April 2, 2008

pea trellis (on a windy wednesday)

I like to get the pea trellis up before the peas sprout. This year I made a zig-zag trellis from poles and sticks and tie-wrapped a white plastic net to it. It seems a bit wobbly and I may need to reinforce it with more poles later. The pea trellis is in the sunny part of my garden, right up against the house and under the windows where my seedlings are growing. (As an aside, the trellis assembly was a bit of a struggle. I thought for a while that…

April 1, 2008

pea rootlet

I checked on my peas that I planted outside two weeks ago (March 18). They have been growing – little roots have started! We have warm wet weather coming up, so I’ll watch for sprouts. Pisum sativum

April 1, 2008

mail order box

Another box from Johnny’s! What fun. This one has: light weight row cover to protect my brassicas from the white butterflies this summer, thermal black plastic for my tomatoes and peppers, pins, markers, and roll of nice-looking white plastic netting for my peas. Also a few packets (15) of seeds. (Does 15 count as a few?) The seeds include some flowers recommended in my new gardening book (Great Garden Companions) as good vegetable companions. I am looking forward to a more colorful vegetable garden this year! The flowers are: asters…

March 31, 2008

a light for the seedlings

With a streak of cloudy weather, I have resorted to a plant light. I set up a make shift arrangement using my fish tank lighting. I didn’t want to burn the little seedlings, so I looked up how much light is OK: “Experiments and tests have demonstrated that most vegetables and flowering plants need 25 to 30 fluorescent light watts per square foot. Houseplants and seedlings do well with 15 to 20 watts…” http://www.doityourself.com/stry/factsoflight It looks like I have about 5-6 sq ft of illuminated seedlings, so I need 75-120…

March 31, 2008

april flowers

Well, its almost April. A wet and dreary day for the last of March needs some bright flowers. This is what is blooming around my neighborhood now.

March 29, 2008

kale seedlings

I planted three types of kale seeds. They are developing nice second leaves now. Each look different. Clockwise from top left: Winterbor, Red Russian, Tuscan and another shot of Red Russian.BrassicaceaeKale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

March 27, 2008

American robin

Cheer-up, cheer-up! My garden workers are returning! garden birds (Hortus Aves)

March 27, 2008

leggy seedlings

I’ve been trying to raise my seedlings without a plant light. But they seem to be getting quite leggy. Especially the broccoli. To try to increase their light, I have suspended them right up against the south facing windows. Of course it would help if the clouds moved out of the way. Brassicaceae

March 26, 2008

raised bed design and construction

While I wait for more sprouts and planting, I’m posting some information on my raised beds. My husband made the beds about 10 years ago from boards of 2×6 pressure treated lumber (oops! Don’t use pressure treated lumber for your gardens, although the newer types may be safe. I’ll add a link soon about the hazards of this in gardens). They measure 3.8 ft by 9 ft. I have five adjacent beds. Between each is a pathway that ranges from 15 to 17 inches wide, but you might want to…

March 25, 2008

sprouts in winter sown bottles!

I have sprouts in my plastic bottles!!! Lots of them! Its very exciting.Five of the 12 bottles have nice little sprouts today. They are: Hollyhock Zebrina, Shasta Daisy Alaska, Wild Tansy, Dukat Dill, and Onions Sweet Yellow Spanish. Only one problem is that all of the labels on the bottles have washed off. I checked my excessive photo records and with luck came up with the one above with the labels showing. So, not only do I have outdoor sprouts, I even know what they are! My complete sprouting record…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost