March 2012, in the Pacific NorthWest

Nice compliment Lavender Debs, but totally undeserved. That is not a list of what I am growing at this time, just recommendations for this month's plantings in the PNW.

I have germinated two types of broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, onions and two types of lettuce, some is now on my enclosed porch getting acclimated to the cooler temperatures so they can be transplanted into the Table Tops soon. Of course I started many, many too many and will donate some seedlings to the Master Gardener in charge of our community garden. Does anyone else think they could use 32 Calabrese broccoli and 12 Veronica broccoli for a family of two or even 18 Parris Island Coos Romaine and 18 Frizzy Headed Drunken Woman butterhead lettuces? There are 24 bunching onion seedlings, basil, parsley and stevia started. The Mammoth Melting and Super Sugar Snap peas were planted outside a few days ago before the horrendous rains but the seeds swelled up and rose to the surface of the cold soil. I have pushed them back in and recovered them with MM. Hopefully they will stay where they were planted this time.

WOW... wish I was close enough to get some of those extra starts from you.
I've moved my tray of early veggies onto the porch again today, and am considering moving them to the greenhouse (under their little 7" vented dome for some extra protection) tomorrow so they can finish hardening off before going into the cloche area. I hope to get that last bed filled and covered over the weekend so the cole crops will have a landing zone also.

With the bunching onions... did you plant seed? If so, which variety? Would sets work for bunching onions? I get conflicting information on that. I wonder if planting the onion seed now for bunching onions would be too late? I've never had much luck with onions and can not figure out what I'm messing up.

The Bunching onion is Burpee Big Bunch, with suggested seed planting dates of February to April in Western Oregon and 90 days to maturity. (sure )

These were started in vermiculite and are about 2 to 3 inches high and look like stiff little green threads, they are so skinny. They will go into seed starting mix this week and be transplanted to the garden about April 15th, my average last frost date. I intend to use them as "scallions" or green onions.

In the past, I have always used sets (generic white or yellow onions) and pulled them before the bulbs got too big.

I had also started some Torpedo Red Bottle onions from seed, but it was an old package with very little germination. Then, my 20 month old grandson came to visit and "helped" Nani thin the plants. All Gone!

I think I'll try the sets for the scallions this year. I have WallaWalla seedlings that are about 3-4" tall that I'll try to get larger bulbs from (hopefully)

Funny story... you talking about your grandson helping thin...
When I was a little girl, I was helping my granddad weed the veggie garden. In NC there were wild green onions that grew everywhere. He was walking along pulling them and dropping them outside the row. I was walking behind him, collecting them and planting them all in a neat row between the tomatoes and the corn.

Lavender Debs wrote:

Furbalsmom wrote:...snip... totally undeserved...

I have germinated two types of broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, onions and two types of lettuce, ...snip... I started many, many too many and will donate some seedlings to the Master Gardener in charge of our community garden. Does anyone else think they could use 32 Calabrese broccoli and 12 Veronica broccoli for a family of two or even 18 Parris Island Coos Romaine and 18 Frizzy Headed Drunken Woman butterhead lettuces? There are 24 bunching onion seedlings, basil, parsley and stevia started. The Mammoth Melting and Super Sugar Snap peas were planted outside a few days ago before the horrendous rains but the seeds swelled up and rose to the surface of the cold soil. I have pushed them back in and recovered them with MM. Hopefully they will stay where they were planted this time.

I tried to stop, but I am still impressed.

Let me know how your peas do. Mine did the same thing and after I pushed them back down I started to worry that I might have snapped their little roots. I have not seen them since giving them their rude reception.

I agree! Impressive!

Hmmmm, both of you had your peas float up? I ran outside this morning because I thought I spotted sprouts. I planted peas and radishes in the same square. The radishes had indeed sprouted and since I was peering at that square so closely, I suspect I would have noticed at that point if the peas had floated up... I guess they're still down there. The germination time and temperature for the radishes seems to be spot on with the planting chart in Mel's book on page 252. Which means I should see those peas sprout in a another week. We shall see! It's exciting.

Soooo, the planting chart in the OP says to start bulb onions indoors this month. Does that mean from seeds or from sets? I noticed y'all already started your seeds last month apparently.

