February 8, 2008

Well, I ordered my Red Sails and Italienscher seeds today. Unfortunately Territorial is too darn efficient and they'd already shipped my seed order so I had to pay shipping again.  Drat, expensive lettuce, but I couldn't see making salads out of just Salad Bowl Lettuce and Spinach all year long.  Now I'll have color, texture and taste! Muahahahaha!



Well, I was helping put the boys to bed and checked out my garden in their nursery.  Unfortunately I think my plants are getting a bit too leggy, despite being repotted deep enough to cover most of the stem.  It just re-grew!  What am I doing wrong?  It's to tall and falling over.  Should I stake it up or what?

The rest of my seedlings seem to be doing ok... here are some others...



And even my cute little onions sprouting up all over the place...



I'm not sure when to transplant the onions? A few are looking good but sooner or later the seed will give up all it's nutrients and vermiculite has none to give (thanks Judy for that tid bit). 

Well, the weekend is here and aside from putting together a bed and taking down a crib, I should have plenty of time to build a potato bin or two.  It should be pretty easy, just cut the boards and assemble four 1x6s to four 2x2s, then attach landscape fabric to the bottom.  Shame I used up all our landscape fabric when I did the gravel work.  I sincerely doubt they'll have 4 SF for sale anywhere.  I'll have to buy TONS of it.  Ah well.

One week away from dirt!  I've started accumulating coffee grounds to mix into the top 6 inches of my beds. So far I've got 5 pounds but need a lot more. Starbucks has it free at most locations, just ask for used grounds for the garden.  It's really good for improving the nitrogen (it's got a 20:1 ratio of nitrogen to carbon, and roughly an NPK ratio of 7-2-2, though another site had it at 2-0.3-0.2 what a difference espresso can make, hehe)  It's also slightly acidic which makes it useful to help out the blueberries.  I read that the pH of coffee grounds is 6.9, which is BARELY acidic at all.  So I don't get how you can make soil more acidic by using several pounds of coffee.  It doesn't seem that it could make it lower than 6.9 pH.  I may use a little around my blueberries but I think I'll need a soil test kit.  Blueberries like 4.5 pH, which is nearly as acidic as citrus juice.

Ah well, a quick look on the web for how coffee grounds help corn didn't yield anything. I know they're high in nitrogen so I'll throw some in to help it out.  Corn feeds on nitrogen.  I may also fertilize with Miracle Grow since it is really high (30) in nitrogen.  This is especially the case since I really can't cycle my corn around my garden. I only have one bed big enough for corn.  If I deplete the nitrogen one year, I won't have any for the next year.  Something to think about, and of course diseases that may result.  Maybe worms help. Who knows? Flatlander that's who. I guess I could use the second largest and smallest and then use the corn bed for traditional SFG.  That would leave me with 2 less trellises.

Ok, I found this searching the internet for coffee ground benefits in gardening.  Hope it helps...

• Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen... Good for augmenting for corn when the stalks start to shoot up or the cobs start to form.


• Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting... They're trying to make me compost. We LOVE tea!


• Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature... I could be dangerous with this. Seattle RAIN, hehe. If you didn't know, Starbucks started here, about 2 blocks from my work.


• Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds... This is how I plan on using it.


• Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.


• If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms... Flatlander take note.


• (From Sustainable Enterprises, so the other poster said).

Ok, here's my research on Starbucks coffee and blueberries.  Unless blueberries need nitrogen, don't bother.  The lable apparently says the acidity is brewed out of it (and into our coffee, read heartburn) so the pH is 6.9 for sure. No good for acid loving plants like blueberries.  I guess I'll buy enough Miracle Gro Acid fertilizer to last the full 20 year life of those plants. I understand a table spoon dilutes into 1 gallon twice a year, and you get a big container. Joy.

February 7, 2008

Been a slow garden couple of days, coupled with a ton of work at work.  Oh, and a some great theatre thrown in for good measure. The onions continue to sprout and grow now that one came all the others want to join the crowd.  I moved the lettuce back in thinking it just needed more time (nothing yet).  I hope I didn't stunt the germination or anything.

Most of what I'll talk about today is my new seeds.  I put a few calls into Territorial this week.  The beauty of their shop is that the order takers are very experienced gardeners in addition to having a guide to have the key features of each seed at their fingertips.  The first call I ordered my potatoes for early March delivery.  I'll follow Mel's advice and plant them 4 weeks prior to the average LSF, though my brother and I agree we are likely in for a few more weeks of winter, no mater what the groundhog says.  I ordered Yukon Golds and Buttes.  Both make great mashed potatoes, but Yukons can easily be chopped up and sauteed in butter and parsely for a different side dish.  The Buttes are excellent bakers. ROFL, I just connected that sentence to my amazing mother.  Not only was she raised in Butte Montana (after fleeing war-torn Poland), but she is an incredible baker, just like the Butte potatoes.  I digress.  Not only are they bakers, but they reportedly make great fries and mashed potatoes.  I look forward to blending the Yukon's with the Buttes for a different take on mashed taters.

On the way to the play that night, my wife (you can read her blog about being a busy mom from the link here), was writing a letter to her grandma, telling her about our garden plans.  When she heard what we were growing, she said "we're doing shucking peas? I wanted snap peas!"  Oops!  Um, I like shuck peas.  They're what the frozen peas the kids eat WISH they could be.  So today I called my brother and got a good feel for when to get my tomatoes (mid April).  He's not going to try to beat the weather this year with all the snow in the mountains and the rain/snow mix here.  So it's mid April or later. If later, I'll just repot and keep inside until it's safe to transplant outside.

So based on my pea fiasco, I called Territorial back today and actually got the same sales person.  We chatted about peas and I ordered some snap peas for my wife, the vine kind since I plan on a trellis for that bed and need to use it.  Actually, she suggested to trellis my bush peas as well for ease of harvest.  Why not, the trellis will be there.  Anyway, while we were talking, I noticed snow peas at the bottom of the page.  Another minute chatting and I'd bought some snow peas.  Great for stir frys.  We don't stir fry, but we should.  If we have snow peas, broccoli etc. why not?  So, at the end of the call, I had set up to grow three different types of peas in my 4 SF.  Since they're planted every 3 inches on both sides of the trellis, I'll have TONS of plants and peas.  I can't speak highly enough about the folks at Territorial Seed Company.  Not only are they helpful, but their options are great and so is their delivery times.

Speaking of the trellis... the trellis will be in the back of the bed against the wall of the garage (a foot and a half away).  If you've seen my setup, the wall of the garage is light beige, which reflects a great amount of light.  But is it enough for growing peas on the back side of the trellis?  Something to ask before I plant.

Did I mention that the back of the book with it's quick reference guide to each veggie is my favorite part of the book?  I refer to it often.  Well that's about it for me tonight.  I hope to clear out my garage enough to build a potato bin or two. Don't worry, I'll take pictures... I need them for my guide page.  Gardening season is just about upon us!  I can't wait and hope you can't either.

Ok, I said I was done, but alas, things happen.  I called my brother to find out about that peppery lettuce he grows so I can get some (Territorial is going to think I'm crazy if I call to amend my order again).  While on the phone, he convinced me to get Italienscher (the peppery lettuce) as well as Red Sails (for color and flavor).  If I keep this up, I'll have more variety than a produce department.  Not what I originally planned.  I hope I'm not getting too ambitious.

Anyway, while I was on the phone with him, I bemoned the lack of germination of my lettuce seeds.  He proceeded to do some math for me.  Since I started my seeds in late January (say February 1 for simple math), 55 days would put the lettuce ready to harvest at the end of March.  We could still have frosts during that time that would kill the lettuce if I planted it outside mid-late February.  That's not good lettuce weather.  Oops.  Guess I'm not so concerned if the come up.  He says if they come up I should just set up lights and grow them completely indoors like a green house.  I don't want to do that (yet anyway, you never know what I'll be doing when I've got Judy's experience under my belt).  Live and learn.  Around here, lettuce is planted around April 1 and sown outside.

February 5, 2008

Well, well, well.  It seems patience really IS rewarded, at least where my onions are concenred.  I planted them in straight vermiculite on 1/29/08 and where my broccoli and cauliflower sprouted in a few days, I had just about given up on my onions and lettuce.  I hadn't even looked on the top of the fridge today.  It wasn't until I was making dinner that I saw just over the edge of the cool whip container a tip of green.  Sure enough, my son and I found three little spouts out of 16 to 20 (it's been so long I can't remember).  It just goes to show, a watched cool whip container never boils, or something like that.



(Sorry if the picture's blurry.  My wife's out and her cameraphone autofocuses at 2mp and mine sucks at 1.3mp with no focus. Oh, and the sprouts are TINY.) 

So now they're sitting on a very crowded window sill in my sons' room.  One major concept that all my advice had in common was that AS SOON as you see any sprout, move them to full sun.  I have no idea what I'll do when (if) the lettuce sprouts.  I guess I'll have to clear their dresser and open the shade more.

