Seed Starting Set Up & First Sprouts

This year I decided I wanted more room for starting seeds. I loved the seed starting light my husband made but there was no room for expansion with it. It also took up a large floor space that is hard to find a spot for in our new house.

Thanks to some generous Christmas gifts I was able to buy a new metal shelf and outfit it with three light fixtures. Right now I have one fixture on each shelf with a tray in the middle of the shelf. In future years I can purchase more fixtures and put two on each shelf and use the entire surface of the shelf for seeds. The top two shelves are being used for storage.
After getting the shelf and lights set up in front of the window in my craft room (obviously a girl's bedroom for the former owners) and my seeds sorted last week I was eager to start some seeds. My spreadsheet doesn't have me starting onions and leeks until the second week of February and with all the snow we have out there I don't want to be dealing with leggy seedlings. So I decided to take my oldest packets of lettuce and spinach seeds and start some in hopes of indoor salads in two months. I sowed thickly and they have sprouted surprisingly well for 5 year old seed.
So here are my first sprouts of 2011. They're an encouragement in the face of the foot of snow predicted for Wednesday this week.

2010 Garden Wrap Up: Part 1

I intended to do a wrap up post for each crop family but doubt I'm going to get to that. So I'm just going to list some observations about what went well and what needs work next year so that I don't forget. It ended up a little long so I'll put the tomatoes & solanaceae family in another post.
Greens- I did better with succession plantings this spring and had the room to do it. We enjoyed lettuce early thanks to the cold frame. Swiss Chard produced and produced all summer long. Next year I'd like to do better with doing successions in the fall with hardy crops and more lettuce again. I may have to start the seedlings inside for the fall crops out of the hot and dry August heat. Many of the fall greens I seeded had trouble germinating. I hope the cold frame staying in place over the winter will mean early spring greens this year.
Root Crops- Carrots did better than in years past. I let them be for longer and so got a larger size from them. Beets were off to a slow start but the spring plantings were enjoyed this fall. We may let go of the red beets and just do the golden as we enjoy those more. Next year I need to start fall carrots earlier.
Onions- Onions were fair, though on the small side. Next year I need to mulch them when they are very small when it is easier. I also shouldn't plant them as close to the edge of the bed. I'm looking forward my first garlic crop from the garlic I seeded this fall and I ordered onion seeds to start my own plants rather than using sets.
Cucumbers & Zucchini- The cucumber trellis worked well, and I planted a good amount of plants (20 something). I'm going to move the trellis towards the back of the garden next year so it doesn't shade shorter plants. The zucchini were not quite as prolific as I thought. We liked the green and yellow but I want to try some new varieties like a patty pan. Next year I should plant them in the center of the bed, not toward the edges where they over ran the path. So much for trying to save space.
Winter Squash and Pumpkins- These did well, though each plant didn't produce as many fruit as I thought. The Buttercup squash did the best as well as the pie pumpkins. Delicata was a low producer and seemed to grow slower than the others. Butternuts did fine. I'm going to move it with the zucchini where it won't get overrun by faster winter squash. We loved the pie pumpkins and the Jarrahdale are beautiful and have great flesh. All the winter squash are keeping well. As we need one, I might find one that has a soft spot and use it up.

Sweet potatoes- These were a bust as they were shaded by cucumbers and tomatillos. Next year I need to start the slips earlier and find a sunnier spot.

Melons- Another bust. Seedlings waited too long to go in the ground, not enough water or heat. Try again next year.
Cole Crops- My seedlings of Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli died in the cold frame this spring so I went with nursery transplants. The brussels sprouts were great! We also enjoyed the broccoli and I wish I had started fall broccoli sooner. I have plants out in the garden, but it was too late. The cabbage bolted and we only got one head. The fall planting was too late. Kale did well and produced from the early spring right through summer and I'm sure we could pick more right now from under the snow too. Next year I'll start the winter hardy varieties later so that they aren't so tall when winter comes and can get better protection from the snow.
Beans- Romanos were good but I didn't plant enough of them. Purple Dragon Tongue looked neat but weren't that exciting taste wise. The black beans did well. I didn't have a plant for supporting the pole beans and they got out of control. I didn't pick them young enough so they were tough. I need a plan for support going into next year. We had fun with these pink shelling beans above. I'll plant more of them next year.
Peas- Peas seemed to take forever. We didn't get much from either the sugar snap variety or the shell pea. Next year I need to plant more of them, plant them earlier and do more succession plantings.

