Baby Violets

There they are, along with my finger for size comparison. The origami pots didn't work out that great. It may be just because of the type of paper I used instead of newspaper- but they are breaking down. I don't think too many of the pansies grew, just the Johnny Jump Ups. I read that violets should be planted out about a month before the final frost date, which is coming up this week, but I'm not sure if they are still too small to transplant.
A couple of the violets-in-a-can my partner brought home from the computer show actually grew too. I can hardly believe it.

Update: Great news!! Remember the wild violets that unexpectedly grew in my backyard last year? Well they are growing back again! I was worried they wouldn't, since we did so much work in the backyard the area was trampled quite a bit, as well as torn up by J.J. the dog. But last night when I went outside, I saw that all of a sudden they are sprouting up everywhere! Yay, I'm so excited. They smelled so delicious last year. I think I identified what type they are too: Viola sororia (Sister Violet or Woolly Violet). They are New Jersey's state flower. :-)

New Grow Light Setup Finally Done

There it is in all its 2 24", 20 watt full spectrum florescent bulb glory, with the leggy lettuce seedlings underneath. Of course, after we finally finish it I read additional information that says you should use 40 watt bulbs, not 20 watt which is what I bought. Gah. I really hope it is enough and I didn't waste my money! Guess we'll see.

Cold Moist Stratification

This is something new that I just learned about this year. Apparently some seeds, usually perennials, need what's called "Cold Moist Stratification" in order to germinate. Normally in nature seeds of these plants lie dormant over the winter, and it is only after a period of freezing and rain that they germinate in the spring. If these types of seeds don't experience this treatment they won't break out of their tough shells. Here is a great explanation of stratification.

I decided to try the "winter sowing" method. There are pansies and johnny jump ups in the round take out container and lavender in the seltzer bottle. The seltzer bottle is inside a pot with rocks in the bottom just so it won't blow away. I poked drainage holes in the bottom of both, then filled them with soil and planted the seeds. I also poked ventilation holes in the tops. As it gets warmer, I'm supposed to make these holes bigger and bigger but it hasn't gotten that warm yet. It was probably a bit late to start them at the beginning of March, but as you can see on the 5th there was still snow, and it has been pretty cold all through the month so hopefully it will still work.

The anise hyssop also went in a small container, but got a little different treatment. The seeds were so tiny I practically needed a magnifying glass to see them, so I wrapped them in a moist paper towel and placed that inside the container. I read that the hyssop needs light for germination so I carefully put them under just one layer of paper.

Unfortunately, last weekend I checked on them and they were very wet, so I got the bright idea to unfold the paper towel and leave them in the sun to get light. Not such a smart move, since of course I proceeded to forget about them, the sun dried the towel and the wind blew it off the table. *sigh* I lost all but three seeds. I will probably only need two plants since I know that hyssop can grow really huge so hopefully they'll germinate! You can see it here on March 13th with the other two containers, all set to get frozen outside overnight.

Today was the first day I saw anything green in any of the three containers. It looks like one of the pansies sprouted! I hope more grow in the coming weeks.

End of March: Wonderful News!

Despite having freezing cold nights at the beginning of this week, all of the veggies I planted outside are growing! I went outside Thursday and couldn't believe my eyes, all of the peas I planted (both types) are peeking out of the soil. I counted them last night - there are nearly 40 pea sprouts. The arugula also survived the cold, and the whole row looks great. We even have two radish sprouts.

The inside seedlings are still ok, though leggy. I'm going to harden off the lettuce this week then plant them deep so hopefully they'll recover once in the garden. Of course, as you can see below the cut-and-come again tray of extra seedlings I didn't even plan to plant is looking way better than the leggy lettuce in individual containers! Oh the irony.

I'm getting excited now for the next few weeks in April. Lots of things to be planted. I made another plan (yes, I couldn't help it haha) for exactly when to plant the seedlings according to the moon cycles. I went with different dates since the Farmer's Almanac seemed to early considering the cold weather we've been having, based on the conventional wisdom that leafy plants with seeds on the outside go in the first quarter, annuals with seeds on the inside second quarter, root veggies and perennials in the 3rd and nothing in the 4th. I don't know if it is bubkus or not, but I figure there is no harm in trying since it is pretty much right on time as far as the weather anyway. This is the plan for the next two weeks:

Today:

• Pre-germinate radish seeds for early (non-moon) planting in the next few days. I want to put these in early where I will plant warm weather veggies in May so they'll be ready for harvest by then. It will be interesting to compare them to the later moon sown radishes, although I won't know if any difference is due to the moon or just warmer weather.

