This month is the payoff of the winter garden.
Throughout the last two weeks, my harvest has been ongoing. The lettuce, kale, cabbage, and chard have been abundant. I have been snipping off individual outer leaves and it doesn't look like I have really made a dent in the lettuce. It's gotten to the point where I have had to remove entire heads just to thin out the bed a bit. The butter crunch lettuce is starting to form heads, which is very cool to see. I usually grow leaf lettuce and I wondered what arcane mystery was involved in this heading lettuce: it turns out the mystery happens all on its own.
I have removed the plastic row covers from the raised beds. On the 17th, we had a low of 32 F. and on the 21st, we had a low of 36 F. At this point, any danger of frost is over, and the cool evening temperatures would actually help these crops, to keep them from bolting. The greater temperature concern now is from very high daytime temperatures inside the tunnel.
The other reason for the row covers is to give shelter against desiccating winds and soaking rains. With the plants as substantial as they are, that is less of a worry. The water table is lower so drainage is much better. And the garden could probably benefit from any rainfall, at this point.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Friday, April 8, 2016
Hardening
Just wanted to confirm that I began hardening the Bok Choi outside for 2 hours. It was an overcast day, with light drizzle that made it easy for the plants to start the journey outside.
Tomorrow, I will extend their stay into the evening, probably from 5 to 8pm.
the other plants are doing remarkably well, and the garden center starts are almost mature. I mumbled something about waiting 2 weeks before harvesting, but I am nipping off outer leaves of the butter crunch lettuce already.
My replacement plugs arrived in the mail, and I purchased seeds to start in the Aerogarden. This is the dilemma: a package of seeds costs between $1.50 and $2.50. With my limited garden space, I only have room for 5 or 6 tomato plants, total. And when you consider the varietes, I really only need 1 or 2 cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, beef steaks, and so on. So I could spend $2.50 on my cherry tomato seed pack and then look at another 6 weeks of hopeful watching, tending, and transplanting, or I could pay $3.50 for a really nice and good sized nursery plant and start it directly in the garden when growing conditions were optimal.
If I was going to plant 20 paste tomatoes for my tomato sauce kitchen factory, it would absolutely make sense to start them from seed. But if I only need 2 roma tomatoes for my garden this year, it might make sense to go to Home Depot and pick out one or two of the best, even if they are at a premium price.
Much of this answer depends on how easy it is to start seeds in the Aerogarden. With the limited success I was having with the Jiffy pots, this was an open question, and the Minimalist Gardener in me had no trouble providing an answer; let the garden center take the risk. But considering how easy the Aerogarden started my leafy greens (bok choi and swiss chard) and how eagerly they took to transplanting in 3" pots and from there to the raised beds, it might be a simple decision to make after all.
This first test with tomatoes and peppers will be very informative.
Tomorrow, I will extend their stay into the evening, probably from 5 to 8pm.
the other plants are doing remarkably well, and the garden center starts are almost mature. I mumbled something about waiting 2 weeks before harvesting, but I am nipping off outer leaves of the butter crunch lettuce already.
My replacement plugs arrived in the mail, and I purchased seeds to start in the Aerogarden. This is the dilemma: a package of seeds costs between $1.50 and $2.50. With my limited garden space, I only have room for 5 or 6 tomato plants, total. And when you consider the varietes, I really only need 1 or 2 cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, beef steaks, and so on. So I could spend $2.50 on my cherry tomato seed pack and then look at another 6 weeks of hopeful watching, tending, and transplanting, or I could pay $3.50 for a really nice and good sized nursery plant and start it directly in the garden when growing conditions were optimal.
If I was going to plant 20 paste tomatoes for my tomato sauce kitchen factory, it would absolutely make sense to start them from seed. But if I only need 2 roma tomatoes for my garden this year, it might make sense to go to Home Depot and pick out one or two of the best, even if they are at a premium price.
Much of this answer depends on how easy it is to start seeds in the Aerogarden. With the limited success I was having with the Jiffy pots, this was an open question, and the Minimalist Gardener in me had no trouble providing an answer; let the garden center take the risk. But considering how easy the Aerogarden started my leafy greens (bok choi and swiss chard) and how eagerly they took to transplanting in 3" pots and from there to the raised beds, it might be a simple decision to make after all.
This first test with tomatoes and peppers will be very informative.
Monday, April 4, 2016
April Garden Update
Last post, I talked about the seedlings, some of which were added to the outside raised beds. But there are a few crops already planted and growing well. At the very end of February I planted butter crunch lettuce, and this is what it looks like after 5 weeks of growing:
There are a couple of the new arugula transplants at the bottom right.
