A little gardening
Rain has been the norm, not too much but just enough to keep me out of the garden for the most part. Too wet. And now it is cold again. The swallows just showed up, and they are late, a testament to the cooler temperature. I was able to hoe one row and get it ready for a few transplants this week. Here’s our past few days of garden stuff.
Sweet Meat winter squash.
The squash are dwindling, and it’s getting time to think about new crops. I know stored squash isn’t technically garden stuff, but it’s hard to tell here what came first? The garden or the kitchen…kind of a chicken and egg thing.
Melissa
Dry enough or not, I had to get my first starts transplanted – they were definitely ready. Hoe, let dry, rake, amend, plant. In the ground: Cabbage, bok choy, lettuce, mustard, arugula, spinach, chard, and beets for greens.
A small salad bed.
Music garlic.
It’s still a little wet to weed the alliums yet, but I did get the garlic and potato onions side dressed with composted manure.
Potato onions.
The tomatoes are plugging along, waiting for warmer weather. I have had to get in gear, the chicks are coming next week, so I have to move the plants to the personnel area of the brooder. I don’t want to be watering my chicks!
Next on the list is potting on my celeriac. Maybe today…
I did get the peppers potted up though. Hopefully they will get big enough for setting out in June. Peppers are an iffy crop here with our cool nights. But I have to try, they are so good. A butter knife works well for lifting the plugs out of the cells. I love these cell trays, I have used these for 16 years, and if stored out of the light after the growing season they last for years.
I fell down on my thinning duties, my excuse is that after the mouse fiasco, I thought I might need the extras if there were any. Ideally, one plant per plug is best. Just like in the forest, you want to leave the best and take out the weaklings. In the 3 plugs shown above I used both vigorous seedlings in the far right cell, and only used the strongest plant in the other 2 cells, pinching out the runt and leaving the plug intact.
Sweet pimiento.
Summer is on the way!
Food Renegade
Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op
You are inspiring, I need to get off my carcass and get my seedlings going too! I did, at least, get a gazillion raspberry slips planted so far. This will be my first year of starting tomatoes etc indoor from seed tho. Other things I have tried have always bit the dust when I tried to harden them off. Good luck, and here’s to no more mice!
Thanks Petey! I hope the mice have moved on to greener pastures
I don’t have to deal with your cold temps so hardening off the plants here is pretty easy!!
do you buy your potting mix or mix your own- i am mixing my own this year and so far so good… your salad bed looks beautiful-
oh and one other question- friends have said they topdress their garlic beds with straight chicken manure- not composted- what do you say?
Enjoy the day- it looks to be very sunny on the western side of the valley, I hope its the same on your side!
Michelle, I have made mine in the past when I did more horticulture stuff, but lately I have been relying on Black Gold Organic mix, it’s semi-local and easier for me to store than all the components I would need to make my own.
As for the chicken manure – composted here means stacking and letting the deep bedding pack age. This particular chicken bedding/manure was from our greenhouse/chicken house,
http://matronofhusbandry.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/the-long-view-animals-on-the-farm-or-the-continuing-saga-of-the-cloverwood-chronicles/
I cleaned the building out and piled the bedding pack in the garden. So it hasn’t really done much composting since the end of January, but it isn’t exactly fresh either. I use a lot of bedding, so there is no smell which would be an indication of too much nitrogen being lost.
The garlic schedule goes like this: In the fall I amend with Azomite, plant and mulch with fresh stall cleanings from Della or Nick (horse), in April I mulch again with the chicken manure or whatever is handy that is more broken down than the fresh I applied in the fall. The plants really need to get going now and grow before the solstice – so if the manure is partially composted it will work faster to the benefit of the plants.
Very nice! I love to see the seedlings!
JCC, Thanks!!
Thanks for posting about nettle pesto last month. We tried it last week and loved it.
Angie, thanks! It’s pretty tasty isn’t it?
Looks great!
YDavis, thank you!
Wonderful posts lately. Thank you!
AA, thanks it seems like lately I have nothing interesting to write about – just everyday stuff!
Your garlic is miles ahead of ours, but the sun did show itself this week so things are starting to pop up a bit in our garden. All of your starts look great, especially your celeriac…
Mike, I am hoping for some sun and a little bit warmer nights – I am not liking this frost all the time.
I was worried about the second round of celeriac, since the first one was a total loss, but these have really taken off. This planting was Brilliant, and much more vigorous than the Diamant.
When did you start your stuff? Mine is tiny and wimpy, compared to yours. And I got a lot of it started in February.
