March 2013, New England

Well, planting today kinda stunk. It was suppose to be 48 and no wind today, but I had 42 and windy as hell. And boy oh boy am I out of shape! So so sore now. Time to get back to back strengthening exercises.

I got alot done but not everything I wanted to do. I was so tired from fighting the wind, cold and back pain that I finally gave up planting and buried a weeks worth of kitchen scraps into the compost pile instead. Under the snow.

I give up.

Got these 2 cupboards planted with kale, collards, broccoil, pak choi and cabbage.

Elsewhere I planted some onions and the fava beans. Then I covered with windows and now I'm just gonna flop for a bit. (where's the pain emoticon?)

CC

Nice, CC! Did you harden those off before you planted them?

I had my jolly green giant pea vines in the sunny window today instead of under the fluorescent and they flopped over, so I'm using a cookie cooling rack as a mini trellis. I'm not seeing a lot of melting on the snowy beds yet, but there are brown patches all over the woods, I guess the decomposition action in the woods is helping. But it's not supposed to freeze again till 9 p.m. so it's just going to keep melting. Yay! And the next several days are supposed to be fairly sunny. Things will be melting in no time.

Hooray we hit 41*F today. I should go wash my car...

NHGardener wrote:Nice, CC! Did you harden those off before you planted them?

Sure did...for at least the past 2 weeks. They are hardy li'l suckers!

Our snow is gone in all areas that get sun, which does not include my compost pile this time of year. It's hard, but if I pour the urine on ahead of time, by the time I have to work in the pile it's soft in that area. Ah, the secrets of winter composting.

Camp, did you really wash your car??? My back hurt just reading that post...

OH, hey folks, I noticed that when I water my toms, from the bottom, they get limpy for a while. Is that normal?

Another thing, with the determinate potatoes, do you still have to keep adding MM as it grows up even tho the potatoes will all sprout in one place down there?

CC

What a great day to have off of work! It actually got up to 51 here today and was sunny all day with no wind to speak of (which for the Cape is 10mph or less).

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do because I'm so out of shape and needed to take breaks, but I planted out the chard and also planted beet seeds. AND *drumroll* I made this funny little dome cover to protect them from the snow tonite:

Off to make some spag squash for supper and sack out on the couch for a while.

How's everyone else doing today? Did you have great weather?

CC

Nice hula hoop house, CC!

Snow continues to melt here, but on the raised bed part of the yard, it's still mostly covered, but everyday will be closer.

Peas are ready to go out when the snow melts, onions and spinach seedlings are waiting another 2 weeks (but look ready to me). Just planted the lettuce, broccoli and eggplant seedlings (indoors), and today will get the multi-cell flats so I can get the tomatoes and peppers indoor seeded. I thought I was just going to use plain trays to seed those, but looking around the internet, it seems everyone recommends cells and not straight flats, I guess to protect the fragile roots when you transplant them. I was kind of hoping to just do it all in a tray, but cells will be easier to mark varieties.

One note, I had left one 4x4 box pretty much empty, figuring maybe I'll start a vertical compost pile in that box, which I can rotate around boxes from year to year, compost right at the source. But I realize there will be extra seedlings (the spares) that will need a home, so it's probably not a bad idea to leave empty space in your garden plan for those spares that you just can't bear to throw away.

NHGardener wrote: Just planted the lettuce, broccoli and eggplant seedlings (indoors), and today will get the multi-cell flats so I can get the tomatoes and peppers indoor seeded. I thought I was just going to use plain trays to seed those, but looking around the internet, it seems everyone recommends cells and not straight flats, I guess to protect the fragile roots when you transplant them. I was kind of hoping to just do it all in a tray, but cells will be easier to mark varieties.

I sow my tomato and pepper seeds in left over meat trays from the grocery store. The yellow chicken ones are the deepest. I have great results I believe, partly because there are no cell walls and the little roots can grow as long as they want in the seed starting mix. When the seedlings get their first true leaves they get transplanted into individual cells.

Camprn - what about basil. It takes forever to get their first set of leaves. Do you all wait until the first set of true leaves or transplant before then. Will the roots be all tangled if I wait that long to transplant them into bigger pots. This is the first time I have tried planting in something that does not have individual cells and I am worried about letting these grow a long time before dividing.

I like those clean meat trays as well and also use them as the bottoms for my soil blocks on the heat mat. Easier to keep different crops separated and they are waterproof. I also like whipped cream tubs for volume seeding. Greens and lettuces can be lifted with a fork to transplant right into the garden while still small since they take kindly to cool weather.

This Tyee spinach on left I started in mini blocks on the heat mat and transplanted the germinated cubes into a tub of soil under the lights. The Mizuna on the right; I sowed the seeds right in the tub under the lights. Like lettuce, they germinated just fine.

