PNW: February 2013

Well I don't know about the rest of the PNW region, but where I live February rolled in beautifully with a warm, sunshine-y day. Finally got me out of the garden doldrums and thinking of spring. Here's what we can look forward to in February:

Seed Indoors	Seed Outdoors
Artichokes	(Late February)
Arugula	Arugula
Asparagus	Asparagus (crowns)
Bok Choi	Fava Beans
Broccoli	Garlic (cloves)
Cabbage	Onion Sets
Celeriac	Peas*
Celery	Potatoes (tubers)
Chives	Radish
Eggplant 2/15*	Shallots (bulbs)
Kohlrabi
Leeks*
Lettuce
Onion*
Parsley
Peppers 2/15*
Tomatillo	*Indicates best times and   methods of planting
Tomatoes 2/15*

Anything on the list catch your eye? I'll definitely be starting peppers and tomatoes again inside in a couple of weeks. And peas will be my first outdoor sowing on Presidents day. Love the Oregon Sugar Pod II's.

this weekend our family started indoors

onions, leeks, lettuce, spinach, kale, swiss chard, broc, cauli, cabbage, bok choi

thanks for reminding me to sow some parsely and celery....speaking of celery has anyone over winterd celery before?....we moved a few into the green house to over winter...wondering how they will do once spring comes....do they bolt?....how much more should we get from them?

excited for spring!
rose

gwen
When is your last frost date?
Looks like a great list. Have you grown Asparagus before? It really takes forever to germinate.

rose
How did the celery do in the greenhouse overwinter.
I dug up all the roots of my artichokes from last year and put them in large pots of peat moss and kept them in the greenhouse, with a special heater timed to keep the greenhouse just above freezing.
The artichokes are starting to grow BIG time now, and ?reproduce.

GWN,

Regarding your artichokes, Did/do you water the peat moss? I'm wondering if I might do something similar next year, if I can manage to grow some artichokes this summer. Only I just might store the pots in the laundry room! Or, if I still have that confounded storage shed, add a heater.

Donainzone, I would think that artichokes would over winter in Bend. We used to have a place at Sunriver and it did not get as cold as here.
We lived in Eugene for awhile and they thrived there, despite freezing weather. What zone is bend?
I have not watered them much, I take a hunk of snow in every now and then and dump it on top of them.

oh and if you DO grow some this year, the way to stratify them (ie trick them into thinking they have already gone through winter) is to get them out really early in April so that they can experience the cold. I planted seeds last year and did that and many of my plants actually flowered. I had 5 plants I had kept under cover from the previous year as well.

Hey Rose, I did a poor job of it BUT I overwintered in three different places.

First, I left one plant unprotected outdoors. We had a mild enough winter. Still, if there was any benifit to this it was from not disturbing the roots. In addition this plant got the most water (rain). It is going to seed.

Next I put one celery into the greenhouse because I had to put SOMETHING into the green house. Just recently ripped it out, it was going to seed.

Finally I potted up too of them and kept them in the darkness of our cold garage. These actually did the best. They self blanched in the garage to sweet perfection. Once I forgot to water (not one time but about from Christmas to recently) one of them did try going to seed.

From my VERY limited observation, treating them like mushrooms is by far the best. (these are in 2 gallon pots)

Web link for the original idea....
Something New to Try

GWN,

Bend supposedly is in USDA Zone 6. Another website lists it as Zone 5. According to Sunset, it's Zone 1 (the coldest). As you know, Sunriver is colder and snowier than Bend.

Although I've read that the temperature seldom sinks below -10F, it's been as low as -3F so far this winter. And I've read that one cannot overwinter artichokes here.

However, rebel that I am, I just may attempt to do so! What are your thoughts?

donnainzone10 wrote:GWN.....snip... ....I've read that one cannot overwinter artichokes here.

However, rebel that I am, I just may attempt to do so! What are your thoughts?

I am obviously not GWN but I like to treat them as annuals. If they live, awesome, if they do not, oh well, I still got artichokes.

Purple Passion (wait... maybe it is called Violetto), Season 3 (2012)

Hi GWN, according to Dave's Garden, I'm about guaranteed not to have frost from May 12th through September 27th. I'm not planning on growing asparagus, but if I were I'd start with crowns and not try from seed. (Hey - Mel says it's okay for beginners to use starts! )

For the record in case anyone was confused, the table I posted above is from a calendar planting chart I received from a seed starting class I took last spring at Shorty's Garden & Home (they could not give any credit to who created the chart when I asked). It is not my personal planting list. I'm sticking with peas and broccoli, carrots, salad greens, bell peppers and tomatoes.

