4/28/09

I returned from Brooklyn by way of my hometown to visit my family. I bestowed a watering can and flower on my niece Naomi who is 2 1/2 years old. She helped me water and apply compost and mulch to the front of my parents house.

I am taking a noontime break from the heat of the garden after a busy morning. After narrowly escaping injury starting the mower, I cut the grass and moved on to more important tasks. The peppers have grown up well in their cells in the basement and it was time to move them to 4" pots to grow up a bit more before they get moved to the bed. They, and eggplants suffer from being moved to beds that haven't warmed sufficiently. They supposedly become stunted and are slow to bear. Both the peppers and eggplants are developing their true leaves and are looking very healthy.  I started tearing up the 20'x6' bed that will house the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants but it is slow going.

 I followed Crockett's advice for planting leeks and dug a trench into which I transplanted my seedlings. As they grow up I will continue to fill in the trench around the developing vegetable, covering up the white part of the stalk.

I direct-sowed (saw?) chives, coriander, parsley, and dill in the herb bed. The basil is getting larger in the trays and will be ready to transplant when the weather is more reliable. I started fennel in flats a few weeks ago and need should have started my rosemary indoors by now, too. I need to get some garlic cloves to plant and should find some mint and thyme to add also.

Today I planted zucchini in peat pots, two per pot. I need to get some summer squash, winter squash and pumpkin seeds. I am running out of time and space to start them, but I would like to end up with 2 each of zukes and squash, and maybe one winter squash and pumpkin plant, for the experience if not for the harvest.

This afternoon the peach tree goes in the ground. I will cut the branches back to about 2" from the trunk so that it will focus its energy on the root system.

I had plans to visit the New England Wild Flower Society's "Garden in the Woods" in Framingham, MA on my way back to town yesterday, but they are closed on Mondays.  I will try to get out there so I can finally find some native flowers to improve the aesthetic of the garden.  

Instead I went to the Wilton Library's book sale and spent $3 on six books including two on native plants and wild flowers, a hefty Reader's Digest book from 1981 called Back to Basics that deals with homesteading and "how to learn and enjoy traditional american skills".  So I will let you know as I acquire expertise in everything from pickling to crafting my own mountain dulcimer.

Irresponsible

Maybe I spent too much attention on the last post because I slept an untroubled sleep while the grow light burned through the night. Half the basil and some lettuces that were living directly below were crispy in the morning. I transplanted the remaining basil in 2" peat pots and set the lettuce aside to...recover?

I sprayed the col crops with BT again this evening, and will continue to do so on a weekly basis. They are growing very slowly and I have to remember that the super seedlings of broccoli and cauliflower at Allandale Farm were grown in greenhouses, and not get discouraged.

I found it hard to be working away from home from 9-5 today. Raising vegetables requires more attention than I can give most days. Just keeping the seeded trays moist is an impossibility. At this point, I do want to use the two cold frames in the yard for more seed starting. Right now the grass is growing too tall around the seed trays. I will fill them with soil and compost- or maybe even potting soil, and rely on that much more. The light has been great, but at this point after over a month of use, there are too many different stages going on underneath.

Tomorrow, Charlotte and I will transplant the many tomato seedlings up to their next size container, 4" pots. I probably should have done that last week, as I would like to set them out in mid-May.

Spinach and red leaf lettuce rows that Vanessa and I direct seeded are poking through now. I transplanted other lettuce seedlings in between the broccoli and brussel sprouts, too. So hopefully we will have our first lettuce in a few weeks time.

Reluctantly, we leave for Brooklyn tomorrow for the weekend. There will be plenty to do next week when we return.

A Foggy Day 4/21/09

It has already been a productive start.  After the wintry months of planning and note-taking, we sprang into action in March starting seeds in the basement with a borrowed grow lamp.  We lowered it after our leggy lettuces and leeks emerged down to about two feet from the trays.  Our col seedlings were moved out to the coldframes I built to harden off for a few weeks before getting them in the bed.  The yard we have to use is about 35'x50' and the plan is to grow in about 600 square feet of it.  As of today we have a 7x7 herb bed, a 1x10 pea row, a 20x6 bed containing the col crops, various greens and onions, and a 6x8 bed with our beets, carrots and parsnips.  We have yet to create our beds for our cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash.  But they won't go out until mid-May, so we still have time. 

We tested our soil a few months ago and our lead levels are in the low-medium range, so we are not at much risk, but we are keeping our root crops further away from the house.  Our soil was somewhat deficient in Phosphorus and the ph was at 5.9 (too low for our veggies).   Once my Broadfork finally arrived, I put the prescribed amount of ground dolomitic lime, a combined fertilizer of Pro-Gro's 5-3-4 with a few pounds of bone meal to get the Phosphorus right, and a healthy layer of last year's compost.  The broadfork worked really well tilling and aerating, and for mixing the amendments without unduly disturbing the layers of soil. 

I treated the col seedlings with Bacillus Thuringiensis which is used to prevent cutworm and root maggot issues.  Unfortunately there was a few days of lag time before I could apply it and they got to a good handful of the seedlings.  While BT is "harmless" next year I will use a different pesticide to avoid developing pesticide resistant insects.

 

Anyway, the peas are up, and the arugula has poked through the soil.  I planted two varieties of blueberry bushes yesterday, mixing in soil from under the duff layer of a pine stand which contains beneficial fungi, peat moss and compost, with a thick mulching with pine needles to eventually lower the ph to the very acidic range blueberries need.  

There is too much to report on this first posting, but with more regularity, I hope to cover fewer subjects at a time with more depth and pictures.