Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts

A successful garlic experiment

Last year I was a wee bit short of garlic.  I ended up with 80ish heads, when our goal is generally closer to 100+.  I couple of things contributed to this--obviously I didn't quite plant enough bulbs--but also I had purchased a few "fancy" types from the market to diversify my crop a bit, and NONE of them survived the winter.  Lesson learned.  Also: our pickle production has been HUGE the last few years, and I forget how much garlic you use in every batch.

There was a bit of hoarding and skimping of garlic over the winter--I had resigned myself for buying garlic for the first time in YEARS, but we actually made it thanks to a hefty load of scape pesto in the freezer.  We limped along until this year's scape harvest, and I've been nicking a few baby green garlics out of the garden here and there.



Anyway, last fall's planting had a little more pressure to get it right.  I had to walk a balance of saving enough for planting, and having enough to mostly get us through the winter.  Then I had this idea.  There was a "plant".  A sort of chive, sort of not, at the end of one of my beds.  I realized somewhere along the line it was a garlic that I had missed one year, and it just kept coming up, making tasty snippings for dinner, and then teeny tiny little scape heads in June.  So I kept it, as kind of a volunteer pet plant (other people have these right?  That weird arugula patch growing in your pepper patch you just can't stand to pull?
 


So last year, we revamped that little bed for strawberries, and I dug that sucker up.  TONS and TONS of tiny garlc bulbs.  I wish I had taken a picture.  It was like a little garlic factory.  SO, this was my secret weapon last fall.  I planted half of my bed (about 75 bulbs) with big fat mature garlic from the last season's harvest.  The second half was chock full of wee baby bulbs.  I figured, at worst, they'd be tiny but edible, or I could replant them again and build them up to a larger size in a year or two. 


And they've done fantastic.  They've been noticeably shorter than the main crop, but I've pulled a few for fresh eating over the last few weeks and they are a nice size.  Today I lifted them all out and they are awesome.  I will definitely be integrating these little troopers into my main crop.  It looks like I may have harvested them a little late so they may not store all winter, but I'll definitely hang onto a few to plant this fall.  I should note my main crop is just selected from an unknown variety--probably organic grocery store garlic--and they are dependable if not exciting.  I am happy to have these little red-skinned cuties to add to the mix.



I'm totally going to cultivate a few intentionally neglected plants in my herb bed from now on.  It's the perfect fall-back garlic to cover for a poor year.   Meanwhile my "main crop" doesn't seem quite ready.  They still have 6 green leaves and are just turning brown at the tips, so I'm leaving the rest for another week or so. 


0-2 weeks to last frost(!) - Some tips on early spring planting

As is fairly normal for this time of year, we've had a rollercoaster of weather the past two weeks.  When the temperature dropped into the forties with rain, most of my plants came back inside for an extended break, and I bunkered up as well.

 
Inside the hoop house, spring plants loved it though.  They didn't get the rain, but the cool, grey days were perfect for spinach, salad greens and peas.  This week I had to start adding support to the indoor peas, while their outdoor counterparts are all of an inch high.


But the pendulum swung back the other way this week, we're at nearly 70 degrees as I write.  I semi-opened up the hoop this week--rolled up the sides and took out a few side panels that were getting in the way of my snap peas.  For the most part, the plants inside now are tolerant to light frosts, and are less happy when the temperature climbs to 100+ degrees.  Also, with the sides up I can install my gutters and take advantage of that rain!

Last week I was talking to a woman who works with local farmers, and she was saying that the window of opportunity for spring planting was frustratingly small this year.  We'd have a couple of nice days, then lots of rain, and they couldn't get their tractors into the fields.  It made me realize that home gardeners have an advantage for sneaking in early crops.  Still, dealing with wet soil can be an issue.  I have a couple of tricks:

1.  Prep beds in the fall.  I turn my compost piles in the fall, and give all available beds a nice layer of compost and a mulch of leaves.  For beds that will have bedding plants, I don't have to do anything in the spring--just move some mulch out of the way, and plant.  This is great for broccoli/cabbage and onions, who are often ready to plant when the weather is wetter.   One note, I am observing some slug issues with the leaf-mulched beds where I did this, they apparently can also be cozy spots for critters to overwinter.



 2.  The 2-step turnover.  I know the latest trend is minimal working of soil--a lot of folks go the no-till route, and some say not even to turn compost into the soil at all, just let the worms do the work.  I've never had or used a tiller, but I do like to dig a bit in my garden.  Sometimes I have late fall plantings that don't get fed before winter--I'll have a pile of compost on the side of a bed that needs distributing.  And also, I confess, turning over soil with a shovel is a distinct pleasure for me.  I love the physicality of the process, and the sight of bits of eggshells and mysterious half-composted bits, fat worms and thousand-legged bugs.   I love how the robin follows me around, snatching treats when I turn my attention elsewhere for a minute.  So despite the slight risk of bringing weed seeds to the surface, I still do a bit of shovel work.