Another that germinated well under the lights is this Tokyo bekana, another green.
Of course I thought by now I'd be able to put them out in the A-frame but the nites are just too darn cold around here for the babies. I'm still waiting.

yolos wrote:Camprn - what about basil. It takes forever to get their first set of leaves. Do you all wait until the first set of true leaves or transplant before then.

Yes! Basil does seem to take for ever, but basil is one of those plants that likes it HOT. if you want it to have more rapid cell division and growth, place it in a warm place.

yolos wrote:Will the roots be all tangled if I wait that long to transplant them into bigger pots. This is the first time I have tried planting in something that does not have individual cells and I am worried about letting these grow a long time before dividing.

The roots may be a bit entangled, but I can usually tease them out quite easily. If it is difficult, you can get a large bowl that will fit both of your hands, put some tepid water in it, then swish and tease the roots apart that way.

Camprn, I think I may try your method, even tho it requires up-potting before too long -- planting the tomatoes and peppers in trays. They'll fit more easily on the heat mat if they're all in trays. I don't really look forward to up-potting, but oh well.

When you up-pot, do you still use soil starter mix? Or do you have to buy something else, like potting soil?

Expecting a family gathering of 15+ people soon - they'll just have to walk around my fluorescents which are here and there on the floor. (next year: bona fide shelving)

quiltbea - your spinach is a lot more developed than mine. I planted mine 3/10. When did you plant yours?

NHGardener.....I sowed mine in soil blocks 3/7 and transplanted to the tub on 3/16, the same day I sowed the Tokyo bekana directly into a tub under the lights.

Huh. Well, it could be the brand, too. Mine are nice, but no broad leaves.

I busted out the gro lite tonight!

Nice! Look at all those seedlings already

Is that a Clementine box? I have one of those lying around, wondered what to do with it.

camprn wrote:I busted out the gro lite tonight!

Niiiiice! That makes my heart beat fast!

The boss gave us today off. I needed to come in to do a couple things, but every time I went to get in the car, my garden called. I kept planting instead of driving to work. Then I had to go in the house and wash my hands each time, thinking I was really leaving.

So, I ended up watering the whole garden with a measuring cup, and I planted the romaine and butter crunch starts and some carrot seeds...all in segments while trying to get to work.

I finally made it to work and here I sit, looking up reviews for Meadows Harvest seeds from the Dollar Tree that I just planted. And guess what?! They are non-gmo and have no affiliation with Monsanto!

Guess I'd better do what I came here for....

Is your snow gone yet?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:

Is your snow gone yet?

Not yet, but it's getting there.

My garden happens to be in a spot that appears to melt absolutely last. The whole field is still blanketed in snow, while several properties around here are already melted. One of the pea beds is now uncovered, but I felt the dirt today and it's still frozen, so I'll just have to be patient.

On another note, bought a 2nd heat mat today, 4 individual cell trays (mainly for next year, because it makes peppers and tomatoes easier), and a large bag of starter soil, they were out of the kind I usually get but this looks okay, peat, limestone and something else. I planted tomato and pepper seeds in trays today, and charted them on paper.

Realizing I have a lot of seeds....

Today I put the peas, spinach and onions outside for a field trip for a few hours.

When the beds do thaw, they're going to need a LOT of work. I had added a whole bunch of compostable things to the soil to break down over the winter, and topped them with straw, but now that the snow is starting to melt, all that stuff is still there and I can't plant baby plants in that, I'll have to dig it all in and maybe throw MM on top of it if there's room. Yikes. I may have to take all the straw off too, at least for a while, maybe I can pile it somewhere and then put it back on when summer really starts warming up.

Yes, I have a hard time following directions. Oh well.

How to plant peas in New England.

And if your pea bed is under one of those snow banks she's standing in front of?

OMG, that Easy Peas-ey was so wicked funny I can't stop laffing!!! That's excellent! OK, eyes tearing up...more later


That's about all my hi-heels are good for anymore...
Oh Camp...can I get the link to that please? I gotta send it to my mother...she'll just collapse laffing...

I gotta go watch it again...

CC

Great link! Now, where can I get a pair of those shoes?

Here are my sprouts so far - the tomatoes/peppers/eggplants/lettuce and broccoli are too young (and not sprouted) to be going on any field trips yet (these are outside for a few hours).



From the rear is the mess of peas, then the onions, and in the foreground the spinach, with celery to the far right.

Oh NHG, how will you ever untangle those poor peas? Well, at least you have peas. I have one pea and one bean spout out there. I didn't plant beans so it must be left over from last year.

My onion tray was about 1/4 the size of yours. I just finished planting out the onions and have 1/2 the tray left. So now I'm planting them into house plant pots with the garlics. I'll also plant them out around the perennial gardens. I mean, why not, right? Altho it won't be easy as I'm still ignoring the mess from all those winter storms we had. They scattered and left debris all over the yard, plus on top of all the fall leaves that I left on the perennial gardens. I'll have to break out the rake one day... Super ICK!

Guess I'd better get back out there while the gettin's good. Beautiful day today!

CC