Outside sowings begin

After working on a couple of my new raised beds I decided to do some outdoor sowings. The peas that I had previously sowed outside have all germinated and started to grow and so I felt it was time to do some more, especially since it is now only two weeks to go until the last frost date (April 15th). I sowed a square of Lutz Beets (16 plants), Champion of England Peas (8 plants), bunching onions (16 plants), Lucullus Swiss Chard (4 plants), Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce (4 plants), and two squares of radishes (32 plants).

I have become very despondent over my previosu sowings and now feel that everything is too leggy to be worthwhile, and the onions seem to be doing poorly. I haven't got proper grow lights and I guess you really do need the right equipment to do this properly. Lesson learnt for next year, although I will keep on tending to the seedlings to see how they progress.

The weather looks like it is going to be pretty miserable for the upcoming week with the chance of snow mid-week. After that it will still be pretty miserable but with the temperatures heading north it looks like the last frost date will be exactly that.

Seedling Update

Today I sowed some Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch kale seeds and some zucchini seeds.



Above is an image on some of the seeds that I have previously sown. The left-hand side shows some basil and thyme, as well as garlic that I planted to replace the bulbs that rotted during the Winter. The middle tray is tray number three with the back up sowings, and the right-hand side is mainly beans that I replanted after killing the earlier plantings by leaving them out overnight in sub-zero temperatures.

It should also be noted that it has been raining and cold all week. Last week I managed to get the plants outside in my plastic mini-greenhouse, but I haven't risked it this week as I am erring on the side of caution. It's supposed to be sunny again this weekend, in which case I shall continue putting up my raised beds.

Back-up sowings

Today's update is about making back-up sowings. Basically I have been a bit disappointed with the progress of some of my previous sowings and so today I made some back-ups just in case. Therefore today I made some more sowings of lettuce, swiss chard and spinach, as well as replanting beans.

Essentially the seedlings of those previous sowings got a bit too leggy before I put them under a light, and so now they are very droopy. At first I assumed I am under-watering, which may still be the case, but I think legginess might be a bigger problem, hence the new seedlings. Also, I rushed the season with the beans and put them in my mobile greenhouse. All was well for about a day before a frost finished them off.

Since I am feeling a bit down on the progress of my seeds I also planted some radishes (English Breakfast). This time, as soon as a shoot appears the entire tray is going under a light to see if I can solve this problem. On the plus side, since these vegetables are relatively speedy growers I haven't lost too much time and, who knows, maybe the first batch will work out fine.

Grow

Picture is of my bean seedlings which are sitting on top of my washing machine.

March has to be the Christmas eve of gardening. Every weekend I am out in the garden, frantically preparing and planning. Whenever I get a chance I review my seed collection wondering what I will plant this year and in what order I should start my seedlings. Those seedlings that I have already planted are sprouting up and growing towards the ceiling in what seems like amazing speed.

I check the seedlings and wonder what the year will bring each evening before I go to sleep. The anticipation of beautifully red tomatoes hanging over bushy basil plants or the carrot tops mixed in with a collection of tasty lettuces feels just like it did when I was a kid on Christmas eve. The only difference is now the anticipation is spread over a few months.

Now I am a grown up (most days), I know Santa clause doesn't circle the globe in one night but I still like the feeling that wondrous evening brought. I'm glad there is a grown up version of the same joy.

Happy gardening everyone!

Sunday sowing.

Just a quick post about a bunch of sowing that I did today. Today's sowing is more to do with sowing a bunch of seed with the intention of moving it outdoors into my unheated mini-greenhouse as soon as they have germinated (I currently have garlic growing in it). We shall see how this approach works.

Anyway, I sowed some more Black Beauty Eggplants, Maxibel Filet Beans, Dragon Tongue Beans, 1000 Year Tobacco, Thyme, Parsley, Basil, and Chervil. I have never grown herbs before so this should be interesting.

From my last planting the peas have come out (although I wanted to plant beans - d'oh!), as have the Swiss Chard and the lettuce. I have now moved them under lights that I added today.

First raised bed - Done!