So I have a trick for wetter days (Not too wet! If you soil really sticks to the shovel it's best to wait, you don't want to damage the soil structure.) A day or so after a rainy spell, I do a light turnover, and let the bed sit, chunky and uneven.  After a few hours or even the next day, it will be dry enough at the surface to come back with a rake and break up the larger bits and smooth into a lovely surface for planting.

3.  The cheat.  When I want to plant tiny, fine seeds (such as lettuce or carrots), or the ground is just too wet to work, I spread a little potting soil.  In this spot, I had beds prepped for beans, but wanted to add a few rows of lettuce and arugula around the outside.  I pulled back the mulch, and spread some leftover soil mix.  In this case I recycled some empty (i.e. failed) pots from my seed starting extravaganza. 


This works great for folks who use lasagna-style gardening, and have heavily mulched beds.  It just gives the seeds a nice layer of fine soil to sprout in.  It's also not likely to have weed seeds, which gives more delicate plants a nice head start.  (Ahem, in my hoop house I spread some lovely fine sifted compost before planting carrots, and ended up with a cover crop of lambs-quarters, darnit!)

So here we go!  There are currently no days below 44 in the Madison 7-day forecast, and I'm getting pretty optimistic that we are past a danger of a hard frost.  I'm still waiting on planting my heat-loving peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes, and am holding off on cucumbers and melons.  But, I did seed some beans yesterday, and my zucchinis as well.  My fruit trees are getting ready to bloom, the grapes are breaking bud, and all the birds are telling me spring is here!

6 weeks to last frost: Gardeners, start your tomatoes!

Sorry I'm a little late on this one, but then again, so is the weather!  We've had a crazy week which included some good news, some bad news, and these little guys, which are pretty distracting.
Three new chicks to add to our flock:  our two oldest hens are five years old this spring, and while they are still laying well right now they are slowing down a bit. We lost two from their age-group last summer, so have started up a new generation to fill in as needed.

Sturdy Roma tomato: this is one of a few I started early to go in the hoop house. Confession: I also started my basil early.
So right, gardening.  Six weeks to the last frost is the timeline for starting tomatoes, basil, and some flowers such as calendula or marigolds.  As they are the big hitters in the garden, and so rewarding to grow from seed, they get more attention around here.  Tomatoes like heat for germination, though they are not quite as picky as peppers--I do put them on my warming mats if I have space.  This year my last round of peppers was lagging behind so the tomatoes had to wait, and ironically it was a non-heated variety that sprouted first (though it was brand-new seed).

I don't have a ton to add about starting sets at this point, except to mention that if you have been seeding all along, this is the stage where you have the most work cut out for you.  Learn from me:  don't have 17 flats of plants to take care of(!!).  But even with a few, you are watching the latest germinators, adjusting light heights, checking older plants for moisture levels, and maybe even hauling flats outside to get some real sun on some nice days (or if you have a cold frame or hoop, most days).  But it's also the stage where you start to see the rewards of all that labor.  Look at those sturdy plants!  You can almost imagine your future garden beds filled with all these babies you started yourself. 

Look at all those peppers!
And hopefully, 6 weeks to frost is also the time when you can actually get started in your outdoor gardening space.  I know folks up North are still getting snow (sorry about that!) but here in Madison we are finally getting a weekend with SEASONAL temperatures and some sun.  SO get out there, bond with your garden space, and start planning/imagining your lovely plants out there.  If I'm really lucky I'll find a dry spot to plant some peas!

10 weeks to last frost (give or take) - how much to plant?


Well, the onions are up, and coming along nicely.


This week on the planting schedule:  eggplant, and some peppers. The first (and slowest-growing) of the heat-loving plants. 

Depending on your variety and seed packet, eggplants and some hot peppers are sowed between 8-10 weeks.  Last year these were slow starters for me, and although I have fresh seed for several of them I went ahead and started most of them on the early side of the range.

As these are heat-loving plants, and our house is at a chilly 60-something degrees, I wrestled my heat mat away from my home-brewing husband and put it under the flats to help with germination.  As I'm cheap and only have one small mat, I stack flats, and rotate plants out as they sprout.  Our bathroom is also for some reason the warmest room in the house (plus bonus humidity!) so I've used that in the past-- there are lots of other low-tech options for boosting heat.
One question at this time of year is:  how many plants to start?  This year I'm starting lots of extras in order to have a plant sale (consider yourself warned).  But, most years I aim at just enough plants for me, plus a few spares and gifts for friends.  How do I come up with a number?  I have a running list of all the majors (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, brassicas) going on 7 years now. I just pull out last year's garden map, and tally up the final numbers, and add it to my list.  Then I try to think back (this is a good time to re-read your garden journal or notes from last season):  was I swamped with tomatoes?  Did I wish I had more peppers to freeze or dry?  Did I need a pickle intervention?  Taking into account factors such as weather or pest issues, I adjust the quantities slightly year by year.