According to the planting information, the lettuce will be ready in 60 days, which would put it at the end of April. Realistically, I could begin harvesting individual outer leaves in about 2 weeks.
The Kale and Chard are at about the same place, having been planted a couple days later:
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| Transplant March 5 |
And the Napa cabbage trailed by about a week so it will be ready in early May.
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| Growing for 30 days - April 4 |
I harvested a few of the outside leaves this evening for some greens to stuff my gyros. Perfectly sweet and tender.
Seedling Update
So we are a little over two weeks since our last post, and I was mentioning that I would need to re-pot the Aerogarden soon, because the seedlings were outgrowing the current situation. The post was on a Thursday, and I did, indeed transplant about half of the seedlings into larger pots that weekend. These went out under the 4-tube fluorescent fixtures in the garage.
This included all of the Bok Choi, Some Arugula, and two Swiss Chard. I planted the plugs into a larger plastic garden pot, using generic potting soil. When I opened the Aerogarden, the roots had grown together into a thick matted tangle, which I had to separate out with careful fingers. Roots were snapped along the way, and I had to coil some around the pot to make them all fit. This suggests to me that I probably should have re-potted sooner.
I didn't loose any of them, though, and they all seemed to like the new light, on an 18-hour cycle. I also gave them a weak feeding of miracle-gro. After two weeks in the larger pots, they became as you see them above, still rather compact, but pressing on the lights.
Emboldened by their eagerness, I took a small sample of 4 Arugula and 2 Chard and planted them in my outside garden, after a couple of days of hardening. The garage is not heated, so they hadn't been in a climate controlled area for many days, and I still have the low tunnels up to enhance the microclimate So we'll see how they do.
This is what they look like in the raised bed.
The Arugula above is definitely looking a little ragged and I'm hoping a bit of space will help them even out. The spatulate leaves seem to be yellowing, but new leaves are showing in the interior that are deeply lobed in the Rocket style, and are a much nicer shade of deep green.
The chard, to the right, is in beautiful shape. With a rich red color on the stems and veins.
Both of these had roots throughout the pot, growing out the bottom and up the sides, so two weeks seemed to be plenty to get them ready for outdoors.
These were seeds that I planted in the Aerogarden on March 4th. It's about 5 weeks later and they are ready for transplanting into the garden. My calendar for their progress looks like this:
So that means that if I want to plant tomatoes and peppers in the first week in June, I need lead time of at least 6 weeks to prepare seedlings. If that's true, I should be preparing to seed peppers and tomatoes soon.
This included all of the Bok Choi, Some Arugula, and two Swiss Chard. I planted the plugs into a larger plastic garden pot, using generic potting soil. When I opened the Aerogarden, the roots had grown together into a thick matted tangle, which I had to separate out with careful fingers. Roots were snapped along the way, and I had to coil some around the pot to make them all fit. This suggests to me that I probably should have re-potted sooner.
I didn't loose any of them, though, and they all seemed to like the new light, on an 18-hour cycle. I also gave them a weak feeding of miracle-gro. After two weeks in the larger pots, they became as you see them above, still rather compact, but pressing on the lights.
Emboldened by their eagerness, I took a small sample of 4 Arugula and 2 Chard and planted them in my outside garden, after a couple of days of hardening. The garage is not heated, so they hadn't been in a climate controlled area for many days, and I still have the low tunnels up to enhance the microclimate So we'll see how they do.
This is what they look like in the raised bed.
The Arugula above is definitely looking a little ragged and I'm hoping a bit of space will help them even out. The spatulate leaves seem to be yellowing, but new leaves are showing in the interior that are deeply lobed in the Rocket style, and are a much nicer shade of deep green.
The chard, to the right, is in beautiful shape. With a rich red color on the stems and veins.
Both of these had roots throughout the pot, growing out the bottom and up the sides, so two weeks seemed to be plenty to get them ready for outdoors.
These were seeds that I planted in the Aerogarden on March 4th. It's about 5 weeks later and they are ready for transplanting into the garden. My calendar for their progress looks like this:
- Week 1: planted seeds into aerogarden plugs. By the end of the first week, all the bok choi, arugula and chard had germinated. One week for germination
- Week 2-3: weeks two and three, the seedlings grew well. Water and nutrients were cycled and light was on a 24 hour cycle
- Week 4: In the middle of this week, I transplanted the Bok Choi, Chard and Arugula into small pots. 2.5 weeks in the Aerogarden as seedlings.