 

Out of all my seedlings, the cauliflower is doing the best (maybe it's a tad "leggy").  Some of the broccoli looks a bit anemic.  If it doesn't perk up I may just consolidate the best growers and dump the rest.  Or maybe I'll plant them all and see if they grow.

Another comment on my re-potted seedlings.  Despite using extra vermiculite in my Mel's potting mix, the top of the soil is looking a tad dry.  I don't want to overwater, but I don't want them too dry either.  Such is the art of indoor seeding in specific and I'd guess, gardening in general.

Finally, I got an email from Territorial Seeds today saying, among other things, that they are nearly ready to ship potatoes.  I must have picked good varieties because they featured both the Yukon Golds and the Buttes (had to get them because they're bakers and my Mom's family is from Butte MT).  Tomorrow I'll call them and ask their thoughts on planting 4 weeks B4 the Last Spring Frost (LSF), and if 1 lb. of each variety will be enough for my 30x30 beds at 6 inch spacing?  Also, while I have them, I'll ask if Early Girl and Momoato tomatoes compliment each other for continuous harvest throughout the growing season.  I figure since they cater to folks west of the Cascade mountains, they'll have good information for me.  I was going to call today but time slipped away from me at work.

Tomorrow's hump day, and one day closer to DIRT!

February 4, 2008

While the talk of the day was all about the Super Bowl, I myself was concerned about my seedlings.  Several of them didn't look so hot after the transplanting last night and frankly, all the time and energy I spent on them this weekend lingered into the day.  Yep, I'm  a bit obssessed with my garden.  I think it's the pictures I've seen of other gardens around harvest time.  I long for that time, not just for the delictible veggies we'll eat, but the lush colors brightening a once blighted area. 

When I first got home, my kids wanted to build pillow forts in their room, which gave me a great chance to check on the transplants.  In between telling them not to jump on the bed  and telling them to play nice (the kids that is, not the plants), I saw that the transplanted seedlings were perking up.  Even an hour past dark on an overcast day they looked much better. Let's hope they thrive in damp potting soil and Mel's Mix.

Whereas my broccoli and cauliflower have never failed to sprout, my lettuce and onions continue to be no-shows.  It's been almost two weeks for both of them, and I even took some advice and moved the lettuce out to the garage (on the garden window sill).  I know I have to be patient, but I figure I must be doing something wrong since not one of the 16 onions and 8 lettuce have sprouted yet.  Note that for each of the veggies, the number of seeds I planted is what will fit in 1 SF?  Well that shows my overconfidence based on how well the broccoli and cauliflower germinated.  Not all seeds are quite as easy I guess. 

Maybe I'll check if I should try the Jiffy Peat pucks on a new set of lettuce and onions?  I'm not sure they'd take to huge peat pots.  I know Judy swears by them, but I only bought a 25 pack and if I'm going to plant 16 onions and 8 lettuce, that's nearly all my stock.  I try to stay as far away from the crowds at Wally World I can help it and that's the only place I've found them.   Did I mention I don't shop much?

On a separate note, you may have read on the Ft2Garden.com message boards about Judy's find about a worm farmer on Puget Sound's Vashon Island called the Worm Guy.  He's got millions of worms that are used to break down organic waste into compost to make the small island of Vashon self sufficient since their landfill closed.  My family used to have 4.5 acres on Vashon when I was little, but no, I don't know the guy.  I have thought about worms for my garden before.  You see, my blueberry bed is teaming with worms since I amended the existing soil with compost and peat moss back in October when I planted the bushes.  After I planted them I read that I should have used much more peat then I did, so I dug a trench and put more in. That's when I found dozens and dozens of fat worms helping me out. 

Unfortunately I seriously doubt worms in the existing topsoil under my beds can crawl through a layer of landscape fabric and 3 inches of gravel.  So that means I'll have to add them after I get my dirt.  MAYBE I'll consider "growing" my own worms.  You can tell I only saw the one video on YouTube on the Worm Guy and have no idea what it would entail, but I guess they like newspaper and we've got tons of those from my wife's paper route.  If I do farm my own worms (my family will commit me if they find out I'm even considering it), it will be after my LLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGG list of to-do projects this spring and summer.

Not the least of which is bringing water to my garden.  If you've seen my garden plan (see my first post or my SFG Design/Build page), you see the little H2O in the corner.  That's my hose with a wand attachment to water my garden.  Well, it WILL be, once I get water there and buy the hose and wand attachement.  Thus the project.  On the other side of our 750 SF family room directly across from the H2O symbol is where my existing backyard faucet is now.  I plan to connect a splitter to the one, then setting up an elaborate and long PVC pipe along the slab around two corners about 35 feet away to a new faucet.  That way, I can hopefully keep the one faucet on and the new one off until I need to water, then turn on the new one on and presto, water!  I don't need much pressure unless I eventually want a soaker system, but that's WAY down the line if at all. Actually, I'm thinking about leaving a full watering can out in the sun to warm up and use that to water.  I recall plants like ambient temperature water.  Either way, I'll need water over there.  That's one of my first projects after I get dirt on the 17th and 18th after my eldest's 4th B-Day party on the 16th.  

Well, that's all I've got for tonight. Thanks for coming and reading... hope you find something of interest.  I'm trying to keep it light and fun.  Register and drop a comment if you have a thought, suggestion or just want to tell me I stink.

February 3, 2008

Super Bowl Sunday!  Unfortunately our beloved Seahawks didn't make it this year, but it should still be a fun game.  I've got several errands to run before 3 (joys of living on the west coast). Several of them are garden related.  I want to run to my local nursery to check on larger pots, preferably peat, to repot my broccoli and cauliflower, or maybe I'll just use styrofoam cups.  I'd have to buy those too because we're too "green" here to actually have those around the house. hehe I may need permission to actually buy them at the store.

Apparently the "second set of leaves" that they talk about getting before you repot are at the head.  I kept expecting to see off shoots mid-stem.  Live and learn.

So, after a day of research and probing questions on the internet yesterday, I received conflicting information on my seedlings.  One local guy said I needed lights (seconded by countless others on the Growing with Lights forum... go figure).  I even took a picture of the spot in my house I found for the light system...



I even started designing the area in the top foot or so of the cavity. I found an old shelf that just about fit and figured out how to make it work.  I was busy planning last night. 

But then I got more advice saying the complete opposite.  I didn't need to get lights, I didn't need to move them inside, in fact I should take a sunny day and put them outside for a few hours to start getting them acclimated to the weather outside.  Maybe when I'm at the local nursery, I'll see if they've got a master gardener there that I can ask.

Ok, forget the master gardener. I've got 150+ years of gardening experience in my family.  They just laughed and said, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.  Just repot them and put them back on the window sill.  Everything will be fine.  Who am I to argue with experience? (Thanks Joytosew for being one of the first to suggest repotting, and you and Judy seem to REALLY like your tomatoes. You should really compare numbers and varieties.)

Boy, the SFG book never said anything remotely like how challenging starting seeds indoors could be.  Thank goodness for the internet and the various garden forums.  Can I just say that gardeners are some of the most helpful people on the planet?  I guess if they're competing for the county fair, they'll be secretive but otherwise, just ask, they'll help.  Very cool.

Another interesting tid bit I found out from multiple sources yesterday was that lettuce does not like to germinate in warmth.  So I should have put them out in the garage, so they're now sitting on the sunny window sill out there.  Maybe I need to move the onions out there too. They haven't sprouted either.

You know, in my research I found many people out there with indoor setups to grow a thousand seedlings at a time.  At the time I couldn't fathom growing that many. That's more than two or three of my gardens could handle.  I thought maybe they were farmers (or drug dealers, just kidding).  Now I just think they are hedging their bets.  There's a strong possibility that all my seedlings are going to fail.  That would be sad because I'd be behind the curve for transplanting outside, especially for broccoli and cauliflower that don't do well in the hot summer months.  Oh well, I guess I'd just have to break out the chicken wire and landscape fabric and make shade cages like the SFG book recommends.  Or maybe I'll set up one of my 4' window screens I salvaged from our window tear out.  We'll see.

Time to go run errands... then go watch the Super Bowl!  Oh, and if I sound confused today, it's because I am.  Don't worry, I'll be better.

===========================================================

Ok, I feel better now, the Patriots lost, so no perfect season, oh well, not my team, we lost to the Packers in a blizzard (we got made fools of is more like it, but this is about gardening). 



My mother convinced me I was making too much of this and just to repot the seedlings and keep them on the window sill.  So that's what I did. I got dirty. It was fun!  I have no idea if I did it right, but I used 9 oz. transparent plastic cups (all the store had for styrofoam was 16 oz. which was too big), and filled them with Mel's Mix.  Then I gingerly removed the seedlings with rubber gloves on, only touching the leaves, and held them in the partially filled cup, filling it the rest of the way around it.  I *BELIEVE* that the advice I've received for my leggy plants is to bury some of the stem so only an inch or less is above ground.  Anyway, all 16 of my broccoli and cauliflower got "potted up" as I guess they say, even if they were a little stumpy.  Frankly, if half of them survive, that will give me a good staggering of plantings so I can continually harvest broccoli and cauliflower throughout the season.  I have 8 of each and 8 SF devoted to each, so if all of them don't grow, then I'll just direct sow the rest once I've got dirt.   