While it can be a little torturous to start thinking about preserving before your seeds have even sprouted, I find this is a good, realistic time of year to assess what you've been eating. At the beginning of winter, you are using up fresh stores, and possibly hoarding some of your more precious preserves. But by March, I think you have a better sense of what's left on your pantry shelves, and if those high summer ideas for meal plans are holding up in reality.  Are you craving green vegetables on your plate, or are you happy with the starchy, rooty, carb-laden comfort foods of winter?  Is your tomato shelf surprisingly full, or are you already skimping on opening jars of salsa?


So, back to the numbers game:  how many seeds to start?  My rule of thumb is 50-100% more than you want.  For example, if I want 2 tomato plants of a specific variety, I start 3 or 4.  That allows for a dud germination, plus a spare plant in case of calamity (death by frost/hail, or a being stepped on by a dog).  I usually end up with a flat's worth of spare plants at the end of the planting season, but there are always friends/neighbors to share with, or a food pantry or community garden that would love to take them.  It also lets you select the best/healthiest specimens to plant.  If I have a notoriously poor germinator (for me, parsley) or older seeds, I will double-up on the seeding to make sure I have enough starts, you can always thin out your pots later.

And, just because it's freezing cold and snowy out, one last summertime photo to remind me what this is all about:
 Sigh.....

Seed Starting - Alliums

I used up my last storage onions last week.  If I can't quite grow enough to last me until the next year's harvest (or chive season!), at least I can make it to the next year's sowing!

I started growing onions from seed about 4 years ago. Previously I purchases bundles of plants from our local garden center, but decided I wanted the variety control and price savings of growing my own. Plus: they need starting 10-12 weeks before planting out, which satisfies my craving for growing, and keeps me occupied until I can start the fun crops later.  Also, per my extension office*, onion sets (the little bulbs you see at groceries and seed stores in spring) are not as good to use:
Planting onion sets is not recommended for market-quality onions. Sets are the second year’s growth of storage varieties or multiplier onions and therefore tend to be less sweet than other onions. In addition, they may bolt or go to seed early.
It took me a few tries, but I finally have a system I like for alliums.  I plant in 12-cell inserts. I like the depth of planting in full flats, but the divisions make it a lot easier at transplant time.  In the basement, I mix up some damp starter media in a flexible bucket, and fill my flats.  Then I bring them up where it's more comfortable in the kitchen for seeding.

Using three fingers as a "dibble", I poke 15 holes in each cell, and drop a seed or two in each. Allium seed does not keep well--especially hybrids--so if you are re-using last year's seeds it may pay to plant extra. You can always thin later.  This year several of my (new) fedco packs were held over from last year, and they gave me extra, noting a 75% germination rate.  So I double-seeded those quite a bit.

This is a little bit tedious, but three or four flats is a ton of onions (well--180 or so plants per flat!), and I can seed them all in less than an hour.  If you were doing this commercially, it probably wouldn't be worth it, but at this scale I find it manageable.  Onion sets can be $8-10 for 50-75 plants at our local garden center, and a seed pack (well more than a flat's worth) is less than $2!  I label each flat with some masking tape, cover with a plastic lid or a bag to hold in moisture, and put them someplace relatively warm to germinate.

 In around a week you'll start spotting seedlings, at which point move them under your lights.





Alliums don't like to dry out, so try and keep them evenly moist.  I generally water from the bottom for these.  After a few weeks you can feed with a mild organic fertilizer, or some compost tea. 

One nice thing about starting alliums is that they are fairly cold tolerant, so they are great candidates for growing out in a cold frame or hoop house, or even a sheltered spot outside if conditions are good.  Later in the spring when I'm running out of indoor light space I carry these out for the day.  It's definitely legwork but again, it's usually a time of year when I'm looking for excuses to go outside.  Just be sure to watch your forecast and your temperatures (a remote thermometer is a tool I can't live without): you don't want to cook them or freeze them. But once they've adjusted and begun to harden off they can take 40 degrees if they are sheltered.

There's some debate whether or not to trim plants to promote thicker stock. I've done it both ways.  Mostly, I think trimming is useful if plants are getting leggy and tipping over, or they won't fit under the lights!  Experiment a little and see what method you like. It definitely doesn't hurt to trim them.  Our extension office recommends trimming to 5 inches at planting time, which encourages root establishment.