- Week 5: Grew for 1.5 weeks in transplant pots under fluorescent lights. At the end of this week, I transplanted into the garden the first half of the re-potted seedlings.
- Week 6: This is the transplant's first week in the raised beds. I still have all the bok choi in pots for one more week, giving them the full 6 week start cycle.
So that means that if I want to plant tomatoes and peppers in the first week in June, I need lead time of at least 6 weeks to prepare seedlings. If that's true, I should be preparing to seed peppers and tomatoes soon.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
SeedWatch Day 14
Day 14 in the AeroGarden has seen a little change from when we left it a week ago. The Bak Choi and the Arugula have been thriving. Here it is at day 14 and you can see true leaves that are well developed
Germination was at 100% and I've known for a week that thinning would be necessary. I seeded three seeds per cell and it was a simple, though not comfortable, task to pick the weakest of the plants to cull. Here it is after reducing the herd:
The rocket was only double seeded and I didn't make any reductions there. For each of these plants, the second set of true leaves is just beginning to emerge.
These seeds were sown 14 days ago, and they germinated in about 4 days, so they have just 10 days growth on them, but they look like they are ready to be transplanted now. In 4 days, they will have two weeks growth on them and could be transplanted then. But to where?
Put them directly in the Garden I have a raised bed prepared for them, with a little napa cabbage growing at one end. I could harden them off and plant the cell plug directly in the garden.
Re-pot them to a larger cell inside. I could transfer them to a larger container of potting mix and grow them inside for another two weeks. The clear drawback is that I don't have a place set up with as much light as they are getting in the AeroGarden now. I'm not sure that another week of less adequate light will do them any favors. Perhaps I need to invest in another LED grow light for larger plants.
Re-pot them to a larger cell outside. My raised beds have plastic low tunnel covers. Does it make sense to transfer them to larger potting cells and then grow them outside under the tunnel, rather than just planting them directly? I think that would only make sense if I didn't already have space prepared to plant them directly.
Now, on the other side of the house, the Chard has had a limited germination, and the spinach has failed completely.
Four out of the five cells of Chard germinated. But the growth has been satisfactory, with a second set of leaves developing now
After doing a lot more reading, I'm beginning to understand the spinach problems. The AeroGarden recommends that after germination, the lights should be run 24 hrs/day. This gives the new seed leaves an abundance of energy, and keeps the true leaves from stretching and becoming spindly. This has certainly been the case for the leafy greens I have right now.
But, the Bok Choi came up almost immediately and I had to turn on the lights. I have no doubt that this overheated the soil and prevented the spinach from germinating. It was just too warm. I've read the care gardeners exercise in germinating spinach, with paper towels in ziploc bags with alternate days in the refrigerator. I wonder if I could germinate them first, and then transfer them to the AeroGarden cells to grow out.
Germination was at 100% and I've known for a week that thinning would be necessary. I seeded three seeds per cell and it was a simple, though not comfortable, task to pick the weakest of the plants to cull. Here it is after reducing the herd:
These seeds were sown 14 days ago, and they germinated in about 4 days, so they have just 10 days growth on them, but they look like they are ready to be transplanted now. In 4 days, they will have two weeks growth on them and could be transplanted then. But to where?
Put them directly in the Garden I have a raised bed prepared for them, with a little napa cabbage growing at one end. I could harden them off and plant the cell plug directly in the garden.
Re-pot them to a larger cell inside. I could transfer them to a larger container of potting mix and grow them inside for another two weeks. The clear drawback is that I don't have a place set up with as much light as they are getting in the AeroGarden now. I'm not sure that another week of less adequate light will do them any favors. Perhaps I need to invest in another LED grow light for larger plants.
Re-pot them to a larger cell outside. My raised beds have plastic low tunnel covers. Does it make sense to transfer them to larger potting cells and then grow them outside under the tunnel, rather than just planting them directly? I think that would only make sense if I didn't already have space prepared to plant them directly.
Now, on the other side of the house, the Chard has had a limited germination, and the spinach has failed completely.
Four out of the five cells of Chard germinated. But the growth has been satisfactory, with a second set of leaves developing now
After doing a lot more reading, I'm beginning to understand the spinach problems. The AeroGarden recommends that after germination, the lights should be run 24 hrs/day. This gives the new seed leaves an abundance of energy, and keeps the true leaves from stretching and becoming spindly. This has certainly been the case for the leafy greens I have right now.
Swiss Chard on day 14 after thinning.
