Status update for our little corner of the world

Well, things are progressing pretty nicely.
I up potted bell pepper seedlings and the celery seedlings today into quart sized pots, and put risers on the quart sized tomato pots so I could add more MM.
My leaf shredder was delivered, so when the rains stop again, I'll get to try that out.
We moved 3 cubic yards of horse manure based compost yesterday... was able to keep some back to add to the veggie compost blend... the rest went into the front gardens that we're having to rebuild.
Got my rain barrels on Saturday... need to finish setting them up. If the weather cooperates tomorrow, that's the plan.

Got some really nifty heirloom red brussels sprouts seedlings to try out. I don't think I've ever seen a red brussels sprout. Got the parsnips planted (finally) and more onions and leeks... and more lettuce. Beets and turnip greens have "hatched" and have their little seedling leaves now.

Still SO much to do, but the end is in sight for the time being... just need a couple more really nice days to get 'er done!

All sounds great .....(well except the red brussel sprout)
I LOVE those oak barrels for growing.

Janet

It's cool to see that everybody already has things planted. I won't get to plant anything till the beginning of May and I just hope I don't fall too far behind with the "cool weather" crops I want to plant.

When did you start your bell peppers? Up potting to quart size pots?! Mine are growing unbelievably slowly. I can't even imagine them outgrowing their little peat pellet before it's time for them to go outside!

I planted the peppers and tomatoes on February 23. I up-potted the tomatoes a week and a half ago, and they have quadrupled their size since. I used MM in the large pots, and took most of the peat pot away from the little starting soil ball when I moved them. The bell peppers had two sets of real leaves, and I felt they needed more nutrients than what they were getting from the starter soil and fish fertilizer, so moved them using the same technique.
I moved the celery starts for the same reason. They have been moved twice now... once from a group sowing into individual peat pots (so I could pick the best ones to move) and then from there into the larger pots with MM.

I have found that once a start has that second set of real leaves, they are difficult to kept fed enough for them to grow quickly if they're not moved into really fertile soil.
I also turn a fan on the seedlings for about an hour (set on low) each day so the air movement will help them develop strong stems.

I won't be moving these plants outside until I'm SURE the nights will be mild. At that point, they will go outside, under the cloches, enclosed in wall-a-waters (tomatoes into the unheated greenhouse with wall-a-waters)

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:It's cool to see that everybody already has things planted. I won't get to plant anything till the beginning of May and I just hope I don't fall too far behind with the "cool weather" crops I want to plant.

Ha I see I am not the only one who has not planted yet...I was feeling left behind there.

I am gonna direct sow some radish,beet,lettuce,and carrot seed this weekend in my new bed...... weather permitting that is.

Curio, I shall be looking to see what you think about the Wall 'o waters, and if you think they performed well. Is the unheated greenhouse you refer to a full-blown greenhouse or a hoop house? The progress you've reported on is truly impressive. Congrats!

Daniel9999 wrote:

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:It's cool to see that everybody already has things planted. I won't get to plant anything till the beginning of May and I just hope I don't fall too far behind with the "cool weather" crops I want to plant.

Ha I see I am not the only one who has not planted yet...I was feeling left behind there.

I am gonna direct sow some radish,beet,lettuce,and carrot seed this weekend in my new bed...... weather permitting that is.

Well I really fell behind when started my compost pile last year....I kept on adding stuff to it and never gave it a chance to compost properly. Now that I know more about composting, I won't make that same mistake again.

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Curio, I shall be looking to see what you think about the Wall 'o waters, and if you think they performed well. Is the unheated greenhouse you refer to a full-blown greenhouse or a hoop house? The progress you've reported on is truly impressive. Congrats!

I've used wall-o-waters for probably 15 years now. They really can make a difference with the heat loving veggies like tomatoes and peppers... especially in our unpredictable climate and early morning fog here.
The greenhouse is a full blown structure that we built out of reclaimed windows and door, along with the northeast wall being hardi-board. The non-window portions are painted black, to absorb as much heat as possible.
We have hoop houses also on two of the beds and the supplies for a third one if we need it later in the fall.

SO excited!! Was just in checking on the seedlings and worms and it dawned on me that my tomato plants I started from seed this year (well, all but a few of them) are nicer looking than the seedlings I purchased in years past in mid-April. Nice thick stems, good leaf spacing and size, great color.

The only ones that aren't looking so hot are one that I inadvertently broke the top off of (waiting to see if it sends a new leader from one of the leaf forks) one that I didn't pot up when I did the rest (didn't think I'd need it until the broken top incident) so is behind, one that something happened to the first two real leaves (out of 4) right after I first up-potted them into the MM (they curled up so I snipped them) so it looks a bit scraggly still, and one that didn't even sprout until about two weeks after the rest of them.

