March 31, 2017

planting peas and spreading compost

Another snow storm is heading for us. We’re supposed to get 8 inches of heavy snow tonight. Who knows how long this will prevent me from gardening. So, my solution, get as much gardening done before the storm. Yesterday I planted peas in my back yard garden. Two rows: Oregon Giant snow peas and Sugar Snap snap peas. This morning I covered up my winter bed with row cover and plastic. Then I drove up to Mom’s house and spread a beautiful 2 inch layer of compost (2 c. yards)…

March 30, 2017

sunning seedlings

The first of my seedlings are out sunning now. Onions, shallots, leeks mostly. Also spinach, beets, cabbage, and endive. We have a beautiful sunny day today. It’s 43F now and going up to 50. Tomorrow, the last day of March, we are bracing for a winter storm. It doesn’t seem right. But it’s not the first time we’ve had crazy weather. I’ll be out with my seedlings, pruning, raking, and maybe even planting my peas. I’ve been doing a lot of planting recently. It’s all listed on my 2017 planting…

March 27, 2017

crazy pepper seedlings

Two days ago, I decided my peppers seeds weren’t sprouting because the temperature was too low. It had been ten days with no sign of seedlings. So I rushed out right to buy a heat mat. So – only two days later – guess what’s in the tray. Lot’s of pepper sprouts!! I can’t believe it. I wonder if they would have come up without the mat or if the mat was a miracle worker? In addition to getting the new heat mat, also replanted by adding an extra seed…

March 26, 2017

ready for planting seeds tomorrow

These pots and seeds are waiting on my kitchen counter for me to plant tomorrow. Five or six types of broccoli, raab, broccolini, etc – we love broccoli. Also flowers: cosmos, cleome, tithonia (Mexican sunflower), nigella, and bells of Ireland.

March 25, 2017

I replanted my pepper seeds today. None sprouted after 10 days. I checked their temperature and it was only 74F in a spot that was 80F last year. We have lower heat in the house this year. I bought a seed heat mat this afternoon and I hope that will help the replanted seeds to sprout.

March 16, 2017

sowing onions at drumlin farm

Last week I volunteered to help at Drumlin Farm, Lincoln MA. They were sowing onion seed. Everything’s done by hand at the farm, with lots of help from volunteers. I was really impressed with the way they did things. – The greenhouse was filled with trays of beautiful arugula and peas tendrils in all stages of growth for selling to local restaurants. – They simply lay newspaper in a doubled up 10-20 tray, fill it with dirt, and use that for planting. No pots. – Before planting, they water the…

March 15, 2017

more sowing

I planted several more trays of seeds today. Here’s the list. My lights have some trouble. They were shorting when we plugged them all in. We switched bulbs and sockets, with and without timer. It seems the problem is the wall socket. I can plug in 3 shelves, but not 4 on the circuit. Right now I only need 3 shelves. I’m sure we’ll get a solution soon.

March 6, 2017

seeds in pots

These are my spinach and escarole seeds. I decided to neatly space them instead of broadcasting.

March 5, 2017

2017 seed sowing

Here’s my 2017 planting list that I’ll add to as I continue to plant. I’m noting in () the season the seeds were sold for. I’ll mark if they germinated for me. I plant a lot of different varieties but the amounts of each are small and I risk no germination for many by planting old seeds until they don’t germinate. Everything is at 70 degrees F for germination and growing this year, except the peppers that will go at 78 degrees F for germination. February 23, sow indoors under…

February 23, 2017

it’s time to plant onions!

I sowed my first seeds of the season. A tray with several types of onions, leeks, and celeriac. My planting calendar said it was time. I couldn’t find my leftover plant labels from last year, so I cut up a plastic tofu container. I’ll get better labels before I need to mark the rows outside. I’ll start up a post soon with a list of the onion varieties I planted. I’ll continue fill in this list as I plant more seeds. Next on my planting schedule are cabbages and escarole,…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost