2009-04-27 (Last Freeze -1 Week ??) Quick Update

Well, the garden environment didn't seem so cruel until the weekend. Then, this happened:





Things seem to be fine even with the snow (we ended up getting 2-3"). The temp only dropped to just below 32 this morning. The carrots started coming up last week, but not as many as I had hoped. I haven't had much luck with carrots for some reason. I started cucumbers and summer squash indoors last Monday and the cukes came up four days after planting. And we got our potatoes in last week, too. The tomatoes have about outgrown their 4" pots, so I might have to invest in some bigger pots to keep them indoors a little longer than planned, given the nature of the weather this spring.

Which begs the question: When is the last frost really going to be?

2009-04-19 (Last Freeze -2 Weeks) Quick Update

I spent most of last week on vacation, so not much happened in the garden. We left on Wednesday after I made sure all the indoor plants had been watered. The outdoor stuff got several inches of snow, so no worries there. The peas, spinach and radishes have all sprouted. No carrots yet. Some of the lettuce has apparently been eaten off by bugs or birds, and the onions are looking kind of weak. I need to plant the empty spaces in the lettuce squares.

All the indoor plants look fantastic. It makes me nervous to put them out into the cruel garden environment. But, out they shall go!


Right to left, 2 columns each: Cauliflower,
broccoli, cabbage and red cabbage

So, next week the plan is to get the above-pictured stuff into the garden and get summer squash and cucumbers going indoors.

2009-04-13 (Last Freeze -3 Weeks) Quick Update

I somehow missed my Friday update...

Sometime last week, I planted carrots and radishes outside. I also transplanted the lettuce and the swiss chard to the garden. Saturday I potted up the bell peppers and the habaneros. The other hot peppers were potted up the week before.

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage have been going outside nearly every day to harden them off. So far, they're doing great, even down to about 26 degrees. I would have transplanted those, but a harder freeze was forecast for this week and I didn't want to risk the plants that have been growing for two months already. The forecast has changed, but I'll probably do that next weekend anyway. I finished a few more boxes this week, so I'm ready for all that to go in. Speaking of freezes, being freeze-free in three weeks is feeling really optimistic about now. I need to build some light supports that I can put over a box and cover with a tarp for protection.

The pumpkins are starting to germinate. Summer squash will get started this week indoors.

I'm supposed to get seed potatoes pretty soon, so I need to get a box ready for those, too. I realized last week that two of my tomato varieties are determinate, meaning they will grow like a bush and won't grow up a trellis, so they'll take three square feet each instead of one. I guess I'll have to rethink my layout...

Angie plugged my blog on her writing blog, with a picture of me putting up a support frame in the snow. The title probably could have been "In Denial" as opposed to "Undaunted."

Tomato

John Baer: From the Bonny Group of tomatoes that includes Bonny Best, John Baer and Chalk Jewel. Bright red, meaty, smooth fruits with very good flavor. Great for fresh eating and canning, heavy producer. 70 days from transplant. CERTIFIED ORGANIC

Mountain Princess: HEIRLOOM Mountain sweet goodness. Grown for generations in the Monongahela National Forest regions of West Virginia. 8-10 oz fruits are orange-red and perfectly round with a mild tomato flavor. Very productive plants bear quick and early. Works well in containers too. Determinate.
Days to maturity: 68 days

Soldacki: HEIRLOOM Great heirloom flavor! Originally from Poland. Cherry-red beefstake fruits average up to a pound. A meaty potato-leafed variety with sweet tomato flavor. Indeterminate.

Glacier: Our earliest tomato and darn good flavor too! Produces high yields of small 2-3 oz orange-red salad tomatoes. Flavor is greatly superior to other extra-early varieties, winning all early-season taste tests. Sets fruit at 4” tall and keeps producing all season long. Great for the small garden or containers. Semi-determinate potato-leaf variety.
Days to maturity: 55 days

I purchased the John Baer seed from Seed Savers, and the others from High Mowing Seeds, all for 2009. I didn't notice that a couple of these are determinate, which means they won't just keep growing like the indeterminate types. I don't know how tall they will get.

March 20 (6 weeks prior to last freeze): Planted in peat pots in Mel's mix (peat, vermiculite and compost). Planted five of each variety.

March 27: Seedlings started coming up.

April 4: Transplanted four of each variety into four-inch pots with Mel's mix.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Black Seeded Simpson: Early green leaf lettuce! Grand Rapids-type with light green color and tender leaves. Quickly produces a full-sized, bright green open head with slightly crinkled leaves. Withstands heat, drought, and light frost. A highly adaptable lettuce for plantings throughout the season. Popular babyleaf variety for a bright green contrast to mixes.
Days to maturity: 28 days baby, 45 full size

Oaky Red Splash: Arrowhead leaves are very long and soft with a bronze cast and speckled with red blotches similar to Freckles. Can be used as a baby leaf or open-head. Heads can grow to a very large size, up to 18” across in fertile ground. Midribs are often pink. Has a remarkably sweet flavor and silky texture similar to a butterhead. Thanks to grower and breeder Frank Morton for this beauty.
Days to maturity: 30 days baby, 60 full size

Salad Bowl: Bright green color with soft oakleaf edges and tender texture. Most commonly used for babyleaf production, favored for its shape, color and rapid growth rate. Full size habit is loose and open. Very attractive and always tender and sweet. AAS winner in 1952, and has remained a favorite for many years. Heat tolerant and bolt resistant.
Days to maturity: 28 days baby, 50 full size