But, the Bok Choi came up almost immediately and I had to turn on the lights. I have no doubt that this overheated the soil and prevented the spinach from germinating. It was just too warm. I've read the care gardeners exercise in germinating spinach, with paper towels in ziploc bags with alternate days in the refrigerator. I wonder if I could germinate them first, and then transfer them to the AeroGarden cells to grow out.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Seedling Update
So it is two days later than my last update and technically day 6 of SeedWatch with a small burst of activity.
The main purpose of this record is to create a time log of how and when things happen. I'm hoping that by documenting what I see now, I will be able to reference it in the future. It gives me a baseline for what is normal.
Bok Choi, a close reading
Here I can see that my bok choi jumped right up in less than four days, despite being listed as 10 to 21 days to germination. And this is from two suppliers, Burpee and Gurney, and the Gurney seeds were a mix of varieties. None of this seemed to matter, as all of the seeds germinated within a day of each other.
You can certainly see some variation among the seedlings: the purple variety on the right seems to be doing very well, and even looks to be starting some true leaves.
I wonder if the top left cell is smaller because of a poor seed there, or if it is simply on the periphery of the seed tray, and may not be getting the same amount of water and nutrients.
I tried to plant 3 seeds in each plug, and in most cases, all of them seemed to germinate. Now, I'm faced with the task at some future point, of eliminating at least one stem from each cell, to give the other two a better chance to thrive.
The Latecomers: Spinach and Chard
On the other side of the seed tray, the Chard has definitely begun to emerge by day 6, while the spinach is still lagging behind. And both of these are listed at 7-10 days to germination, so I still have several days to watch them. Perhaps it is too warm for the spinach to germinate easily.
It isn't surprising that different plant types would emerge from seed at different times, but at about the same time as each other. Yet it is still interesting to see the process unfold.
I also like the fact that the purple bok choi variety above shows its color from its earliest days, as does the red legs of the chard.
The Minimalist Gardener
I also note that I have not been required to do anything for these seeds in the last week. I don't worry about water levels, or fiddle with light timers, or fret about damping off or mold growth. Not yet, anyway. I've simply been free to watch the seeds unfold.On the other hand, outside the temperatures have been in the 70s, with today's high projected at 78 F. That's too high to keep things under plastic row covers, so I open the ends during the day, and close them up in the evening. This is contrary to the tenets of minimalist gardening, so it troubles me a bit. Perhaps agribon row covers would not have this problem?
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Seed Starting
I have begun starting a new round of seeds in the Aerogarden. The one thing I can recommend about the AG is that it has an extremely high seed germination rate. These seeds were sown 4 days ago and have already come up with happy seed leaves.
Seed starting for me has always been a balancing act between opposing forces: between moisture and damping off, applying a gentle heat but not to the point of drying things out, strong light for growth and to reduce stretching, but not too much to start algae.
It is like setting a series of plates to spinning and hoping to keep them up in the air for the next six weeks.
The Aerogarden keeps the plates spinning for me. It can monitor all the variables and advise me if something needs attention. Otherwise, it just does the work of growing and lets me enjoy the results.
Germination success is the greatest reward for me, but the system also has a fun interface that keeps track of all the little details. Things like when I planted, how long they've been growing, all the details that puzzle me later on. The screen shows me the light cycle I have chosen, the days since seeding, monitors the water levels and the time until adding nutrients. This means that I can be as hands-on as I want to be, but if something comes up I can neglect it for a week and the garden will take care of things.
Of course I'm not entirely satisfied unless I have put Excel to work in some way. This is a planting diagram I pulled together that corresponds to the seedlings above. So I can tell that the Bok Choi and Roquette have sprouted, while the spinach and chard are still thinking about it.
Seed starting for me has always been a balancing act between opposing forces: between moisture and damping off, applying a gentle heat but not to the point of drying things out, strong light for growth and to reduce stretching, but not too much to start algae.
It is like setting a series of plates to spinning and hoping to keep them up in the air for the next six weeks.
Germination success is the greatest reward for me, but the system also has a fun interface that keeps track of all the little details. Things like when I planted, how long they've been growing, all the details that puzzle me later on. The screen shows me the light cycle I have chosen, the days since seeding, monitors the water levels and the time until adding nutrients. This means that I can be as hands-on as I want to be, but if something comes up I can neglect it for a week and the garden will take care of things.
Of course I'm not entirely satisfied unless I have put Excel to work in some way. This is a planting diagram I pulled together that corresponds to the seedlings above. So I can tell that the Bok Choi and Roquette have sprouted, while the spinach and chard are still thinking about it.
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