The next level - Transplanting

   A week or so after sowing seeds, and the sun room has greened up quite a bit.  The brassicas (kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage) are showing the greatest vigor for life.  Spinach and onions are doing well too.  Some older seeds didn't come up at all.  Since I began sowing so early, I still have plenty of time to get better seeds and try again.  Oh the joy of seeing the first seed break through the soil and start its new life on the light side.     

These babies sprouted a little too well for their own good.  The germination rate was close to 100 percent, more than I anticipated.  The competition for light is causing the younglings to stretch.  Although they haven't sprouted their first true leaves, its probably best to get them out of the flat and into the cells.        

Fill the cells with soil... 6 6packs in this case (36 cells)

Scoop the babies out using whatever tool works aka spoon, then very carefully seperate them using your hands.  Try not to damage the tender young roots.  Prepare a hole in the cell with your finger, and carefully place the new plant into the hole.  Knock the soil off the top edges of the hole into the middle, covering the roots and a bit of the stem.  Firm the soil down a bit, securing the seedling in place.  Say a small prayer for the plant.  Repeat 36 times. 

Notice how i've burried most of the stems into the soil.  I want sturdy plants not ones that get bent or broken once planted into the ground. 

 

Since the babies don't have a very developed root system, they'll want a drink, so quickly soak the newly filled cell trey in your water bin. 

... A kale plant showing its first true leaf, and seedlings with a view....

HAPPY TRANSPLANTING!!

Never too early for onions

With cold frames, planting can be done weeks earlier than usual.  I have already begin sowing the early spring crops inside, and they will go into outside and into the ground late February.  The process is quite simple.

Line the trey with newspaper to keep all soil crumbs in.  Then fill the trey with organic potting soil.  I use McEnroe, made in New York.  There are many options here.  You can make your own mix, order some online, or go to the store and buy some.  There are many recipes for homemade mixes on the internet, most of which contain some mix of pete or cocoa, perlite, compost, and dry nutrients.  Lowes sells Miracle Grow Organic Choice.    The McEnroe brand always gives good results, and can be purchaced in VB from our local organic farmer, Farmer John.       

After filling the trey with the good stuff, use something flat to flatten the surface of the soil.  This helps the seeds germinate evenly. 

Sprinkle seeds on the flattened soil surface.  I sow 4 varieties per trey, in quarter strips.  That should give me 20-40 plants in each quarter section.  Cover the seeds with a tiny layer of potting soil, and flatten again.  Bravo, you're almost done.   The trey now needs to be watered.  Soaking up water from underneith is a great way to moisten a freshly sown flat... 

Let the trey happily soak up water from another, slightly bigger, container until the top of the soil is moist.  The water level in the bigger container should only come half way up the sides of the trey so as not to spill in over top.  I use either purified water from the water store, or water from our well.  Chlorinated water (aka tap water) will cause much damage to those precious soil microbes.  Not to fear,  chlorine only stays in water that sits in pipes or any other closed systems.  Leaving water to sit out over night will off gas most most of it.  If your city uses chloramine to purify its tap water (Virginia Beach...yes), you must first run the water through a carbon filter to change the chloramine into chlorine.  The Britta type that fits onto the nozzle of your tap will do this job fine.   

A list of all the seeds I have sown this week....

Decisso Broccoli

Bloomsdale Spinach

Purplette Onion

Collard Greens

Winter Density Lettuce

Lacinato Kale

Rainbow Chard

Spanish Yellow Onion

Bunching Onion

Sherwood Leek

Moss Curled Parsley

Tatsoi

Veronica Cauliflower

Cassius Cauliflower

Red Ace Cabbage

Purple Kohlrabi. 

A few of the brassicas (kale, broccoli, cauliflower...) were the first to pop up.  Some seeds are a few years old and might not germinate as well or even at all.  The ones that do germinate will be transplanted after they have grown their first true leaves into individual cells.  There they will have their own space to grow and fill the soil with roots!     

             

The recently mulched garden is just waiting for the years first crops to be planted under the glass and cloth protection. 

Winter thyme

To most people, winter is a time of hibernation.  The 2011 winter season, in the mid-Atlantic, has been no exception.  From early December, the air has been unrelentingly cold, dropping below 32 almost every night.  Add the windchill, and occasional cloud cover, and the thought of going outside to root around in the garden is the last thing on anyones mind.  Sitting by the fire and enjoying your favorite hot beverage seems somehow much more inviting.  This does not stop a crazy and devoted gardener like myself from engaging in garden related activities.  Reading,  planning, organizing, building, scheming, and stocking up on supplies are some of these.   All of my planning efforts this winter have been focused on this years project.... produce as much food as possible.  The picture below shows the space in which this project will be taking place.  It a quarter acre of grass, situated in a beautiful location on the banks of the Broad Bay, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  It is my canvas, and right now it is still blank.                     

.

Only a few weeks ago, the week after Christmas, a snow storm came and dumped a foot of snow on VB.  Shadow, the dog, looks like he's having fun digging his nose in the snow.  Bing, the cat, lived up to his reputation of being a pussy and didn't do outside for the entire week until the snow melted.  Kids enjoyed the most snow they'd ever seen by building igloos and sleding down hills.   The last of the winter hardy greens like kale and collards struggled to stay alive under the white blanket.   Meanwhile, I am already planning my first early spring plantings of these crops.  

This is a cold frame, one of the structures that protect young plants from the cold.  It's in the old garden, which consists of 4 raised beds that have been in production for 3 years.  It is made from a recycled sliding glass door (very heavy), and recycled 2x8 foot pieces of wood.  In the picture it is in the open position, but most of the time stays closed, trapping in warmth.  Today, I curiously poked my finger in the soil outside the frame, which was quite cold.  Then inside, the soil was comfortably warm, around 60 degrees, warm enough even to sow spring plants like carrots and radishes, or plant kale or parsley seedlings into.  The warmth will also help increase activity of the soil microbes, the key to the fertility of the soil. 

      This is another type of cold frame.  The frame is made of pvc, bent and inserted into a wooden base frame.  Horticultural frost cloth is then placed over the frame and rocks hold the cloth down.  This is effective for keeping frost off of plants, and buffering a few degrees, but is not as warm as the glass one.  Another layer of cloth can be added for extra warmth, but light penetration is sacrificed.  The benefits of this type of cold frame compared to the glass one are weight; it can be easily moved by one person, and water; which can move through the cloth but not glass.  Both are easy to construct and are relatively cheap compared to a greenhouse.  Baby seedlings, however, will need a more comfortable environment for a healthy start.  I will be moving indoor for this, to my favorite room in the house.... the sun room.  But for now stay warm and eat your winter veggies!                 



Welcome to my Garden!

The plants are not the only thing growing in my garden this year, the garden itself is.  Here is a picture of the space we have been using to produce food for the past years. 

 

It is four raised beds and has produced copious amounts of food for me and my family.  This picture was taken recently.  Here is what the garden looked like in the summer. 

A tasty harvest during the peak of the summer....

And this year, in 2011, the garden will be producing much more.  Below is a picture of the space the garden will be expanding into.  The bed space will grow by three to four times the space of the current garden. 

Soon this grass lawn will be transformed into a highly productive food forest.  Stay tuned throughout the season as the first ground is broken, beds shaped, and the garden becomes inhabited by an abundant variety of plants, insects, microorganisms, humans, and other diverse wildlife. 

Thank you for your awareness,

-OrgaNick