March 2013, New England

Can you believe its Mar 1st in NE? With all this snow on the ground for most of us? I'm just glad to see Jan and Feb behind us.

A view of my composting area and to the right the green posts in my raised beds. I can't even get out to add compost nor to put up my new greenhouse cover or the covers for my A-frame. You can't even see my coldframe.
I guess I'll have to be content to start seeds indoors for now and worry about getting them outside later. Lets hope for increased temps to melt all our snow.
The good thing is the ground water and wells will be filled to capacity this summer without any concern for running dry. And the crops overwintering, like chives, garlic, parsnips, carrots, spinach will not suffer from wind burn with this nice snow cover.
There's a lot of good to be found in this snowy winter.

I got the call the director of our community garden wants a meeting with her aides (I'm still an aide even tho now I just keep the blog). New plans for having raised beds this year in the Food Pantry section. We tried some last year and they were the best crops in our garden, even without MM. This year I know they want to use actual boards instead of just berms. I'll try to talk them into filling those beds with Mel's Mix.

These are just the berms for the Food Pantry. We also tended many straight rows on the other side of the field.
I can foresee lots of work ahead of us this spring.

It's so nice what you guys do for the food pantry, QB. I hope folks appreciate what they are getting.

Today was spectacular here - 42 & sunny! After posting my 'before clean up' avatar, I cleaned out my boxes and added compost. I found that in this box the kohlrabi, kale, collards, sage and garlic are all attempting a come back:



I also found that the onion seeds I planted out there on Jan 20 are actually growing! That means they went thru all those storms without protection!

It was interesting mixing in compost around all these growing things. But it sure feels good having got it done. Now, if I just had the same urge to clean up the yard.
Whatta a disaster! They finally took the fallen dead pine away yesterday but the debris from it is everywhere.

I must have crushed a few garlic leaves when raking the boxes coz the garlic smell was strong and sooooo good. They are growing around the whole edge of this box.

Can I clip them back a bit so I can put some in the weekly soup pot, along with some Egyptian Walking onion leaves?

CC

It's snowing

I was reading Crocketts Victory Garden from 1977 last night, and he planted his spinach as soon as the ground could be worked. So I'm thinking, I'm out there busting my buttock lugging compost and mixing it all around....*I'm workin' it*!

So I just finished planting Bloomsdale spinach seeds...ALOT of them...1 per inch.

This cupboard, called C3, now has onions on the left edge, Spinach in the 2 left squares, and sugar snap peas along the right edge.

I know,I know, I'm early, but hey, I'm determined to get this dang spinach to grow for me. And besides, there are lots of seeds left if these don't sprout. The pack must have a couple hundred in it.

Also, I seem to be putting onions and garlic along the edges of everywhere to try to deter pests. Hope it works.

CC

CC.....Try to find 'The New Victory Garden' by Bob Thomson (1987)at your library if you can. Or buy it online. Its sort of a lifeline for me even tho its for Mass. gardens. I just start mine a couple weeks later than Bob.
Its a month-by-month format on what he starts, plants and even harvests with all sorts of growing tips. Its a good book to keep at one's fingertips.
He, too, grows spinach, starting outdoors in mid- to late March usually, when the soil can be worked, to take advantage of the cool temps.
By the way, most of my spinach in the soil blocks did not come up and the 2 that did quickly died (but I failed to keep them watered so my fault on those 2). I'm wondering if the heat mat is too warm for them. After all, they usually start outdoors before the last frosts. Same with the peas.
Anyway, I think any New Englander would benefit by reading this book and gain more tips and knowledge about different crops.

Oh yippeee....a 'new' gardening book! The Crocketts Victory Garden that we have here in our home library goes month by month also. We use it a couple of weeks in advance of what they post as the Cape is so much milder than the interior of MA. It'll be interesting to see if the 2 books are the same since they are from the same PBS show.

Thanks, QB! Sorry about your spinach...welcome to my nightmare.
I just read an online article by a gal in Nantucket that the best spinach to plant for cold is Tyee and Melody.
Here's her link:
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2635/how-to-grow-spinach

Apparenly Bloomsdale is for a bit later and doesn't bolt as quickly. So just now I quickly covered the box with windows. I'll let you know what happens.


CC

A new thread!

All I have to report is about a foot of snow covering everything. Hope the garlic and strawberries are happy under there. Once the asparagus arrives and I plant those, it will be 3 things that will come up every spring without my having to fuss with them.

I'm really starting to get interested in perennials. There's a book about them at the library (Eric Toensmeier). How nice it would be if more would come up on their own every spring! I think you have to figure out how to eat them tho.

Dare I mention that the news is hinting at another foot of snow possible by Thursday?

I won't be here. Hopefully it will melt by next Sunday. Hopefully son will shovel enough to get my car out when he come to feed the kat some fude.