4/1 or 4/2:

• Start flowers inside - Tray 1 = Calendula (10 flashback, 5 octoberfest), Marigold (2), Bergamot (3 fitulosa + 3 didyma) & Garlic Chives (2)
  
• Tray 2 = Nasturtium (10 climbing, 5 empress, 6 whirlybird), Balloon Flower (2), Mallow (2)
• Tray 3 = Hollyhock (15) & English Daisy (10)
• Direct sow more lettuce & arugula plus mustard greens, mache and chard
• Transplant lettuce seedlings

4/4 or 4/5:

• Direct-sow a couple more peas to fill in any empty spots

4/11 or 4/12:

• Direct-sow turnips, beets, carrots & more radishes
• Plant purchased berries outside - raspberries, blueberries and strawberries

Final Seed Order 2009

Yep, couldn't help myself- oops I did it one more time.

Here is today's order:

• English Daisy Tasso Strawberries and Cream
• Balloon Flower Astra White
• Monarda Panorama Red Shades
• Hollyhock Mallow 'Mystic Merlin'
• Hollyhock Creme de Cassis
• Organic Cilantro Longstanding
• Organic Dill Bouquet

I'm not sure I'll even have enough room for all of these flowers, but we'll see what happens.

As far as the third week of March update- some good and bad news. The good news is I've got two pole peas growing, and the whole row of arugula has sprouted wonderfully. No action on the bush peas in the strawberry bed, so something clearly went wrong there. No big deal though, I have plenty of extra seeds. I plan to soak and replant in the first week of April.

This experimental early March planting has told me that you don't necessarily gain much from starting earlier in this climate. This is probably especially true this year, since it has been so cold. Tonight it is supposed to go down into the 20's! That's the bad news. I hope the arugula lives!

I still may try to start early next year, as the head start on cool weather plants will leave more room for the warm weather plants in my small garden. But I think it will have to be protected by a double row cover greenhouse as described in "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. Unfortunately the Agribon I purchased was back-ordered until at least 3/20, and I haven't received it yet.

More mixed news for the indoor seedlings. The lettuce and violet seedlings are doing OK, but some of the lettuce plants seem pretty leggy. So I'm a bit disappointed with these results too. I think it may be because we didn't get enough artificial light on them soon enough. The good news is Mr. Aubade was able to set up the shop lights using the corded switch. However, we forgot to ask the hardware store to cut the chain in half, and our hack saw wouldn't work to cut it. So we've got to go back to the store today and ask them to cut it, then we can finally hang the big grow lights and start the flower seedlings.

Ultimately I think the lettuce seedlings will survive, but I bet whatever I direct seed in the beds in the next week or two will grow just as well as the ones I started inside. Oh well, live and learn. They sure look cute on the windowsill anyway!

Incredible Article: Recession Veggie Garden Boom

I can hardly believe this yahoo article I just read:
Dollars from dirt: Economy spurs home garden boom by Gillian Flaccus, Mar 15, 2009

Apparently there is a huge boom in vegetable gardening. Just look at these numbers quoted in the article:

• Industry surveys show double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year and mail-order companies report such a tremendous demand that some have run out of seeds for basic vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and peppers.
• "People's home grocery budget got absolutely shredded and now we've seen just this dramatic increase in the demand for our vegetable seeds. We're selling out," said George Ball, CEO of Burpee Seeds, the largest mail-order seed company in the U.S. "I've never seen anything like it." Burpee saw a 20 percent spike in sales in the last year.
• A new report by the National Gardening Association predicts a 19 percent increase in home gardening in 2009, based on spring seed sales data and a telephone survey. One-fifth of respondents said they planned to start a food garden this year and more than half said they already were gardening to save on groceries.
• Seed companies say this renaissance has rescued their vegetable business after years of drooping sales. Orders for vegetable seeds have skyrocketed, while orders for ornamental flowers are flat or down, said Richard Chamberlin, president of Harris Seeds in Rochester, N.Y.
• Business there has increased 40 percent in the last year, with the most growth among vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and kitchen herbs that can thrive in small urban plots or patio containers, he said. Harris Seeds recently had to reorder pepper and tomato seeds.

Personally, I wouldn't say that the recession spurred my interest in backyard gardening. I'd been longing to grow my own veggies for all 8 years that I lived in New York City, just knowing how much goes into trucking produce into that smoggy island metropolis. (not to mention, the extremely poor quality of these poor veggies so far from their home) It never seemed to me that this was a long term sustainable option, and I've always much preferred a garden over mowing a lawn!

But, it is certainly interesting to see more of the population getting on this bandwagon. It gives me a little bit more hope for the future.

