February 2013 New England

I'll bet it's a lot easier to drape your beds when they're seedlings than when they are up on trellises, like I did last fall... that was a chore.

NHGardener wrote:I'll bet it's a lot easier to drape your beds when they're seedlings than when they are up on trellises, like I did last fall... that was a chore.

This is one reason I am cutting down my 10' trellis to 8'.

10'! wow.

Okay, quiltbea I see that on Johnny's (great) chart, it shows to indoor seed spinach between Feb. 18 and Mar 25, so you are on target according to them.

It also says peas Feb. 18 to Mar 11, if you seed indoors. Is anyone doing that? Seems early for peas, but if that's what it takes, I'd rather give almost everything a chance to pop indoors so they get started earlier outside.

I just planted my tray of onion seeds and stuck it on the heat mat. I planted 4 different kinds, 2 new packages (yellow and red), and my saved seeds and last year's onion seeds which both passed the germination tests. Since the heat mat is being used, I may do the double decker method recommended, by planting the spinach and maybe peas in another tray (in cups tho) and put it on top of the onion tray and let the heat rise, swapping them occasionally.

Anyone else seeding anything now?

Because I live alone and there is no one else to water the little darlings, I plan on planting my onions and leeks late (March 10) after I take a very brief foray to Iceland to try and catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis and take a dip in a hot spring. Then if the garden ground thaws enough I may try planting peas as soon as the end of March. Then it will pretty much be full steam ahead.

You're going to Iceland??? How fun!

Too bad you couldn't find a babysitter for your onion seedlings?

NHGardener wrote:
(snip...)

Anyone else seeding anything now?

I'll be starting full-force come March 1st with Broc, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts & Onions.

NHGardener wrote:
Anyone else seeding anything now?

Ayuh...cruising right along here: stevia, cabbage, 7 different tomatoes, collards, broccoli, onions, spinach (not sprouted - there's a surprise), pak choi, parsley and, not shown here, kale and buttercrunch lettuce on the heating pad, all getting ready for the spring garden.

I'll be planting lettuce seeds & who knows what else this weekend. Once they are big enuff and the garden spirit moves me to do so, I'll put a lot of these out in the SFG under windows as soon as these friggen storms stop. Another one coming this weekend.

CC

Wow CC - is your season really that far ahead of mine? You've been busy!

Hmm...well, my last frost date is Apr 19th. In my ignorance I planted in March of last year, but lucked out with mild weather. And with the the windows covering some of the boxes this winter I was harvesting soup fixin's up til at least Jan 20. So I think I can plant earlier than my lfd. It's an experiment. I'll let you know how it goes, but I'm always pleasantly surprised by this garden.

CC

Wow - your frost date is almost 1 month ahead of mine, and you're really not that far away...

Ok, it's official, I am sick of winter and cabin fever has set in!

Well, camprn, you picked a fine time to head north then.

My driveway is now officially one sheet of ice. Thank goodness for snow banks.

camprn wrote:Ok, it's official, I am sick of winter and cabin fever has set in!

I am so with you on that, Camp...and I don't get near the weather that the rest of you get. At least we have our seedlings & pets to keep us company.

According to ANSFG I'm supposed to plant peas and some transplants directly into the boxes in 2 weeks. I think I'll try a few earlier, maybe this weekend if we get all rain here, and put windows over them, see what happens.

OH, almost forgot...out of about 36 different spinach seeds planted indoors, 1 has just sprouted, about a month later! I'm guarding it with my life:

Do you think all those spinach seeds I planted last year will sprout this year? Has anyone had that experience?

OK, off to start more kale seeds. We eat a ton of greens and I didn't have near enough last year. The mother had to buy some twice.

CC

In only 2 days, all 8 of my Corn mache have germinated so I put them under the light.



I'm so pleased to see green. None of the tomatoes, spinach or leeks have done anything yet but its very early days.

Hurrah! Another foot plus of snow! The best news is winter is waning, ever so slightly.
http://www.mattnoyes.net/new_england_weather/2013/02/over-a-foot-of-snow-is-quite-possible-for-some-interior-new-england-communities-this-weekend.html

Yippee! *crossing my fingers that the weather line doesn't move south* I'm dreeeeaming of a wet weekennnnnd...

quiltbea wrote:In only 2 days, all 8 of my Corn mache have germinated so I put them under the light.



I'm so pleased to see green. None of the tomatoes, spinach or leeks have done anything yet but its very early days.

ooo they are so cute. QB, every time I see your soil blocks I think of brownies. If we remember, would you please post a photo of your spinach when it sprouts? At this point I gotta see to believe that we can actually grow it from seed.

CC

Oops! The Corn mache above is actually Arugula. I was filing away alphabetically in the crisper the seeds packs I'd used and realized the Corn Mache and arugula packs were identical except for the names. I sowed Arugula in error.

So I have some Arugula started sooner than expected and the Corn Mache I'll sow next week instead.

Cape.....Yoo hoo, I double checked. I have a single sprout of Bloomsdale Spinach from seed 2010 and only took 3 days. The other Bloomsdales haven't popped nor the Tyee spinach I sowed.


Here's the Arugula today from 2011 seeds.


My single Bloomsdale spinach from 2010 seeds.

Can anyone tell I'm eager for the growing season to progress?

Love the new avatar, Camp! Just beautiful!

OK folks, my latest experiment is putting some spouted kale and buttercrunch seeds under light to see how they do compared to the ones in the window. I just started the batch under lights a couple days ago so I'll let you know if there's a significant difference as they grow.

I'm also going to use diluted urine if any of my bazillion seedlings decide to stop growing. Which they probably will eventually since they are growing in used MM with no new compost booster.

So far it appears that the Cape is getting all rain here this weekend I think, even tho I now have a back up heater. I think the heater is like insurance that the power will never go out again. Regardless, hunker down all - Q is on the way and Rocky is right behind it.


CC

NHG & QB, how's the weather?

We have about 4-5" of heavy wet snow so far. Weak trees will be cleaned out, every branch is loaded. With all this poor man's fertilizer, we should have a great summer! (Assuming summer actually arrives)

The goldfinches are turning golden. Soon too, the willows.

So far we have a little over 5 inches of snowstorm "Q" and its soooo beautiful.

See the size of my corgi against our big pines.

I think we're getting plenty of poor man's fertilizer this year.

Again my son's golden has to break trail for my short-legged furbaby and its still coming down.

Yup, it certainly is a winter wonderland. I measured in our previously cleared driveway: 12".



I am having ice cream. WITH whipped cream. It's that stressful.

It looks like you got more than me, NHG, though it's still coming down. This was taken this morning. Somewhere to the left of the wheel you see on the right edge of the picture is a bed with lotsa garlic...

Here in central MA the storm is minor, just a few inches. But it is nice to look out the window and see snow flakes and a little accumulation in the pines. I got my onion seeds planted today and somewhat completed my seed starting schedule. My planting schedule is a spreadsheet I host on Google Drive here. I got my seed blockers and 512 mix and am just waiting for mid-March to start planting seeds.