. With the tomatoes and peppers, this was a bad thing. Later on I learned it is best to bury the embryonic leaves when you up-pot or transplant tomatoes and peppers - you end up with a stronger plant because roots will begin to grow from where the embryonic leaves are. My tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing fine, but perhaps they would be stronger or further along if I had used that technique.
Lessons learned:
I don't regret starting the seeds in egg cartons - they were free, decent sized, and when I had seeds that weren't germinating very well I didn't have to feel like I wasted any resources. I wish that I had up-potted each individual cell as soon as the first true leaf appeared. I think some of my seeds were stunted by staying in the small cells too long.
In the future I would also like to get grow lights for my tomatoes. The peppers and celery seemed to do fine, but my tomatoes seem leggy, thin, weak, and lacking color compared to my expectations. We will see how they end up producing, but I suspect if I'm going to commit to starting seeds indoors, grow lights would give me much better results and would be well worth the investment. Based on what I paid for materials to start my seeds this year compared to what it would have cost to purchase transplants, grow lights would pay for themselves in one year.
Finally, I wish I'd known about burying the embryonic leaves. I did plant the tomatoes out last week (more on that to come!) and considered doing it then, but at that point the plant seemed too well developed. I don't know. I wish I had planted one that deeply for comparison, but it really seemed like a bad idea at that point.
All in all, I'm glad I started seeds indoors and though I made a couple of mistakes, I would consider this part a success!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Starting tomatoes and peppers
I took so many pictures of the seed-starting process the first time around, but in subsequent weeks when I started tomatoes and peppers, I took none. Oh well! The process looked the same!
For tomatoes and peppers, since I'd planned on buying transplants when I made my seed order, we picked out varieties that we knew we liked or that looked good when we were in gardening centers. I wanted to use open-pollinated varieties whenever that was an option.
For tomatoes, we purchased three types: first, an heirloom called "Italian roma," purchased because we knew romas were good for canning and it was an heirloom. The seed company, Botanical Interests, looked like it was in line with our priorities. Second, cherokee purple, also from Botanical Interests, purchased because we've eaten them before and loved them. Third, brandywine, purchased from Livingston seeds. There wasn't much info on the packet but surprisingly, this was the only seed company we could find that carried brandywine in the three stores we went to. We planned to plant out roughly 10 of the italian romas, 5 of the cherokee purples, and 5 of the brandywine, saving two spots for buying a couple of transplants at the farmers market (one cherry tomato, one that was a duplicate of one of our varieties so that we can compare quality. this will help us decide whether to start our own seeds again next year).
For peppers, we bought a packet from Botanical Interests of an heirloom called "Yolo Wonder" and a packet from Livingston seeds that contained five different varieties of bell peppers, all different colors.
Taking the last frost date as around May 15th for our county, we followed the direction on the seed packets for when to start them. Around March 1st we started a carton of Yolo Wonder peppers and a second carton of celery. Once again the celery (Utah Improved from Territorial) germinated excellently. The Yolo Wonder peppers were a little bit slower than what the packet said, and one of the cells failed to germinate.
Around March 15th we started three cartons worth of tomatoes, one of each variety. The romas germinated very well, but both the cherokee purple and the brandywine seemed to struggle. The germination was slower than what the packet predicted, and it was greatly staggered. At first it looked like my germination rates were around 20%, but then I began heating the small room they were in to 80 degrees and more began to sprout. Probably two weeks after the first seedlings appeared, more seedlings continued to appear.
Around April 15th I started my last two cartons: one for the Rainbow Bell peppers, and one for more tomatoes since I wasn't satisfied with the germination. These germination rates were similar for the tomatoes, but even worse for the rainbow bell peppers. For a long time it looked like I would only get four plants out of the 12 cells I planted! Very slowly, as weeks went by, I think all of the cells eventually germinated - even as late as June 1st, I was seeing additional seedlings poke through.
For tomatoes and peppers, I tried to thin each cell to one seedling pretty quickly - as soon as they had their first true leaves (first true leaves for peppers came in pairs, tomatoes came individually).
For tomatoes and peppers, since I'd planned on buying transplants when I made my seed order, we picked out varieties that we knew we liked or that looked good when we were in gardening centers. I wanted to use open-pollinated varieties whenever that was an option.