What is interesting is the four that are behind are from two varieties only, and all the rest are other varieties. Coincidence?? Dunno.

The peppers that have been up-potted are nearly the same size as the ones I've purchased as transplants in the past, and probably will be by mid/late April.

The celery is growing so fast it will probably be the same size as the transplants I've purchased in the past.

The only things that for some reason DIDN'T grow as quickly as I thought they would are the cole crop seedlings. I may try a different method for the next round of cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. This time I started them in peat pots with sterile potting mix and then snipped the extra babies off at the soil line.

Has anyone started seed in MM? If so, did that work well for you?

Thanks Debs
I started with the Alaska fish fertilizer in the water as soon as the plants got real leaves, but that might not have been enough. I pulled the bottom off the pots also, but I'm just not happy with the progress after transplanting on some of them. (I wasn't overly impressed with their progress BEFORE I transplanted them either)
I just did one pot of cauliflower and one of cabbage in the MM, so it will be interesting to see the difference.

BTW... that tomato that got his top lopped off looks to have new growth coming from the joint at the next leaf, so I went ahead and put the riser on his pot so I could increase the depth of the MM. We'll see how he does now

gwennifer wrote:When did you start your bell peppers? Up potting to quart size pots?! Mine are growing unbelievably slowly. I can't even imagine them outgrowing their little peat pellet before it's time for them to go outside!

I found that up-potting them as soon as possible really sped up the growth rate on everything I moved. For instance, the tomatoes I up-potted and then put risers on to increase the soil depth when time are at least 8-9" tall and full, while tomato seedlings left in the starter pot is still dinky.

Okay, Curio, you convinced me to try the wall o' waters again this year. Perhaps I did something wrong, but we experienced some rot down in the middle of the plants--did they keep too much moisture in? Do you suppose if I put the tomatoes/peppers in one of the long beds and put a hoop house over the batch to keep the incessant rain off, that the wall o' waters would be more of a benefit?

Rain on the leaves and stems will cause rot or blight if it doesn't dry quickly. When I use the W-o-Ws I cover them if rain is predicted to last for days (or plant under a clear "tarp"). I also open the tops up on really nice warm sunny days. I water by hand at the base of the plant to help keep water off the leaves and stems, using one of the water wands) Once the plants are growing well and are the height of the WoW or their full height (whichever is less) I remove them altogether.

I think having them under some form of overhead protection from too much rain is a great benefit, so a hoop house would work for that. I would still open the tops when it's warm and sunny, and remove them when the plant is nearly too large for the WoW.

Okay, Jan, thanks for the advice. Gonna go with the semi hoop house and walls o' water. Nonna

curio wrote:I found that up-potting them as soon as possible really sped up the growth rate on everything I moved. For instance, the tomatoes I up-potted and then put risers on to increase the soil depth when time are at least 8-9" tall and full, while tomato seedlings left in the starter pot is still dinky.

Thanks curio. So much to learn. The class I went to said to wait until the cotelydons had begun to yellow and fall off before beginning to fertilize so I'd been waiting for that. But my tomatoes were growing so leggy I couldn't wait and up-potted them into Mel's mix so that I could bury the stem. I did remove almost half of the peat pellet because they didn't even have any roots down there yet and I needed it out of the way so I could get them deep enough into their yogurt containers (that I cut like air-pruning pots). Anyway, yes, they have grown like crazy since and are ready for collars now.

So I up potted the peppers yesterday and now I feel terrible about my broccoli, which I now realize I should have up potted a couple of weeks ago. I guess that's why they have pretty much stopped growing. (Again, I was going on the advice of the class to wait for the cotelydons to die off before doing anything). Next week is when I was going to begin hardening them off, so it hardly seems worth up potting now. But I guess I better.

Thanks again!

I up potted the peppers yesterday and now I feel terrible about my
broccoli, which I now realize I should have up potted a couple of weeks
ago. I guess that's why they have pretty much stopped growing. (Again,
I was going on the advice of the class to wait for the cotelydons to
die off before doing anything). Next week is when I was going to begin
hardening them off, so it hardly seems worth up potting now. But I
guess I better.

I think this is where I went wrong with my broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts too. I'm trying a couple more sowing directly into the MM in little peat pots. I quit using the pellets because the outer mesh does not compost, even after two years.