I just posted pictures of my artichokes and the whole post disappeared.

Anyways I will try again. I planted some starts 2 years ago and overwintered them under straw and tarps, and I also started some from seed and put them out very early and got artichokes from them. I then dug up all of them except one and put them in peat moss in the greenhouse at 3 degrees celcius

They have just started to grow and since I have many plants in each bucket I have decided to start separating them because they can get hard to untangle . I have them in pots of mels mix


We have not had a lot of sun recently so hard to know why they are growing. I am just trying to recreate the environment in my greenhouse, that we had down in Bandon Oregon where it did not as a rule ever freeze.

GWEN
I am just wondering if your last frost is May 15th, and peppers and tomatoes are supposed to be planted 8 weeks prior to your last frost, whether Feb 15th might be a little too early.
I mean I do it too early but that is just because I am impatient. The problem with planting too early, I find, is that it takes a lot more work repotting etc.

GWN,

I'm so very envious of your artichoke "plantation"!

I guess I'll try starting some seeds indoors sometime this month and later purchase and transplant one or two plants purchased from the nursery.

My aunt in Harbor, OR used to grow marvellous artichokes, although at that time I didn't eat them. I imagine the climate there is similar to that in Bandon.

Actually Donaire
Artichokes grew extremely well in Eugene, in fact I had a huge plant in Eugene.

Perhaps between us we could develop a way for colder climates to grow them, not sure if I already said this, but the one plant I left in the ground this year, I put one smaller water jug (the ones that people buy water in. A local bottle depot was looking for where to get rid of the bottles, since the tourists buy the big bottles and cannot get their refund back. So he gave us 50 of them all different shapes and sizes and we cut the tops off with a saw) So I put a smaller one and then a bigger one on top of the artichoke plant, with a a rock on top. The rational for the two glass bottles is that there would be an extra layer of air to act as further insulation. I grew them all in mels mix last summer, but just in large buckets with the bottom cut off, so that the roots could venture further down if need be. I am trying to experiment with several methods so I can eventually say one works better than the other.

we have lettuce and bok choi up in our seedling tray took only two days


happy gardening
rose

Dill, basil, and cilantro seeds are up--inside, growing in vermiculite.
Just discovered daffodils coming up in an old planter (stored in my darkish garage) that was used to grow cucumbers last summer; formerly, I'd grown spring bulbs in it. There also are clematis plants growing there, until I can transplant them much later in the spring.

GWN wrote:GWEN
I am just wondering if your last frost is May 15th, and peppers and tomatoes are supposed to be planted 8 weeks prior to your last frost, whether Feb 15th might be a little too early.
I mean I do it too early but that is just because I am impatient. The problem with planting too early, I find, is that it takes a lot more work repotting etc.

Ah, I see. I know last year I did start my peppers and tomatoes mid-March which is eight weeks prior to last frost and you are right, I did have a lot of up potting work in those eight weeks. Wouldn't want to add another month of work onto that. Thanks for pointing out the discrepancy! Mid-February for my area should have broccoli marked as best time for sowing indoors, since that needs a 12 week head start.

I just looked at the What to Plant Now chart from Mother Earth News for February and eggplants, peppers and tomatoes are not on the list. There are more items included, so check out the link.

There also are clematis plants growing there, until I can transplant them much later in the spring.

WOW did you grow them from seed? I just love clematis, but have never actually been able to keep it alive.

gee ROSE has anyone every told you how much you look like wonder woman??

No, I didn't plant the clematis from seed. Rather, I ordered them online and stuck them in Mel's Mix for the winter; I was too lazy/unsure to plant them outside.

I've been adding baby Kale ($3.99 in a 1 lb clamshell @ Fred Meyer) to my salads again and this time around I don't notice the taste anymore. Either the greens are fresher or I've become accustomed. Either way, I'm glad and want to try growing my own. Can someone refresh me on recommended varieties? I want to harvest young. Fair to assume Kale works as a cut-and-come-again crop or no?

yes Kale IS a cut and come again crop. I have ended up with way too much each year. Being a poor bookkeeper, I do not know the exact name, but a blue curling leaf kale I found does not produce those HUGE leaves, but tastier and easier to work with I have found.

GWN, when do you plant your kale? Indoors or out? I can grow it but it seems to take forever...

CC

You know with Kale it seems hard to get started but once it is started there is no stopping it.
I planted it indoors and then transplanted fairly early
Last year I planted them at the end of January, indoors. I transplanted them outdoors in March which was too early, they died, then I grew more and put them out in late April and they did very well.
I was never able to grow them from seed in the garden