This weekend I finally finished the first of three raised beds I had planned to make for the garden this summer. I had started off just wanting a square frame to hold the new dirt but it sort of became a project before I knew it.

I used untreated pine for the frame. Ensure you don't get the green treated wood as it will leach the chemicals into the dirt. While the new treatment is less poisonous than before, to me poison is poison. I could have treated the pine with linseed oil but I figure this will last a few years without it. Cedar would likely be my first choice as it has a natural preservative but the cost is much more than pine.

I bought some cheap one by ones that were broken and repaired and then sold in bundles. The pvc corrugated cover was fifteen dollars a sheet (used three) and you can pay a lot more if you buy the more fancy stuff. I am not sure what the difference is other than shade.

I sloped the roof so the rain runs away from the house. I plan to place a small gutter on the one side so the rain will run into a rain barrel for summer watering.

I have about 75$ of special garden dirt which is about 20% manure and composted materials. See the details of this in my previous post.

This afternoon I saw a couple cats looking at this so I am now a bit concerned. I think I will need to cover it with chicken wire until I get some veg going otherwise I have just created the biggest kitty litter in the neighborhood, complete with raid guard...

Seedling Update

Just a quick update with some pictures. Firstly, the majority of the second bath of onions and leeks seem to be doing ok.



Although there are some exceptions. They are slouched down and I am not too sure what they are sulking about. I will have to do a bit of reading up on the matter.



And lastly we have some tomatoes from a couple of weeks back!



On the minus side it snowed today! My plastic tunnel, not that anything appears to be growing in it, was definitely closed up. All in all, a good start I feel, although the onions give me some concern. I might plant some more for back up.

Deciding what to grow

This year being my second season as a urban farmer I have decided to be quite selective on what I grow. Last year I was in awe of all the exotics I would grow and then eat only to be disappointed by the vast array of failures I had.

This year I am going to be a practical West Coast gardener. I will grow what worked and what should work in this climate with just a little bit of what I really hope will work (inverted from last year).

So... What to start with? Beans! I just potted the following: Empress Beans(For my wife's stir fry), Kidney Beans (I love Chili), Boston Favorite (for soups) and Lima Cisco's Bird Egg Bean (for salads). All of which were from the US company, Seed Savers Exchange. I have recently become more of a fan of the West Coast Seeds company as it allows me to buy items like Potatoes without border issues.

The picture you see here is my furnace room. I located my pot of seeds between the furnace and the hot water tank for warmth. I water them every day and will install lights in there this weekend for once they sprout.

Next round of seeds will be for some tomato plants. I did the beans first as they can go outside earlier.

Next Batch of Seeds

Today I planted another tray of seeds (the second full tray), this time using soil for seed starting that I purchased from Triple Tree Nursery as I felt that the bedding soil that I was previously using wasn't doing that good a job, so we'll see what the difference is.

This time the planting consisted of some more Black Beauty eggplants (8 seeds), Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce (8 seeds), Lucullus Swiss Chard (8 seeds), Champion of England peas (16 seeds), Canterbury Bells (16 modules) and Bloomsdale spinach (12 seeds).

At the moment, the tomatoes that I planted back on the weekend and placed on a heating mat have started to germinate, but not the others just yet. I re-potted the onions that I planted back in January and the leeks and onions that I planted a couple of weeks back are going gangbusters. Pictures soon.

Tomato seeds are in!

Today I sowed a pot of Black Zebra tomatoes (3 seeds), a pot of Nepal tomatoes (3 seeds), two pots of Golden Cherry tomatoes (6 seeds), five pots of parsley (2 pre-soaked seeds per pot), a pot of Black Beauty eggplant (3 seeds in the pot) and two pots of King of the North Sweet Pepper (3 seeds per pot). I am being a little cautious about the quantities as it all needs to fit into the square foot garden I have going. I might have to change some of the positions that I have planned as I go, but I am only doing four tomato plants this year. Hopefully I will actually get to eat some this year as most of my crop was wiped out by blight last year. I have put them on the heating mat that I bought from Lee Valley recently, so let's hope that it does some good, especially with the heat-loving seeds.

Below are a couple of images showing the progress of the onion and leeks that were planted earlier.