For tomatoes, we purchased three types: first, an heirloom called "Italian roma," purchased because we knew romas were good for canning and it was an heirloom. The seed company, Botanical Interests, looked like it was in line with our priorities. Second, cherokee purple, also from Botanical Interests, purchased because we've eaten them before and loved them. Third, brandywine, purchased from Livingston seeds. There wasn't much info on the packet but surprisingly, this was the only seed company we could find that carried brandywine in the three stores we went to. We planned to plant out roughly 10 of the italian romas, 5 of the cherokee purples, and 5 of the brandywine, saving two spots for buying a couple of transplants at the farmers market (one cherry tomato, one that was a duplicate of one of our varieties so that we can compare quality. this will help us decide whether to start our own seeds again next year).
For peppers, we bought a packet from Botanical Interests of an heirloom called "Yolo Wonder" and a packet from Livingston seeds that contained five different varieties of bell peppers, all different colors.
Taking the last frost date as around May 15th for our county, we followed the direction on the seed packets for when to start them. Around March 1st we started a carton of Yolo Wonder peppers and a second carton of celery. Once again the celery (Utah Improved from Territorial) germinated excellently. The Yolo Wonder peppers were a little bit slower than what the packet said, and one of the cells failed to germinate.
Around March 15th we started three cartons worth of tomatoes, one of each variety. The romas germinated very well, but both the cherokee purple and the brandywine seemed to struggle. The germination was slower than what the packet predicted, and it was greatly staggered. At first it looked like my germination rates were around 20%, but then I began heating the small room they were in to 80 degrees and more began to sprout. Probably two weeks after the first seedlings appeared, more seedlings continued to appear.
Around April 15th I started my last two cartons: one for the Rainbow Bell peppers, and one for more tomatoes since I wasn't satisfied with the germination. These germination rates were similar for the tomatoes, but even worse for the rainbow bell peppers. For a long time it looked like I would only get four plants out of the 12 cells I planted! Very slowly, as weeks went by, I think all of the cells eventually germinated - even as late as June 1st, I was seeing additional seedlings poke through.
For tomatoes and peppers, I tried to thin each cell to one seedling pretty quickly - as soon as they had their first true leaves (first true leaves for peppers came in pairs, tomatoes came individually).
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Starting seeds indoors
Although we planned to purchase tomato and pepper transplants from our farmers, I couldn't resist buying some seeds and giving it a try myself! Since we already had to start celery seeds, it didn't seem like that much more work and it would also be MUCH cheaper, and we could choose exactly what we wanted. So far, we're happy with that decision!
To start seeds, we bought this seed-starting mix. It is really light and the smell made our dog go crazy! Whenever I would start a new batch of seeds, she'd coming running over with her nose in the air. To me it smelled like an old barn. Seed starting mix is important because it has the right mix of nutrients, it is disease free (making strong seedlings) and free of other seeds (reducing competition for the delicate little buggers).
I followed the instructions on the back of the package. Basically, I mixed equal parts of the seed starting mix and HOT water.
I collected egg cartons to start seeds. Poke a hole in the bottom for drainage and so you can water them the wicking way - very important! I forgot to do this on one batch and it was obvious!
I put a couple of heaping tablespoons of the mixture in each cell. You can see how wet the mixture was by how it is already soaking the egg carton!
These are the celery seeds - there are 1000 seeds in that tiny little out-of-focus blob! I carefully took 4-5 seeds at a time and put them in each cell on top of the soil mixture.
Then, I just sprinkled some dry seed starting mixture on top, covered the whole thing with plastic to help keep them warm, and placed them in indirect sun in the corner of our sunroom. Celery seeds are supposed to be planted very shallow. So far, the celery is doing really well - the germination rates were excellent (in the upper 90%!) and uniform. Before germination, I made sure there was plenty of water by keeping the plate full (they wick water up from below, which is good because it doesn't disturb the gentle seeds or seedlings. Watering from the top would also change the soil temperature too drastically, shocking the seeds or seedlings), using very warm water each time I gave them a drink. I would also lift up the plastic to give them some fresh air - even so, some sort of wispy mold grew on top of the soil. So far, that has not caused any problems other than looking gross:) After they germinated (which took about a week in total), I removed the plastic (and the wispy mold disappeared shortly after) and moved them to direct sunlight. They needed about twice as much water after that. I thinned them out slowly once they had their first true leaf.
I'll continue to update on celery's progress! The seeds were started in mid-February, 12 weeks before I expected to be able to plant them outdoors.