You see, currently I am the only one in the family that eats these but my wife is excited to make macaroni and cheese with cauliflower in it and I just want to be able to cut off a few broccoli flowerets at a time for my meal. 

Let's hope my mother was right and sowing seeds indoors is not as complicated as the forums make it out to be.

February 2, 2008

Well, I'm counting down the days until I can get my dirt, especially on a sunny weekend. I can't say I'm quite as excited about it now as I was a few days ago because my seedlings aren't doing so well.  They're not wilting, but they're not growing either.  They've pretty much stopped in this position.

 

Despite my desperate attempts at getting them to grow with a heating pad set on low, nothing. However, I did find out that moving them back inside wouldn't hurt them, so they're now parked in the nursery.  Three pretty little cool whip containers all in a row.

Unfortunately I found out that our Western Washington sunlight this time of year isn't strong enough to grow seedlings. Oh and on a lesser note, I shouldn't leave standing water in the trays, it apparently can cause root rot and starve the roots of oxygen (though I would think airflow around the vermiculite from the top would help).  Moral of this day, starting seeds indoors is a bit more difficult than I initially thought.  Hehe I figured it would be.

So, I guess now I have to contemplate grow lights.  I hadn't planned on starting up an elaborate seedling setup my first year.  Heck, I'm not even sure I will continue starting my seeds indoors.  This is just an experiment.  Most veggies we eat can be started from seed outdoors (I think). I'm doing this indoor starting as an experiment and for experience.  Yet another problem to solve.  Hehe, I think gardening is a problem solver's dream.  This experience has been one minor problem to solve after another.  Don't worry though, I'll work out most of the problems (with the help of many others), so you hopefully won't have to.  That's the hope anyway.

So I've spent about an hour going through the GardenWeb FAQ for Growing from Seeds and the forum.  I wonder if I'll have any success without setting up an elaborate lighting system somewhere in my house. My family will definitely think I've gone insane then.

On a lighter note (pun intended), I figured out the only spot for good sized potato containers is behind my corn bed.  I was out there in the sun with a tape measurer and found I have over 5 feet currently between the back of corn bed and the fence with the gate.  I can fit two Build-As-You-Grow containers in that space if I don't move the fence line.  It would just mean I can't park against the garage, which I've never been able to do.  Besides, it's less work if I don't have to move the fence, and I've got tons of projects this year already.

Well, after spending the day intermittently with the family and on the web checking out solutions for my poor seedlings, I decided to check out a lighting system for them.  My garage is too cold and I don't particularly want to build a Chicken Tractor-like mini-green house with a space heater out there.  So I wandered around the house and found a 35' by 12' cavity in my wall shelving unit above the cold-air return for my furnace.  It's inside so it's 70 degrees and I should be able to fit one or two fixtures in there on chains from the top to a spare shelf that should basically fit the cavity.  According to the FAQ on GardenWeb for fluorescent lights, going one warm and one cool bulb is the best way to get both red and blue spectrum light without spending too much for "grow lights." 

I'm heading out to check out Lowes to see what my options are for lighting.  Well, that was a short trip. My wife convinced me to wait until the kids went to bed and by the time we got the jumpy kids to bed and I got there, it was 9 and they closed.  Oh yeah, they aren't 24 hours anymore.  I called my Dad and he said they sell 30 inch fixtures so I should be good in that space.

February 1, 2008

Glad it's Friday.  Sure I only worked 3 days this week with a "weekend" off in the middle, but after coming down with the cold my kids had during that time, I'm exhausted.  Sick and tired... literally.  Still, I got my second straight day of my whole family greeting me at the door when I got home.  Then immediately after getting my coat off, Logan wants to see the garden.  As I expected, nothing had happened on the germination side, the lettuce and onions are taking longer than the broccoli and cauliflower.  I say I expected it because Judy left a comment today that told me they'd be slow. 

That's fine, because my eldest then said, let's go to my room and see the rest.  So he ran off and waited for me to pull down the cool whip container with the second set of broccoli and cauliflower seedlings.  He proceeds to count the sprouts for me.  Sure enough, still eight.

The funny thing is that these week old seeds are already as big or bigger than my nearly month-old sprouts in the garage.  I wonder if I shouldn't bring them in?  Are they going to mature faster than the recent plantings now that they've been stunted (assuming they survive)?  Kinda defeats the purpose of spacing them out if they're now on par with the new ones.

Since I'm not feeling well and have nothing more to talk about today, I'll keep this one short (for once)... unless I think of more later, and don't think I won't  try.