Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category
Lettuce seed germination requirements
Posted by forsythkid on March 15, 2010
Posted in Gardening, Spring gardening, Uncategorized | Tagged: Danomanno, Forsythkid, Lettuce germination, Romaine lettuce | Leave a Comment »
My Chicken Wire Spud Enclosure Thing
Posted by forsythkid on March 11, 2010
Posted in Gardening, Raised beds, Spring gardening, Vegetables | Tagged: Danomanno, Forsythkid, potatoes, Raised beds, Southwest Missouri | Leave a Comment »
Tuber Planting Heaven is Nigh!
Posted by forsythkid on March 5, 2010
As spring gets ever closer (it’s March 5th as I write this), it’s time to begin thinking about those first vegetables of the gardening season. Potatoes are among the best vegetables to grow and they deserve your consideration. As a died-in the-wool gardener and shopper, I’m hoping to get a few seed potatoes from the local market this weekend. The Home Depot where I live in Branson Missouri seems a good bet.
I have my trusty soil thermometer ready to go. As soon as soil temperatures reach about 50°F, seed potatoes can be planted. Currently, the temperature where I plan to plant is at 49F so it’s close. Some gardeners use cold frames or high tunnels. Not me! I’m going for the ‘close to the house plan’ this year. I just need to be careful to protect the young plants from freezing temperatures which can still happen at any time. (Note: If you are planting in the open field, you should consider waiting 2-4 weeks before the last frost in your area).
Once I get my seed potatoes, I plan to pre-sprout them for a couple of weeks before planting. This will give them a boost for earlier and maybe larger production ratios. Pre-sprouting is accomplished by placing the potatoes in a warm room (>50°F) until sprouts are observed on the tubers. You also will need to consider using indirect, medium light to form tougher sprouts. These will have a higher chance of survival. That’s the theory anyway.
Note that you can plant either seed pieces or the whole potato. If the seed stock is small (size of an egg or less), whole ones can be used. Larger seed potatoes can be cut in slices having 2 or more eyes or buds per piece. (Since the potato is a root crop, the soil needs to be loose and friable for good growth). The optimum pH is around 5.5 to 7.0.
Speaking for myself, I prefer to plant potatoes on a raised bed that keeps the soil both warm and well-drained. Just make a 6” deep trench and plant the seed pieces or whole tubers about 12” apart. Cover the seed with 2-4” of loose soil. When the potatoes sprout or when they get a few inches above the soil, then rake some additional soil into the trench, making a small hill. Compost can be added and mixed with the soil prior to planting, or some may apply about an inch of compost after the potatoes have emerged from the soil. Take your pick. The nice thing is that this hill method of potato culture provides more than enough soil to form well-shaped tubers while preventing them from being exposed to sunlight that can make them green and inedible. Yuk!
As always, I will do updates through the growing season.
Posted in Gardening, Spring gardening | Tagged: Danomanno, Forsythkid, Gardens, Seed potatoes | 3 Comments »
The Actual Cost of Vegetables at the Store
Posted by forsythkid on March 1, 2010
I though it might be interesting to take a look at the actual cost of certain vegetables I pay for at the grocery store. I was amazed to find that no one seems to be tracking this sort of stuff. At least I couldn’t find very much on the internet.
So, I’ve elected to try and track what I’m paying at a local chain store for select items. The list will include the following; Broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peppers, green beans and Bell peppers. I think this list is representative of some of the stuff I like to grow in the garden each year.
My purpose in doing this is to provide a record of produce costs and to see where I want to concentrate my growing efforts. I’d like to grow veggies that cost a lot and perhaps save a few bucks in the process. I’ll try and append monthly updates to this blog over the course of a few months to get a feel for the average cost of each item in the list.
All costs will be expressed both in the unit in which they were purchased (a bag of potatoes) and in a cost per pound. So, a head of lettuce that might go for $1.39 per head will be also expressed in its true weight. This will allow an ‘Apples to Apples’ comparison as it were. Finally, wherever possible, I plan to buy the produce that is packaged in the cheapest manner. This means buying a 5 pound bag of potatoes rather than each one individually. The only cravat is that I will keep the proportions consistent with what an average family would purchase. In other words, I’ll confine myself to buying a head of lettuce as opposed to a crate of lettuce just to try and save some money. (Anyways that much lettuce would just rot away before I could eat it all).
So, for the beginning of the month of March, 2010, this is what I paid for vegetables at a chain store in southwest Missouri. If, anyone in another part of the country wants to post their costs in the comment section please feel free.
Posted in Carrots, Danomanno, Gardening, Green pepper, Lettuce, Vegetables | Tagged: Carrots, cost of vegetables, cucumbers, Danomanno, Forsythkid, Lettuce, Onions, peppers, potatoes | Leave a Comment »
Garlic Update – Not a Pretty Picture!