The reason I like this size flat insert is that when it comes time for planting, I just carefully tip one pack out at a time, and gently tease apart the plants--their roots will be intertwined but they are surprisingly cooperative to untangling.  Individual plug cells were a total PITA to transplant (poking each cell from below with a pencil to get them out, arg!), and whole planted flats meant that I had to plant them all at once or have an awkward half-flat leftover.



The varieties I've sowed this year are:  Blue de Solaize Leeks; and Copra and Rossa di Milano onions.  I also have Redwings (picture above) on back order from Fedco.  Onions can be used at any stage of growth from scallions to full grown.  For storage purposes, they need to be cured (I use my same greenhouse table again for this, as seen above).  Some varieties store better than others, check your seed cadescriptions for details.

*By the way, I've probably mentioned our University Extension office a lot in these last posts, they are an excellent resource. I find that publications aimed at market growers are super valuable for serious home gardeners, with a little adjustment for scale.  There's an entire series of PDFs available for free on growing vegetables in Wisconsin, and much of what I've learned about Onions is from this one: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/A3785.PDF.  They include information from seed starting through to harvest and storage, and are of course appropriate for Wisconsin climate/soil types.

12 weeks to last frost

I hesitate to start a post with a title like this--it suggests I'll have a series.  It could happen!? In fact, I've already split this into two posts, so I could start with a general overview of seed starting.



In Madison, our average last spring frost occurs right around mid-May.  Frost dates are funny little statistics.  I found a good map of Wisconsin climate data here, at our extension office.  If you want to get all weather-nerdy (as I do) you can find charts with the percentage chances by date.  For instance, after May 10th, there is a 50% chance of frost, and after the 27th, there is a 97% chance we will not have below freezing weather.  Cool, right? 

If you're not in Wisconsin, you can do a quick google search for your frost dates by zip code, but check a few sources, I found a lots of variations between commercial sites.  Look for USDA data, and compare it to your own observations about your local micro-climate.  My little protected south-facing yard warms up pretty fast, so I tend to trust the slightly earlier dates.  If you've gardened for a while, look back at your notes from previous years.  Last year?  We had frost right up to May 12th, and the way things are going I think this spring will be a slow start too.

At the beginning of the year I create a basic planting schedule every two weeks from now until May 15th, with notes on the types of plants that are ready to start. First up:  alliums and slow-growing herbs like parsley and cutting celery.  Next come the brassicas, who can go outside bit earlier, along with the eggplants and peppers that need a long running start.  Finally, in mid- to late-March, I start tomatoes.   These schedules don't have to be perfectly followed to the letter, and don't worry if you run a little later than your plans, I find it's much better to have young plants in fine weather, than unhappy overgrown plants waiting out the last cold spell. Most seed starting recommendations have a range, and there is plenty of flexibility.


So, a few very basic overview details on starting your own seeds--I'll be more specific in later posts.  I use a very basic setup:  traditional flats and cell inserts (plastic), and a purchased seed starting media.  If your preference is homemade mix and soil blocks, even better.  Use what you like! 


I also wash, reuse and re-purpose miscellaneous pots for many years.  There is some concern regarding transmitting disease but I have not yet had a problem. 

My light setup is a utility shelf with regular shop lights stolen from the basement where they are used the rest of the year.  I try to have one warm and one cool bulb in each fixture, and am slowly investing in gro-lux bulbs (one for each).  Once sprouted, I have flats as close to the light as possible, and I rotate around as needed to keep similar sized seedlings together. With a simple 2-bulb fixture, I do end up rotating things a bit for even growth.  Some might find this tedious but for me, spring sets are all about puttering.

I also employ the use of my cold frame A LOT.  As soon as the afternoons are sunny and above freezing, I haul out the four most mature flats to the picnic table.  As much as I think regular fluorescent lights are fine, the real deal is of course better, and it makes more room inside for younger sets.  I get very sturdy starts with the cold frame, plus most of the time the temperature inside is a lot warmer than we keep our house. Again, you need to carry things in and out when there are cold nights, and keep an eye out for spiking temperatures or damaging wind. A little breeze, however, is good for strong stems.

Now that I have the hoop house, I use it as a giant cold frame too, but it's a lot farther from the house, which means many trips (including a flight of stairs).  It's better for hardier sets like alliums, and later in the season for hardening things off. 

Just a last note: this is my setup which has evolved over 10-15 years--it started out WAY smaller--one or two lights, a few flats, and lots of practice.  I find it fun, I know not everybody has the time or space (or inclination), and buying sets is a perfectly fine option.  But if you are yearning to have something green indoors to remind you that spring is indeed coming: don't worry about having the perfect equipment to start with, and go for it!

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