PNW: April 2013

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:We're not yet putting tomato/pepper seedlings outside--the west hills of St. Helens, OR, are about 2 weeks behind even downtown St. Helens (but, then, they get frost earlier in the fall than we do; go figure). In a 4x4 bed where 4 plants of Dagma's Perfection did so well last summer, I've found some feral tomato sprouts, so I shall let a couple grow, just to see what happens. Last week we harvested the last of the over-wintered violetta cauliflower, so that bed has been refurbished and planted with salad greens of various kinds, so a lone tomato won't be that out of place. The kale and chard planted a month ago has produced small, tender leaves for limited harvest, and some feral kale has popped up in the paths. Still getting lots of miners' lettuce for salads and greens. Nonna

our tomatoes and peppers are still inside under lights...was hoping to move them soon to our small green house....went out there today and the couple of tom's we did move out there are not looking to good....i think its still to cold....so glad we put them out there first to see how they would do before moving the whole family out....

thats pretty neat you found some feral tomato sprouts

how did your over-wintered violetta cauliflower taste?....does it taste the same as reg white cauliflower?....we just pulled our last over-winter lettuce and spinach.... we are for sure going to do more over-wintering again this year....

happy gardening
rose

happycamper wrote:I started hardening off some of my tomatoes today to get them prepared for planting, anyone else starting the process in the great PNW?
The soil blocks with cucumbers and various squash I have in containers outside are starting to sprout.
I seem to have alot of volunteer tomatoes coming up, they are really small and do not have any true leaves yet. I was pulling most of them like weeds but may save some, I haven't decided yet.
Most everything else I have planted (except the salsify) is sprouting. I have had to pull several kale, arugula and lettuce plants to make room for other items that I will be planting in a few weeks which means lots of salad recently.
What's been going on in your garden?

thats great your squash and cucmbers are staring to sprout....the ones in our green house are just now starting to sprout as well

glad to hear your other garden seeds are coming up too

we have been busy in the garden getting ready to plant the corn ...going to try and direct seed them under plastic on the hoops and see how they do

happy gardening
rose

FamilyGardening wrote:
what kind of vericomposter are you using?....we too have a worm bin...and a 5 gal bucket of worm castings that we are waiting for the worms to finish.....looked in there today...and boy was I surprised to find a ton of babies and larger momma's and pappa's in that bucket they are doing a great job breaking down that little bit that was left for them to do....soon we are going to have to get them out of there.....

happy gardening
rose

We've the Worm Factory 360. Since this was the first time we were doing it, I wanted something simple and this looked simple enough. It uses vertical migration (don't know if there's any other way but that's what it says on the box).

I'm yet to get to the point where I can identify babies . All I'm wanting to see right now is no dead worms

FamilyGardening wrote:
thats great your squash and cucmbers are staring to sprout....the ones in our green house are just now starting to sprout as well

Squash and zucchini are probably the two most happy plants on my window right now. They've such nice beautiful leaves, it makes me happy to seem them everyday. Will try to get a picture today and post them.

Want to thank everyone for the warm welcome.

Does everyone have a greenhouse? I wish i did; almost bought plastic covered three-shelf mini this year, but opted for the raised beds instead. I have tried sprouting seeds indoors in the past, but I do not have a sunny enough window to keep the plants happy - spindly plants are sad looking and acting.

Has anyone using copper for a slug/snail barrier, and if so, what is the verdict? I purchased a 50' roll of copper tape and wrapped it around the tops of my beds as a deterrent, so far, so good.

I've given up on cantaloupe, the past three years, I've had one or two tiny melons that unfortunately never ripened.

Going to go look at the worm factory now - hope everyone has a great evening,

Dawn

smriti wrote:

FamilyGardening wrote:
what kind of vericomposter are you using?....we too have a worm bin...and a 5 gal bucket of worm castings that we are waiting for the worms to finish.....looked in there today...and boy was I surprised to find a ton of babies and larger momma's and pappa's in that bucket they are doing a great job breaking down that little bit that was left for them to do....soon we are going to have to get them out of there.....

happy gardening
rose

We've the Worm Factory 360. Since this was the first time we were doing it, I wanted something simple and this looked simple enough. It uses vertical migration (don't know if there's any other way but that's what it says on the box).

I'm yet to get to the point where I can identify babies . All I'm wanting to see right now is no dead worms

here is a good thread with some pic's of worm eggs has a lot of great info and is funny

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t10365p165-1000-worms-on-their-way

happy gardening
rose

I saw a lot of white little baby worms in our vermicomposter Hope that means all's well in the vermi-land!

Im thinking we need a Tomato tuesday thread soon

today we moved the rest of our tomato seedlings out to the green house....a few of them have spent several nights out there and they all seem to be doing well so glad we decided to get the little green house last year....it made it so much easier to start tomato plants from seeds....it is nice to be able to get them out of the house....

looking in the green house to the left...tomato seedlings



back of the green house...we have tomato, over winter celery, cucumbers, over winter lettuce, carrots, basil, pumpkin, baby seedlings of celery.....lots of veggies in a small green house....love it!



the right hand side of the green house..more tomato seedlings



we even have some tom's flowering



sun was out today....but boy was it windy!!!

we planted corn under the hoops last week and so far no sign of them....the three sisters corn ( hooker corn) that is going into SFG box # 2 ...we started in the green house... is just starting to break thru....hope to see them up in the next couple of days....

crookneck, acron and butternut squash is coming up in the green house



sugar snap peas doing well



what have you all been up too??

happy gardening
rose