March 2013, New England

Oh what a tangled mess we weave, when we read charts that say to plant seeds too early...

I'm hoping the peas will untangle themselves when it's time to go out, we'll see.

Why not have an edible yard? Edible landscaping is all the rage, I say go for it!

Actually, maybe you don't have to untangle them. Mine get all tangled while growing anyway so why bother? Just plop em in and let em rip.

I'm sprouting some peas now to see if there are any good ones I can plant:

I sprouted these extra fava beans after planting 5 in my SFG last week, and now I have to find a place for these.

I have so many left over veggie plants that I have a feeling an edible landscape is inevitable.

CC

I will not say I told you so because I didn't and because sometimes these lessons are better demonstrated, but I will reiterate what I have learned...

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose

thanks Pete for drumming this into my noggin!

I know I'll have extras this year so I plan to tuck a cole crop or greens in among my flower beds. It gets morning shade but lots of afternoon sunshine up til sunset behind the tall pines so it should work for broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, maybe even chard, and several greens even into summer (I'm hoping). Anyway, that's the plan.
In the meantime, I was going to clean out my raised beds today but actually started to sink in the mud a couple of times. Thank goodness I was wearing boots. I have ro rethink that plan. At least my A-frame is covered and tacked down for now. I'll wait on the cleanup til the ground no longer oozes with melting snow.
I take out my bucket of spuds (2 are breaking ground) and the pot of super sugar snap peas each day for actual sunshine.
Haven't yet seen the tops of my last fall garlic or the parsnip tops yet in the raised beds.
Inside I finally see a red malabar spinach seedling breaking ground under the lights, but only one.
I hope April sees more action outside.

I just went out to look and saw the first wee green shoot of garlic. QB, I will be sending those shallots your way this week.

camprn wrote:I will not say I told you so because I didn't and because sometimes these lessons are better demonstrated, but I will reiterate what I have learned...

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose

thanks Pete for drumming this into my noggin!

Yeah, I like that song too.

Are you talking about peas?

I looked for garlic today but didn't see any, but today was the first day the bed was out of the snow, so I'm hoping soon they shoot up.

Peas, or anything simply planted too soon...... but it's so hard to wait sometimes.

I was talking with some gardeners today who said they refuse to plant warm weather veggies until May 31 or so - otherwise it's a waste. Also that seedlings (such as tomatoes) are best transplanted when they are not huge, so that they get acclimated.

Hmm...May 31st for tomatoes would be too soon here on the Cape. The days and nights don't warm up until July 4th usually. BUT, this year I thought I would try to put them out early under cover. Mel's got me putting them out on Apr 19th. That'll be a good trick, but he hasn't steered me wrong yet.

Maybe I'll keep a close eye on the local farmers.

OH, forgot to mention...we got frost last nite and I didn't cover beforehand.

Tim Kelly kept saying frost but my weather sites said 36 so I went with that. So stupid. Especially since Tim lives on the Cape.

CC

All this tomato talk has spurred me to make a move...I put my maters outside for an hour or so while it's a bit overcast.


I have about 19 days to harden them off so figured I'd start now while it's 52 degrees out in my back yard. Is that even warm enuff??? Think I can get away with not potting up?

CC

I did a quick visit to the garden this morning to see how it is doing. I was able to actually drive in and park in my usual spot. The ground was wet but did not have the usual river running over it from snow melt. We had a lot of snow but a lot melted between storms. The garden was completely bare of snow and looked pretty good.



The pea bed has warmed up to 48*F so I probably will be planting peas next Sunday, barring a large snow storm. The garlic is sprouting and I cleared the bed of mulch. Unfortunately, it appears the shallots have rotted or heaved. They do not like to be wet, but what can you do when the bed is covered with a foot of snow most of the winter?



Inside, my lettuces and brassicas are doing well in their soil blocks under the grow light. The tomatoes and peppers on the heat mat are taking their time sprouting, which is making me nervous. It's seven days now, and only one type of tomato has sprouted.

Beautiful garden! It looks so nice and neat, and I love the hose hoops. Will you cover those in the spring, or just use them in the fall?

One thing on my list is a soil thermometer.

What are the cement blocks for?

CC - the tomatoes look beautiful. How did they hold up in the 52* temps?

NHG, the hoops support Agribon-15 for bug protection. Keeps the squash bugs and borers off the squash and the cabbage caterpillars off the kale, collards and broccoli.

I use an instant reading thermometer from the kitchen. Since I am also the cook, I OKed it. Just wash before using in the kitchen.

The cement blocks are to raise the beds off the ground. We have had a lot of flooding in the garden from storms and winter melt, and while my raised beds put the plants up 6 inches, the beds on the ground still become saturated. Turns out it is a lot of work to take the MM out of the beds, attach a bottom, install the blocks and refill. So right now that is a "work in progress".

BTW, Walmart has a pretty big and cheap-ish selection of greenhouses. I saw one this weekend at someone's house and it actually looked pretty substantial, altho I doubt it would hold up to winter snow, but don't know. The person was very pleased with it, and looking now at Walmart's website, they have a lot of others.

Could it be the stores are responding to a rise in serious gardeners?

NHGardener wrote:
CC - the tomatoes look beautiful. How did they hold up in the 52* temps?

My poor tomatoes...they did fine outside but then after seeing that photo I couldn't go another day without potting them up. So I mixed up a new wheelbarrow full of MM and did my duty to SFG and my country:

But as I was potting them up I noticed that they all are purple on the underside of the leaves:
Have you ever heard of that? Maybe that's where their lips are and they are freezing! Anywhosey, I'm hoping they will outgrow it, especially in the new MM. I'll put them out again after this cold front goes thru AND they get over the transplant shock, altho they look as strong as little troopers this morning.

I have sprouted pea seeds to put out after the cold front also.

Nice gardens, dvelten! I like the hoops outside the boxes. Are your hoops on rebar or just shoved into the ground or what?

CC

CC, maybe it's just the type of tomato you planted, that the leaves are purple underneath. I think I've seen that. I'll let someone else say for sure.

Oh, well according to this site: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tomato/msg031952379042.html it can be due to cold temperature stress and they'll recover. But maybe 52* was a tad too cold for them this young.