Posted by forsythkid on February 26, 2010
‘Stinking rose
the heady scent of you
tangy spicy
most underrated
year-round orb
bulbous root incandescent moon’
If you read my blog on ‘Growing Garlic in a Pot’ posted on the 9th of February you would know not to expect a very pretty looking plant. (I think the picture pretty much says it all). This looks more like an onion plant than anything else! Oh wait! Why yes, garlic is a member of that family. Stupid me. However upon a taste test, I can tell you that the leaves taste like…. garlic. What a surprise.
Now that spring is only a few weeks away (March 21st). I’m hoping to get the plant moved out to the garden where it can do its growing thing. Perhaps by August I will have some fresh cloves to harvest. Perhaps not. Anyway this was an experiment from the start and if nothing else, I can use the tops to flavor some recipes.
Posted in Gardening, Onions, Vegetables | Tagged: Forsythkid, Danomanno, garlic cloves, Garlic experiment, Growing Garlic, Garlic | Leave a Comment »
Growing garlic in a pot!
Posted by forsythkid on February 9, 2010
After doing some research on the internet, I came to the conclusion that planting garlic is not a very success prone venture unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Which I don’t. But, that’s never stopped me before and it won’t this time.
Now according to people who know about garlic, in Missouri Zone 6 you are supposed to plant garlic in mid October. Outside that is as in the garden. I elected to plant mine on February the 6th inside in a plastic 12” pot.
Next, according to those who know, you cut off the growing tips on about Memorial Day (late May) and then harvest them in July. By doing the cutting, the plant will supposedly put all its energy into making bulbs. OK? That sounds reasonable to me. I know for sure that if someone came around with scissors and cut my growing point off, I would immediately (after the pain subsided) focus on developing larger cojones. Right you are Fred!
So, with all the pomp and circumstance I could muster on short notice, I took two cloves that were growing all by themselves in the cupboard and plunked them down into a pot filled with fertilized potting mix (another no-no? Who knows)? These were then relegated to a spot that is sort of sunny in a window where they will suffer the occasional watering whenever I get to it care regime. A regime that, I will admit, is notorious for killing most everything that came before.
Stay tuned to this blog for updates. I do hope to get something for my five minutes of effort. This is America isn’t it?
Stay tuned for updates!
Posted in Gardening, Herbs | Tagged: Forsythkid, Danomanno, Southwest Missouri, garlic cloves, pot growing | 1 Comment »
Now’s the time to plan your spring garden!
Posted by forsythkid on February 8, 2010
Plan Your Spring Raised Bed Garden Now!
Sure, winter is in full spring. As I write this it’s snowing outside and the temperatures are expected to drop into the teens over the next few days. So why even talk about gardening?
Well, I’m not actually talking about planting a garden. I’m referring to planning a garden! Now’s the time to begin thinking about your own objectives for the coming 2010 season. Let’s face it there’s not much else going on so what better time than now? Come March and you’ll be way too busy outside. So what are the things you can do right now?
One of the most important items on the garden checklist should be a Master Garden Plan. I generally keep mine on the computer, but in years past I would just buy a cheap calendar and make my notes on it. Just about now in December, you’ll begin to see the seed catalogs for the 2010 growing season and there’s a reason why the send them out now. That’s because a lot of experienced gardeners know that in order to have success in July, you must do a lot of thinking in February and March!
I like to break my plans into four categories; 1) Soil improvement schemes and raised bed expansion, 2) ordering the plants I want to grow 3) figuring when they should be started and 4) getting my seed starting area in the basement ready for operation.
Soil Improvement
Most soil improvement should actually be done at the end of the prior season while the soil was still workable. Last August, I made sure to take the compost pile I had created during the course of the summer and applied it to my two main raised beds. These measure about four feet by eight feet each and easily integrate any compost I am able to generate. (My third and smaller raised bed was built just last year and was constructed with store bought blended soil that still has time release nutrients in it. So, that one I’m not really worried about). I also made sure to test the pH of the soil and found I was OK there. You want to see a reading of about 6.7 to 6.9 or slightly acidic. Otherwise I would have added lime of sulfur depending on how much to soil was either too much acidic or alkaline. Another thing to make sure of is to keep the soil in each bed damp. We’ve had plenty of rain so far so there are no problems on that score. But, if the rain or snow doesn’t fall for any reason, make sure to water down the beds just enough to keep them on the damp side. Even though there are no plants growing at this time of years, you still have microbes in the soil that need some moisture to survive. A soil with lots of microbes is a soil that will produce a lot of crops.