The article also mentioned there is a petition asking Obama to grow an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn. I love it! If you'd like to sign it too, here's the link: http://www.eattheview.org/

Update 3/19/09: Well, I'll be darned. Yes he will! The Obamas are going to plant a veggie garden at the Whitehouse! Fantastic.

Sweet! My First Spring Pea

At least I think that's what this is. I noticed it on Saturday, in just the right spot where we planted the Sugar Snaps outside under the trellis. Looks a little crinkly but I think it's the first pea to grow this season! I can't wait for fresh peas mm mmm.

I also planted the Dark Seeded Early Perfection Pea variety leftover from last fall, but none of those have sprouted yet as far as I can see.

Then last week, in the middle of the night- I was a midnight poker! Not a joker, or a smoker, but a seed poker. (oh my) Don't know what came over me, must have been the warm weather I guess- but I decided I just had to plant a row of arugula about 11:30 at night. hahaha None of them have sprouted yet either.

Finally, last night we started some radishes. It was still a bit too cold, my soil thermometer said 46-47, but the package said ideal soil temp for radishes is 55 - 80. So I only planted 1 sq. foot with 5 white radish and 6 easter egg radish seeds as an experiment. I hope they grow!

New Indoor Lighting Set-up: Check! (Sortof)

We got the Gorm set up, but the 24" florescent light setup from Lowe's = fail. It has no plug or switch.I thought we'd have to return it but my partner says maybe we can use a "corded switch" for the shop light. Unfortunately I don't know anything about hooking up a shop light apparently. They made it seem so simple in gardening books, and I even asked the employee at Lowe's - but none of them said anything about the need to purchase and attach a corded switch.

Good news is, we had the other florescent lights and managed to jerry-rig them with duct tape and pipe cleaners. Also put the fan on them for good air circulation, and misted them with a spray bottle.

Second Week of March Update

I'm posting from outside in the garden right now!! Haha gotta love technology.

We put in two new raised beds on the other side of the yard today! I am so happy, I can hardly believe we managed to get it all done. It was a lot of work, but not as bad as last year. (at least right now. We'll see what my muscles say tomorrow!) Especially b/c last year we hurriedly buried a huge plank of wood underneath one pile of soil. Whoops! Had to shovel up the whole pile to slide the board out from underneath.

The compost pile, unfortnately, doesn't seem done. I was only able to get out a sprinkle. But, I worked in lots of cottonseed meal, lime and rock phosphate so hopefully that will help. I'm going to try to find some compost tea at the local nursery so I can put that in too.









And now we are on our way to Ikea to get a shelf (Gorm) for our growlight setup. Got full spectrum florescent lights, chain and hooks last night so all we need now is the shelf to hook it to. Hoping to get that done tonight.

First Week of March Garden Update

I planted peas!! It was 69 degrees here yesterday, and despite 8 inches of snow and freezing temperatures in the beginning of the week, my raised beds were totally workable. I tested it with a shovel, and was able to dig up all the over-wintered carrots remaining from last spring. So, I set to work and cleaned up all 4 of the existing beds. First I removed the remains of the kale, dried branches, etc., then weeded & raked. I also extended the strawberry bed into twice its size. Then spread about a cup of rock phospate and another of cottonseed meal on the beds, lightly tilled it in with a garden claw and watered. Finally, I planted two types of peas.

I also started 6 types of lettuce inside last week. I soaked them first, and to my surprise I got 100% germination! So I have 25 individual seedlings about 1 inch tall now, and I put all the leftovers in one big tray to use as cut and come again variety. I have a little florescent light on them but today I'm going over to the hardware store to get a bigger light and we are going to build a table-top growlight system.

Finally, I started some flowers and herbs. I soaked johny jump ups and pansies using the soaking method, but they are just starting to germinate now so they aren't planted yet. I also winter-sowed some lavender, pansies, and johnny jump ups in recycled containers outside. Who knew it would get warm so fast! My partner also got me these neat looking soda-type-can planters from a computer show he went to last week. Inside are violas and lavender, plus soil & fertilizer already in there. So you just had to pop the can open and water it. Neither of these have sprouted yet either, so I guess we'll see what happens.

Here is the finished indoor setup on March 8th:



Update: This all of the lettuce, two days after the above (3/10), when I added a second florescent light:

Luscious Little Strawberry

This is a catch up post. Last year one of the first plants I bought when we moved into the house was a lone little strawberry. You can see it here. Well, sure enough that one plant produced about 20 delicious little bites of happiness! Wow, are home grown strawberries better than the ones you buy in the supermarket, that's for sure. Not even close. And they are so easy to grow. The only thing I was worried about was birds- but as you can see from this picture, I just put a tepee of bird netting around it to prevent any birdies nipping away my berries. I didn't have any problems at all. I pretty much left the plant alone once it finished producing, and it ended up sending out several runners which found homes in the ground around the pot.