To start seeds, we bought this seed-starting mix. It is really light and the smell made our dog go crazy! Whenever I would start a new batch of seeds, she'd coming running over with her nose in the air. To me it smelled like an old barn. Seed starting mix is important because it has the right mix of nutrients, it is disease free (making strong seedlings) and free of other seeds (reducing competition for the delicate little buggers).
I followed the instructions on the back of the package. Basically, I mixed equal parts of the seed starting mix and HOT water.
I collected egg cartons to start seeds. Poke a hole in the bottom for drainage and so you can water them the wicking way - very important! I forgot to do this on one batch and it was obvious!
I put a couple of heaping tablespoons of the mixture in each cell. You can see how wet the mixture was by how it is already soaking the egg carton!
These are the celery seeds - there are 1000 seeds in that tiny little out-of-focus blob! I carefully took 4-5 seeds at a time and put them in each cell on top of the soil mixture.
Then, I just sprinkled some dry seed starting mixture on top, covered the whole thing with plastic to help keep them warm, and placed them in indirect sun in the corner of our sunroom. Celery seeds are supposed to be planted very shallow. So far, the celery is doing really well - the germination rates were excellent (in the upper 90%!) and uniform. Before germination, I made sure there was plenty of water by keeping the plate full (they wick water up from below, which is good because it doesn't disturb the gentle seeds or seedlings. Watering from the top would also change the soil temperature too drastically, shocking the seeds or seedlings), using very warm water each time I gave them a drink. I would also lift up the plastic to give them some fresh air - even so, some sort of wispy mold grew on top of the soil. So far, that has not caused any problems other than looking gross:) After they germinated (which took about a week in total), I removed the plastic (and the wispy mold disappeared shortly after) and moved them to direct sunlight. They needed about twice as much water after that. I thinned them out slowly once they had their first true leaf.
I'll continue to update on celery's progress! The seeds were started in mid-February, 12 weeks before I expected to be able to plant them outdoors.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Results from lasagna gardening
Here are the beds as we left them for the winter. It does not show in this photo, but each was piled approximately 6" high with aged cow manure from a local farm and chipped leaves. We spent many hours on many weekends working on converting this area from grass to garden and though the goal was to get every bed 2 feet high, we had to settle for this. I figured it would be a good experiment since according to all of the forums I've read, there is no way to go wrong with lasagna gardening.
Here are the beds after we started working them in the spring. As you can tell, some of the beds are littered with weeds. It seems a little random, some of the beds looked good and others were a mess. Anyway, at first I thought that there must have been weed seeds in the cow manure or the leaves, but when I started to work on getting the beds weed-free again, I am pretty sure most of them came from below the newspaper. Additionally, in some place I can tell we didn't do a good enough job making sure the newspaper and cardboard was overlapping - a line of grass would be poking through.
My understanding was that below the newspaper, the earthworms would eat the dying sod and aerate the soil, making the beds soft and easy to work for several inches below the newspaper. That did not happen at all. As you can see from the second photo, we ended up buying a small electric tiller to make the ground plantable. We did our best to keep the earthworms safe but I know we had some casualties.
A week after the first tilling when the ground warmed enough to do some seed planting, there was a plethora of earthworms. Either we did a sufficient job protecting them (I would follow my spouse and grab all of the wriggly earthworms I saw, placing them in a bed that he had already tilled) or tilling doesn't do damage to the soil the way I was warned.
We ended up taking all of the leaves-and-manure mixture and piling it on two beds (see photo above). Not only were they the smallest beds, but they were the beds for carrots, onions, and spinach, three crops that are especially grateful for raised beds prepared lasagna gardening style.
All-in-all, I was disappointed with the results. It seemed to take an enormous amount of effort collecting and spreading the materials, especially trying to keep costs down. Even in hindsight I can't believe how much time and energy it took. Plus, the results were far below my expectations. (Especially now, as the carrots and onions are barely growing - more on that later.)
I don't think I would try it again or recommend it. If I did, I would just choose a couple of beds (so that material gathering was more manageable) and try to do them perfectly - thicker pads of newspaper (4-5 sheets), substantial overlapping, materials piled two feet high. I estimate that this spring, we've spent a comparable amount of time and energy preparing these beds as I did in my previous garden (which I hadn't touched prior to that spring). Considering how much effort we had already put into this garden, this was a fail.
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