I’m going to try that kind of tray next. I don’t like the styrofoam cell tray that I got- too hard to dig the seedlings from it.
Paula, I started the tomatoes Feb 28, and the other stuff had to be restarted about March 12 or so, since the mice had such a field day. I have to wait a while to start my seeds, since I do them in an unheated greenhouse – so bottom heat, and natural light. They do OK even with covering with an extra layer of plastic. They grow a little slower, but I don’t have problems with damping off, or spindly growth either with my methods. And don’t tell anyone I overhead water, and I don’t sterilize my pots or soil either :O
The only thing with cells is that they are prone to drying out, so you really have to keep an eye on them, otherwise they work well.
Paula,
Lowes had three of the Jiffy 72-cell trays in a combined package. It included the cells, the tray they set in, and a clear cover for starting the seeds (I use the cover to support the bottom tray). I sifted compost from under a round bale of hay from two or three years ago, a couple handsful of sand, and Perlite, and potting soil. And I think I got a lot better results than with peppers I started using the peat pellets.
Some of the things I started early (March 2) suffered because the room was still winter-cool, from 45 to 65 degrees. I welded up a bracket that clips on top of my card table, and holds a $10 cheap 18 inch flourescent fixture – with a 13 watt flourescent bulb – about 18 inches above the table. With the table setting in front of the window – the tomatoes started great, the peppers and eggplant did mixed – one variety of pepper started great, the other pepper one of nine came up. With the replants and additional starts since the house warmed – the cells way out do the peat pellet trays.
I imagined I could find homes for the extra tomatoes – I only want to plant 3 Beefsteak and 4 Black Cherry tomatoes – and have about 70 left. See, all those cells were just sitting there, empty, and then I planted two seeds to a cell – and repotted to split the pairs (didn’t seem to slow things much). It is so gratifying to watch those plants popping up. I expect next year I will be more focused – and there will be people asking why I don’t have tomatoes for them again.
It definitely pays to shop around – the same Jiffy tray was a couple dollars more at the TSC today, and I didn’t seen anything comparable in size and price at Wal-Mart or Ace Hardware.
Like Matron, I found the “slip the table knife down the side of the cell” technique works a real treat. I used a saucer and that same knife to pick up one (two, when that was what I indended) seed at a time for planting. Then used a raking motion in the cell, with the table knife, to sow the seed, and cover it according to seed packet instructions. The technique is great – the mistakes are all mine.
Everything looks wonderful! It makes me feel guilty I have been in the garden more.
Teresa, thanks and don’t feel bad, soon being in the garden is probably all you will doing!
Very nice! I left my chiles in low tunnels well into June last year and had my best crop yet. Even coaxed some fruit from Jolokias and Tepins. I’m mostly soil blocking this year and it’s been awesome. I’ll never buy another plastic cell tray. I did Music last year and it was refreshingly early for our part of the country. This year it looks like all of my overwintering alliums will be early. The garlic is already 12-18in tall. Good gardening!
Glenn, ahh you are down there in the banana belt! I drove to PDX yesterday and couldn’t believe all the blooms and the sun – since we emerged from a dense cloud cover!
Nita, how many tomato plants do you have started? I’d love more room to garden but it just aint gonna happen for me. I can dream through you though…
Annette, I started about 80, but some are for neighbors, I am probably only going to keep 25 or so since I don’t have the room for trellising without my large greenhouse. So 2 cherry, a couple slicers and 23 sauce give or take… I’m getting low on salsa and sauce, but DH is a little intolerant of solanums so I have been able to stretch my tomato sauce quite a bit further – which is a good thing, it takes a lot of tomatoes to make sauce!
You are SO much farther ahead of us……..I’m just a tad jealous but then I don’t need another job right now either……..or at least that’s what I’m telling myself as I see all your thriving plants.
Your garden looks super.
I have some plants out, but it has rained now for several days and I haven’t been able to get the rest out. I am also growing my own tomatoes from seeds. I have several types of heirloom tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes, mini bell peppers, and round cucumbers. 
I used one of those 70 cell Jiffy pot planters, and almost all of them sprouted. I will have more Black Cherokee tomatoes than I know what to do with!! 
Your tomatoes and peppers look great! I had tomatoes 1.5′ tall but let most of them freeze. I had to start over and now have them only 1″ tall
Oh well, they will grow!
Great seedlings! My favorite pic is of the jarrahdale squash, which I think is my favorite for pies. by the way, I found you via Woody’s Rocky Ridge’s blog roll. Your seedling photos and directions put mine to shame.
http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/