I currently have about 64 square feet devoted to vegetables and have found this is plenty for two people. I practice the Square Foot method of gardening because I don’t like to have to work very hard. So on a good year, 64 square feet produces about 60 to 70 pounds of produce with not a lot of work. If you have a larger family or if you simply want to produce more veggies just go ahead and expand the number of raised beds you have. I like to keep mine at four by eight feet as that size is easy to erect and maintain. One last note concerning the care of the soil in a raised bed. Never work it when it’s damp and never, ever walk on it. Doing so will destroy its ability to grow anything other than weeds!
Planning and Ordering Seeds
I think that planning for what to grow is one of the best things you can do during the cold winter months. It’s a lot of fun to sit in the easy chair and dream about future harvests as you thumb through the seed catalogs. It’s also a great temptation to order everything in sight! But, please be careful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bit off way more than I could chew in the seed ordering department. Some years, I’ve had packages of seed that never even got opened! Stick with just a couple of varieties of any one plant. If you do have extra seed, check with the neighbors who also have gardens to see if they would like to trade some. This is one of the best ways to obtain seed that can cost an arm and a leg if you order them from commercial growers like Park Seed or Burpee. My personal plan includes anything that is expensive to buy at the store. Like romaine lettuce, bell peppers and tomatoes. I also like to grow green beans because they are prolific and actually improve the nitrogen content of the soil. Another good bet are fast growing seeds that can be grown close to other plants that take a little longer to mature. I will often use the radish as ‘markers’ also by planting them among carrot seeds. When the radish begin to show I know also where the other seeds were sown. Then the radishes are up and harvested long before they interfere with the carrots. Also, techniques like square foot, succession and inter-planting can dramatically improve your yield per square foot. With some practice, good planning and a little luck, you can get one to two pounds of produce per square foot in the course of a season!
Seed Planting Schedule
I think one of the most demanding aspects to a successful garden plan is knowing when and how much to plant. If you are starting everything from seed it can be quite a challenge indeed. You also have to able to ascertain just how much you can start at any given time. In my basement, I have a large table over which are grow lights. The total setup will accommodate about 100 seedlings and that’s all! Since some seedlings need up to a month or more on the grow table before they can go out, I have to really be able to plan well.
Seed Starting
Whenever possible I try and start all my plants from seeds. The reason for this is very simple. I’m a rather cheap bastard. I know that if I go to a nursery and get starter plants I will be really paying a high premium for my vegetables. If, on the other hand I grow seeds from seed, they are vastly cheaper. Also, I make it a point to trade unwanted seed for seed I can use to further reduce costs. The one area I do not scrimp on is the potting mix I use to get the seeds germinated and growing in. I always use fresh bags of sterile potting mix that has a little bit of fertilizer already in it. By doing that and by using larger than ordinary cells to start my seeds in, I can get them going early on (as early as February for lettuce) and then hold them until the weather stabilizes enough to plant them outside. You can also get a jump start by building and using a cold frame. Because I spent an afternoon a couple of years ago building two simple frames, I’m enjoying fresh romaine lettuce even now in the middle of winter. I’ve even made a number of You Tube videos to show how this is done along with updates!
So, enough with the excuses! Get going and start your dream garden today!
Posted in Cold Frame, Danomanno, Editorial, Gardening, Health, Raised beds, Seed Starting, Spring gardening, Square foot gardening, Vegetables, Video | Tagged: Danomanno, Forsythkid, Gardening, spring garden, Vegetable production | Leave a Comment »
Fresh Romaine in December from My Cold Frame
Posted by forsythkid on December 20, 2009
While it might be cold outside, my mini cold frames are doing great. There have recently been a few nights when the temperatures outside have plunged into the teens! But witness (picture at right) how healthy the romaine lettuce is that was harvested today. The wonderful thing about having a cold frame is the way in which lettuce that was started from seed in early September is now grown but in a kind of suspended animation. Each head is growing very slowly and, even after sitting in the frame for a couple of months, is still as fresh as any I could get from the garden in the spring. I’ll tell you right now that the little bit of work I did back then to get these seeds to grow more than pays for itself as winter approaches. Just having a bit of fresh produce you have grown yourself helps to keep me going until spring gets here!
Posted in Gardening, Lettuce, Vegetables | Tagged: Cold frames, Romaine lettuce, Winter lettuce | 2 Comments »
Pink Flowering Dogwood Seed Propagation?
Posted by forsythkid on October 7, 2009
Posted in Gardening | Tagged: Dogwood seed propagation, Dogwood trees | Leave a Comment »
August Raised Bed Recap
Posted by forsythkid on September 2, 2009
Posted in Gardening, Raised beds, Vegetables | Tagged: Raised beds | Leave a Comment »