In just a few weeks, I plan on extending a small existing raised bed into that area and planting out about 20 plants. I think it would probably be able to fit about twice as many, but I figure I'll start small then let them grow bigger themselves (it will be cheaper that way and give me extra room to grow some more peas this year). I already planted tomatoes and peppers in that bed last year, which apparently is bad because it can give the strawberries diseases. Nothing I can do about that though, with such a small garden. So I'm just going to make sure to get resistant varieties. I don't know what they'll have in the store but I'm thinking I should get some June-bearers and some day-neutral so I'll have a longer supply of fresh berries. These are the possible varieities for my area according to the local Master Gardening program: Early - Earliglow, Noreaster, Mid - Allstar, Guardian and Neutral - Tristar.

Final, Really Final Plan for Spring 2009. No really.

This is probably getting repetitive, but what can I say - I'm a planner. Always have been. Plus, since my garden is so small and my wish list so big, I really wanted to make sure I could fit everything in there. As mentioned before, last year I had a problem with spacing so this year I'm trying to give them plenty of room. When you add in trying to rotate crops, plus spring, summer and fall planting- it quickly gets very complicated! So, plan I must.

I believe this is the final version. The planting dates are based on that Farmer's Almanac link I found to go with the correct moon phase. I would love to get the early crops in by March 10th, but with this awful winter we're having I don't know if that will happen and I may have to wait until the end of the month. Especially because we still have to build bedsfive and six! The piles of soil are already there under tarps, but they're still frozen solid under about 8 inches of snow. Guess we'll see what happens! Just in case, I'm starting some lettuce inside now to give them a jump.

SPRING 2009 PLANTING PLAN
1. BED ONE (large + fence) 42 x 94.5 = 3.5' x 7.9' = 27.6' = 27.5'
a. Mar 7-10, Mar 26-31 Pea Sugar Snap (6 inch row)
b. Mar 26-Apr 9 Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard Seed* 9”apart (each corner)
c. 6/1 Tendergreen Mustard – later- when the peas get taken out
d. Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 Four mesclun, four mache (12” row)
e. Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 8 four seasons Butterhead Lettuce Seed 12-18”apart
f. Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 4 each red & Vivian romaine (12” row)

Additional Note: Omg I just realized I forgot the Buttercrunch lettuce! All this, and I still forgot one. Unbelieveable! Well, it will probably fit where I'm thinking the mache will go now. Those can probably be smooshed in elsewhere since they are pretty small.

2. BED TWO (small + fence) 31.5 x 46 = 2.6' x 3.8' = 9.8 sq ' = 10'
a. Mar 11-25 Radish/Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 Mesclun (early growing)
b. Apr 24-30 trombocino squash (6 inch row)
c. Apr 24-30 jalapeno & cayenne (2 feet x 3.8)

3. BED THREE (small) 31.5 x 47.5 = 2.6' x 3.9' = 10.14 = 10'
a. Mar 7-10, Mar 26-31 Strawberries Early = Earliglow, noreaster Mid: Allstar, Guardian Neutral: Tristar
b. Mar 7-10, Mar 26-31 Peas

4. BED FOUR (large) 58.5 x 126 = 4.9' x 10.5' = 51.45' = 51.5'
a. Mar 11-25 Radish/Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 Mesclun (early growing)
b. Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 Interplant with arugula (early, but spaced so that we can plant summer plants on Apr. 30)
c. Apr 24-30 Four tomato plants
d. Basil
e. Apr 24-30 Italian Peppers

OTHER SIDE OF YARD
5. BED FIVE (large + fence)
a.Mar 11-25 Radish (early growing)/ Mar 1-10, Mar 26-31 Mesclun (early growing)
b. Apr 24-May 9 Cucumbers
c. Apr 24-30 Bell Peppers
d. Apr 24-30 Yellow Squash (one in corner)
e. Apr 24-30 Habanero

6. BED SIX (large + fence) 39" x 94" - 3' x 7' - 21 sq '
a. Apr 24-30 Filet beans
b. 2 Dandelion (each corner)** maybe put something else here (flowers?) in spring then plant these in fall
c. Mar 15-25 Turnips (12” row)
d. Mar 15-25 Beets (12” row)
e. Mar 11-25 Carrots (12” row)

7. BED SEVEN (shade, in ground)
a. Mint
b. Ferns