Everything is still white...jus' sayin'..

No white here...60+ mph gusts and rain/snow mix right now. It's ugly & everything is blowing everywhere. My windows are no more.
And I have no idea where the rest blew off to.

CC

Your windows blew away?

Still have our snow cover but no new snow yet. NOAA is saying 2-5", hopefully it's closer to 2.

This is when my blues really start to set in. Too many gray days in a row. I run on solar power.

NHG, just the windows that I use over my boxes blew off, not the ones on my house. You knew that, right? They were being held on with wood like that one in the photo, and some pavers. There's one window in the photo but I have no idea where the others are.

Are you starting seeds? That's the only thing that keeps me sane right now...watching all the babies grow...even if it IS too early for some.

CC

CC - Ya, I meant the windows on your boxes, not your house. Those were great, and where did they wind up? Hope they didn't break and you can retrieve them.

I'm nursing along my onion seedlings which are starting to look a little weak. I poured some very diluted organic Miracle Grow in there this morning, found that in the utility room so I hope it's not bad.

Need to plant several more seedlings, but just can't get into it. Maybe tomorrow....

I don't know where the windows are at this point. Won't find out til Sat as this storm/wind is here thru Friday in my neck of the woods.

What's your weather right now?

CC

Snow. What else?

We lost power for about 5 hours last night, but I don't know if that's storm related or not. Otherwise, it's a lovely shade of gray out with some strong gusts but no actual falling snow...which is OK by me...there's enough of that on the ground as it is.

I hope you can find your windows, CC.

Wow, March in like a lion! Hope the lamb trots out of here real soon. I have to get my beds ready for spring planting! The onions seedlings are under the grow lights. Have to get the brassicas and eggplants started next weekend.

The big storm was only a dusting here, thank goodness. We're going to see lots of sunshine for the next week and temps in the 40s so I'm hoping the snow will melt quickly. I have snap peas just begging to be put outside along with the arugula which is getting big under the lights. Thankfully my esperimental early tomatoes can wait several more weeks before going outside but they are growing and looking strong with me brushing my hand over them a couple times a day to strengthen their stems.
Hoping that things melt soon, I've now started cabbages, more
Tyee spinach to replace those that didn't germinate, and greens like claytonia, corn mache and mizuna. I need to get those out pretty quickly, so please, Mother Nature, be good.

I'm indoor seeding peas, spinach and celery today.

But I've run into a snafu. Always with the snafus.

I plan on about 70 pea plants and 80 spinach plants (only 10 celery plants).

I am hoping to seed them all in one tray to start.

Can I just sprout them as one tray and not in individual little pots? And then up-plant them later after they sprout?

150 little containers just seems a little overwhelming today.

NGH, why not? I plant in lettuce packs and take out the good ones after they sprout. And when I plant in 6 pks, I plant about 3 - 5 seeds in each cell and replant any good ones when thinning.

My peas and spinach have already been planted outside for about a week now. This weekend I plan on planting out my seedlings of collards, lettuces, kale, pak choi and the one cabbage that sprouted. I guess I should put them under windows since they haven't been hardened off, right?

CC

What windows?

Thx for helping me rationalize, CC.

I think with so many peas and spinaches, I may just try open trays. Maybe I'll put the 10 celeries in packs.

The seeding workshop I went to did discourage too much root space for new seedlings - she felt it was better to limit their root reach area than to give them too much space to swim in.

I have the soil block starters, I really should be using those, but the seed starter mix isn't the right kind for the blocks, I don't think it would hold together (basically peat and vermiculite).

Thinking out loud here, I'm realizing I don't enjoy the indoor seeding phase very much. But it's worth it, with such a short growing season.

quiltbea wrote:CC.....Try to find 'The New Victory Garden' by Bob Thomson (1987)at your library if you can. Or buy it online. Its sort of a lifeline for me even tho its for Mass. gardens. I just start mine a couple weeks later than Bob...
Anyway, I think any New Englander would benefit by reading this book and gain more tips and knowledge about different crops."

I checked my library online, and discovered another version: The Victory garden : the essential companion : three complete volumes in one. It listed two publishers, sort of--Black Dog & Leventhal : Distributed by Workman Pub. Co., 1995
I still remember enjoying "Crockett's Victory Garden" when I was a kid, and I do like the newer one (hosted by Jamie Durie, with Chef Michel Nischan as a frequent guest).
So now, thanks to your mention, I've put this 3-in-1 on hold (my library doesn't have it, but that's what I.L.L. is for).
[b]

QB, happy you are seeing only a dusting. They predicted 1-8" here so we figured not much. We have at least a foot down and could get 6" more. So much for Spring, although it's supposed to be 50 degrees on Saturday. Here's a photo of the deck.