Gwennifer

Soooo, the planting chart in the OP says to start bulb onions indoors this month. Does that mean from seeds or from sets? I noticed y'all already started your seeds last month apparently.

The chart for March planting in the PNW is from Mother Earth News. I read the chart to mean seeds for bulbing onions as opposed to green onion or scallions) should be started this month, because it says to start them indoors.

Upon further checking with OSU Extension service, bulbs or sets can be planted outside in March or early April, so they have a chance for the plant to grow before the day length reaches 14 hours and bulbing starts. You want the plant to be good sized when the bulb starts to grow to give you bigger onions at maturity.

Check this out, really good information GROWING ONIONS IN OREGON

we planted our sugar snap peas and fava beans yesterday

hubby and the kids cleaned out our SFG box's and the old string was taken down and replaced with nice wooden slats

we have a lot of work to do......our yard was really hit with the bad snow storm we had....we lost a plum tree and one of the others split like a banana....we are hoping it will come back.....our smaller plum tree did just fine and its the one that produces the most....so we are thankful......

it felt good to get out yesterday even though i tend to have a bit of a panic attack looking at what needs to be cleaned up still.....we were able to get a med size pile of mulch from all the limbs we lost....

hugs

rose.....

Yeah FamilyGardening, nice to hear peas and fava beans are in the ground.

we have a lot of work to do......our yard was really hit with the bad snow storm we had....we lost a plum tree and one of the others split like a banana....we are hoping it will come back.....our smaller plum tree did just fine and its the one that produces the most....so we are thankful......

it felt good to get out yesterday even though i tend to have a bit of a panic attack looking at what needs to be cleaned up still.....we were able to get a med size pile of mulch from all the limbs we lost

Sorry to hear you had so much damage from the storm. Sometimes trying to recover from Mother Nature can be daunting. But, your silver lining is the mulch, great for filling walkways or beautifying the area around your shrubs and such.

That article was great Furbalsmom, thanks for posting that!

So I went ahead and just planted one square of onion sets last Saturday and I'll see what happens. I also planted one square of garlic. A chart I got from that seed starting class I'd gone to says spring planted garlic should be planted late February, so I had been waiting for the end of February but that's the week we had snow so they got planted early March instead. Again, I'll see what happens. Then I planted a square of spinach, which I think is the only thing I did on time! Bad news spotted while I was out there - the slugs have found my garden. Picked two off my overwintered cauliflower, one climbing up the side, and another in the dirt on it's way over.

Inside I finally got around to planting a few seeds in a covered tray over a heat mat. Two types of broccoli, two types of tomato and some wonder bell peppers. Peppers haven't sprouted yet, everything else is up on a sunny windowsill and I climb up and give them a quarter turn every time I see them leaning towards the window. Best I could do for now, just couldn't stomach the idea of more stuff in this house (my husband is kind of a pack rat), so no lights for now. Since the windowsill thing is kind of a pain (it's a second story window in one of those great rooms - but it gets the best light and it's out of reach of my 1 y.o.), I decided to just direct seed the lettuces I bought. I see I'm about two weeks late starting the peppers. *shrug* Everything that doesn't work I'm chalking up as a learning experience. All these things will be easy to find as transplants if all else fails.

Have you considered installing the copper tape around your raised beds? It's less than $10 for 15 running feet, and works really well. I will be installing it on all of our beds this year after trying it on a couple last year with great results. If you do, just make sure there is nothing draping over the edge that the critters can't get hold of or they'll use it as a bridge over the tape.

gwen sounds like you have a great start in the garden

hugs

rose who at 3 am last night sent hubby out to get her lettuce and kale babies that were still out side being harden off

oops

one of the little baby lettuce leaf looks frost bitten

curio, this is the first time I've found slugs and since I'm also planting lettuces for the first time, which I understand they like to snack on, I will definitely have to do something. I have heard of copper tape and that may be the route I go.

FamilyGardening, thanks for your encouragement. That's an awfully nice hubby you have there. There was frost on my garden this morning, so good thing he brought them in.