Red Salad Bowl: A popular red complement to green Salad Bowl, with bronze-tinted oak-shaped leaves commonly found in standard salad mixes. Loose, open-heads form a medium sized rosette. Matures early and is very slow to bolt. Grows well in all seasons but color is best in cooler weather. Has shown field resistance to fall mildews.
Days to maturity: 28 days baby, 55 full size

Jericho Romaine: Summer romaine, with excellent heat and drought resistance. Produces a romaine head with a creamy texture and sweet flavor all season long. Hands-down winner of our taste trials every year. Lime-green leaves form large, somewhat loose, uniform heads. Available as raw and pelleted seed.
Days to maturity: 28 days baby, 57 full size

Winter Density: This unique variety combines the best lettuce traits into one. Part butterhead, part romaine, part green leaf—we love it, but we’re not sure where to put it in the catalog! Medium green leaves are tightly wrapped like a little romaine, around the lemon-lime heart of a butterhead. Prefers cool temperatures for germination.
Days to maturity: 28 days baby, 55 full size

I purchased Black Seeded Simpson, Oaky Red Splash, Salad Bowl and Red Salad Bowl seed from High Mowing for 2005. The Jericho Romaine seed was purchased for 2006 and the Winter Density for this year (2009).

March 13 (7 weeks prior to last freeze): Planted in peat pots in a popular potting soil. Four plants can go into a square foot. I'm planting five each since the Jiffy strips are five long.

March 27 (5 weeks prior to last freeze): The lettuce took longer to sprout than I expected, but it finally came up this week. It might be due to the fact that the seed is four years old.

April 7: Transplanted the lettuce to the garden. None of the red salad bowl sprouted. I got five each of the oaky red splash and jericho romaine and three or four of the others. I also didn't plant a second crop. I'll do that later, and probably directly outside.

2009-04-03 (Last Freeze -4 Weeks) Quick Update

We have celery sprouts! They came up a couple of days ago. Since the seeds are so small, I planted a pinch in each pot and I'm getting four or more plants coming up in each one. Here's a picture of everything as of yesterday:



The cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage are in the pots on the left side. On the right, front to back: six types of lettuce; four types of tomatoes, celery and some new bell peppers (the peppers have been really slow to germinate, so I planted another ten bell peppers last week, just in case); swiss chard and five types of peppers; and three types of onions in the back, some in vermiculite and some in the peat pots. I plan on potting up the peppers and tomatoes this weekend.

I need to start putting the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and onions outside to get them hardened off. It has been cold and rainy since last night, so I'm not sure that will work today. More snow is possible through tomorrow morning, then it's supposed to make it into the 60s next week (finally!).

Last week I finished a couple of boxes and got peas and spinach planted, eight peas per square foot and nine spinach. I had to chop through half an inch of frozen soil to plant them, but they like the colder weather, right? We'll see how they do. Plenty of natural watering going on.

Also, time to start pumpkins indoors. Since these are big seeds, I'm going to plant directly in 4-inch pots. I'm doing some pie pumpkins as well as some bigger ones for Halloween. The kids are going to plant another type to see who can grow the biggest one.

Swiss Chard

Improved Rainbow Mix Swiss Chard: An improved mix of red, pink, white, yellow, orange and striped colors. Uniform and upright habit makes for clean production and easy harvesting. More solid colors and uniformly narrow stems.
Days to maturity: 30 days baby leaf, 60 full size

I purchased Swiss Chard from High Mowing Seeds for 2009. I plan on 8 plants, 4 per square foot.

March 13 (7 weeks prior to last freeze): I started the seeds in Jiffy Strips with a popular potting soil, two seeds per square. Most of the seeds germinated and I cut the excess off with a small pair of scissors. They germinated fairly quickly, within a week if I remember correctly.

Cabbage

Premium Late Flat Dutch Cabbage: In 1924 the catalog of D. M. Ferry & Co. reported that, "This strain is the result of much care on our part to develop and maintain the good qualities that have made this sort so popular." Solid flat heads are 7-8" deep by 10-14" in diameter. 100 days from transplant.

Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage: Introduced in 1889. Solid round heads are 8" in diameter and weigh 7 pounds. Red throughout, vigorous and uniform, small to medium core, sure cropper, fine flavor. Excellent for cooking, salads and pickling. 98 days from transplant.

I purchased both strains of cabbage from Seed Savers for 2009. I plan on 8 of each type, one per square foot in my boxes.

February 6 (12 weeks prior to last freeze): I started the seeds in Jiffy Strips with a popular potting soil, one seed per square. I planted 20 seeds, but only about half germinated.

March 26 (5 weeks prior to last freeze): Due to cold and wet weather, I potted up eight of each type in 4-inch pots and will keep indoors awhile longer.

Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea)

Snowball Y Cauliflower: Introduced in 1947 by Ferry Morse, Snowball Y offers smooth, tight curds on deep 6-7” heads. Dwarf plants have erect outer leaves that offer good protection. Heads can be harvested over a long period. Recommended for fall crops. Days to maturity: 70 days

I purchased Snowball Y seed from High Mowing for 2008 and had some left over. I will plant one per square foot in my boxes.

February 13 (11 weeks prior to last freeze): I started the seeds in Jiffy Strips with a popular potting soil, one seed per square. I planted 20 seeds, and all but two actually germinated.

March 26 (5 weeks prior to last freeze): The seedlings are bigger than the broccoli seedlings, which were planted a week earlier. I decided I didn't really want 16 cauliflower plants, so I potted up eight of them in 4-inch pots and left the rest for the compost pile.