Hi curio
I started me seeds in the peat pucks, but as soon as they showed any sign of germination I transplanted them into 3 inch pots with mels mix
My tomatoes look sensation, also my celery... and we'll everything looks sensational.
Much better than ever before.
I even turned off the lights as the plants seemed to be doing just fine without the lights (I have WAY too many to have them all under lights), then I read somewhere that if you have a greenhouse you do not need lights.
Yes I agree with you, my plants are growing incredibly better. I have celery and spinach and mesclun planted in the ground under hoop houses. and they are doing very well too despite the sub freezing nights we have here.

curio wrote:I quit using the pellets because the outer mesh does not compost, even after two years.

I simply peel off the outer mesh before transplanting. It comes off quite easily. I've tried planting things in the peat pots and when I finally dug them out at the end of the season the pot was still completely intact. So I don't trust them to decompose either. Well, very quickly anyway.

BTW, I up potted one broccoli last night that looked to be near death. (Figured why not try it before I throw it out). Low and behold, it's doing fine today! Now off to up pot the rest.

Lavender Debs wrote:It works great for direct seeding! Because I use soil blocks I do not normally mess with any other method....

Sorry I'm so dense but, are you saying here that you use Mel's Mix with your soil blocker? I thought you had to have some special soil mix for making the mud for these. If I can just use Mel's Mix, that thing is going on my wishlist!

ok... is there a little badge or something for when we realize we're probably certifiably nutso? If there is.. I WANT ONE!

I spent about three hours in the yard and garden today, checking on seedlings, putting in another round of carrots and leeks... then installing two rain barrels and the downspout/diverter to them and hooking them together. Had to cut and rework a 15' hose with one 2' piece and two male "repair" ends to actually hook them together, and then cut the remainder in half and add a male "repair" end to one end of each so they could be attached as overflow valves. Finished up by adding material to a compost pile and installing a tarp over it.

Now... you may be wondering why I think I've reached "certifiable" status for this. You won't wonder if you live anywhere in western Washington state, since you know. I is raining like CRAZY out there!!!

I bundled up and put on Steve's new garden hat (with a chin tie)... and have decided that I like his better than mine on rainy days (especially if there is any wind). He may need to buy a new hat for himself... I think I'm gonna steal this one.

Pretty hardcore!

I'm ready to sharpen my saws and start construction with the gopher wood I have stashed!

FINALLY got the bed made and filled for the Yukon Gold potatoes, and got most of them in (need 7 more tubers). Also got the last of the three tall boxes put together for the late season potatoes, so hopefully over the weekend will be able to make more mix to get those planted (out of peat moss)
Added the last layer of green stuff to the compost pile and now just need to add a heap of browns and hopefully it will get to cookin'.
Got more of the yard cleaned up out between the garden and the compost area so one doesn't take their life in their hands trying to navigate (usually with a wheelbarrow) back there.
THEN... it started raining again. Oh well... I feel like it was a productive day.

Got the Yukon Golds planted this weekend (between rain squalls), and unloaded all the vermiculite, peat moss and compost we bought for more MM and top dressing later... all 20 bags (not including the vermiculite and peat) of it.
The peat moss bale had gotten wet at the store, so it weighs ohhhh.... roughly a half ton. Also bought five pounds of alfalfa pellets to see if I can get this compost pile fired up a little more.
The two rain barrels are now installed and working... filled both 55 gallon barrels to overflowing in a day and a half just from the roof of the 8x10' greenhouse.

Hopefully this week I can get the other compost pile deconstructed (I'm pretty sure there is useable stuff at the bottom) that hubby mistakenly piled new stuff on top of over the winter. I'm thinking if I can get that off, dig out the good stuff and then rebuild it I'll be better off than trying to get the mixed up heap heated.

All the transplants are going gangbusters, as well as the plants waiting to be transplanted. Tomato babies are about a foot tall now, peppers are about 4" tall and very compact, celery is starting to look like celery babies.

I think I had a brain f*** when I planted my "parsley" three weeks ago. I have been watching the seedlings thinking they just don't LOOK like parsley. Well... this morning I discovered WHY they don't. The packet of parsley seed is still sealed and the "parsley" is mixed leaf lettuce.

curio wrote:

I think I had a brain f*** when I planted my "parsley" three weeks ago. I have been watching the seedlings thinking they just don't LOOK like parsley. Well... this morning I discovered WHY they don't. The packet of parsley seed is still sealed and the "parsley" is mixed leaf lettuce.

Oh nooo....and parsley takes so dang long to sprout compared to other plants... Maybe this year it will have to be transplants...LOL I'm that person who decided to throw a few radish and lettuce seeds in under her young broccoli this year, and then proceeded to water way to hard and the seeds went everywhere out of my neat little plan - so I have little sprouts of who knows what coming up...at least it's a fun mystery...