Does anyone think I'm wasting my time planting more peas right now? Now that I finally cemented a plan for my squares I realize I don't have as many trellised squares to dedicate to peas as I'd originally thought I would. So I would like to pull out the radishes I have sharing the pea squares and plant more peas in there instead. (Although I feel so bad for those radishes - they took 27 days to sprout!).

gwen

last year we planted our peas on march 19th and they did great so i think your still good to plant some more peas!.....last year our son planted some peas in the middle of april and was able to get a small harvest from them too....

maybe you can transplant those tiny radish someplace here and there between squares ?

hugs

rose who is heading out side this very sunny day to plant some seeds in ground!

ya!!!

we planted early spring veggies today in our SFG!

first 4x4

2 sq's of Pac choi

1 sq of elephant garlic

1 sq green onion starts (old from our frig)

1 sq of carrots ( left a second sq free for carrot week)

1 sq turnips

last years collard green who is huge and lush! (he is taking up 2 sq now)

waiting still to transfer seedlings from under lights

2 sq kale

2 sq brossel sprouts

1 sq celery

1 sq green onions



second 4x4

2 sq spinach

6 sq lettuce ( left room for baby seedlings we have been hardening off)

2 sq beets

1 sq raddish

already planted

4 sq of sugar snap peas

after these squares have been harvested..... will replant with beans, corn, pumpkin, cucumbers

third 2x8

6 half sq of sugar snap peas sharing the other half with fava beans

then after harvest (not sure whats going in)

hugs

rose

Yesterday was very productive for me as well.
I was able to get all the brassicas into their little squares and tucked under their little hotcaps under the cloche. I'm hoping that I didn't mess them up, as I planted them a bit deeper than they were in the peat pots (they were a bit leggy).
I also moved about a half yard of finished compost into a large planter in the front yard (and it doesn't look like I made a dent in that heap), then drove over to the other side of the Sound and out into the boonies to pick up three 19 gallon totes full of rabbit manure in straw to add to the compost bin that's half done.
Got some pansies and bulbs planted and weeded one of the front flower beds that hadn't been touched since last fall (no SFG there) and a few more plants planted in the rain garden.

I also have figured out where I can plant some determinate potatoes and decided to build two more risers this weekend or early next week so I can put in more carrots and some parsnips.

I guess I should be thankful this *sort of* keeps me out of trouble...

Many of the "early" potatoes are basically determinate (like some tomatoes), in that they will grow for a given amount of time, set fruit once and then are pretty much done. While you can dig immature tubers from them before they are finished, the tubers produced will mature at the same time. Most of these potatoes are what we'd call "storage" potatoes, such as russets, Yukon Gold etc.
Most of the "late" potatoes are more indeterminate, continuing to grow and, if soil is continually added as they grow more than a few inches out of the soil, will continue to produce tubers for a longer period of time, allowing for ongoing harvests of basically the same size (maturity) of tubers.

curio.....this is good to know about the potatoes.....det & indet

does this mean that yukons....which we love....dont have to be *hilled* up?

i found last years planting them in our wine barrels....that we *hilled* up only produced taters at the bottom of the barrel.....we also planted some kind of red and white taters from a bag we bought from our local fredmyers store into two garbage cans that only produced at the bottom ....hubby picked some of these up again for this year and we are going soon to buy our yukons......so maybe we will just plant and not worry about hilling.....??

....unless i find indet taters to try

hugs

rose....who is happy hearing hubby sawing away this morning building some new raised beds for our back garden......music to my ears

Debs we are going to try a winter garden again this year....but this time have some hoops going....im ashamed to admit....i had very nice cauliflowers come to head..... to only become mush because they were not covered

if you like spinach....then plant a collard green or two....ours wintered over very well...and is doing great!....we took some pics... i havent posted them yet because the computer we use to down load them is cranky..... ..we are working on it....

hugs

rose....who has a hubby who says he can only work on one project at a time

oh...forgot to add....about the leggy brocs.....they should do fine....i had a few like that last year before we set up lights.....i put them in the garden anyway and they produced really well....i did plant them a bit deeper so that their legs wouldnt get to cold....ha ha ha *pun*

hugs

rose