More later.

Harvest Monday 11/29/10

Last week I got the last pound of tomatoes that ripened from my green tomatoes. They were a little shriveled but worked fine in sauce.
This week I harvested 4 oz leeks, 13 oz of kale( not pictured), and 1 lb 2 oz of golden beets.
We got a bit of lettuce,
and 2 pound 13 oz of brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving dinner.
Our Thanksgiving dinner also included our own mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie from one of my pie pumpkins. Yum.

Total these past 2 week: 6.06 pounds
Total this year: 459.67 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 11/8/10

We enjoyed a fall salad this week with carrots, red lettuce, raddicchio, pea greens and kohlrabi.
I also harvested chicory/italian dandelion and leek for a quiche.
Another 1 lb 9 oz of tomatoes ripened, along with a few hot peppers from the indoor pepper plants.And I picked 2 pounds of brussels sprouts to accompany a dinner of smoked pork tenderloin and our own mashed potatoes.


Total this week: 4.62 pounds
Total this year: 448.5 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 9/27/10

I harvested the rest of my row of yukon gold potatoes. It came to another 27 pounds of potatoes. That's a total of 35 pounds of yukon gold potatoes from a 10 pound bag of seed potatoes. I find that to be a good return, though I don't know how it compares to others.
My sweet potatoes (upper right corner on top of potatoes) were a sad harvest. They are smaller than my carrots. I had planted them in the row behind the cucumber trellis and in front of the tomatillo plants. I didn't realize how big the tomatillos would get and the sweet potato vines hardly got much sun. These little sweet potatoes went into a soup with carrots, leeks, and potatoes. I'll try again next year with a better spot.
This week I harvested our two apples from our apple trees. (6.5 oz) We haven't tasted them yet. The first two pie pumpkins and a mystery squash were harvested this week. They've joined the others in curing on the front porch. Spinach, Lettuce and Arugula are picking up and we're having more salads again.
The tomatoes continue to produce, another 15 pounds this week. They seem to ripen partially and then the strong wind blows some of them off. They finish ripening inside. The plants look rather ragged, but I'm going to let them hang in there until frost. We're already past our average frost date, and each day past is more chances for a better pepper and eggplant harvest.
Total this week: 54.29 pounds
Total this year: 352.19 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 7/12/10

This week the summer garden arrived. The harvests have picked up and the variety has increased. I told my husband that I haven't felt the need to go to the farmers market because we have what we need in the garden. A friend who works on a farm came for lunch. She was telling me what was in their CSA distribution this week and mentioned new potatoes. It made me curious and so I dug up one bunch of my Irish Cobbler potatoes just to see. They were so good. This was 10.5 oz of potatoes with some squash blossoms.
Later we had friends over after church for lunch. I ran out to the garden and dug up some more potatoes to make hash browns to go with our pancakes. Both times I tried to re-plant the potatoes because there were small potatoes the size of peas, as well as the well sized new potatoes. Hopefully they'll re-root and grow some more :) This was 1.6 pound more of potatoes.

Also this week I harvested almost all my chard plants so that I could freeze some. Some went into a couple of quiches, but I was able to blanch and freeze some. It only filled one quart freezer bag after I was done. I'll continue to harvest more throughout the summer. All together this week I harvested almost 3 pounds of swiss chard.
The zucchini and first winter squash started blooming this week. We had squash blossoms in a salad and on top the quiche. We also got our first green zucchini, which makes it feel like summer is here. I'm sure we'll be sick of zucchini in a month, but right now it is a welcome novelty. It weighed 13 oz.
Other harvests this week include the first couple beets,
Side shoots of broccoli, sugar snap peas, radishes, and squash blossoms,
More swiss chard, lettuce, and green onions
More lettuce, in total over one pound of lettuce this week.
Finally, I picked spearmint and peppermint to dry in the attic, along with the beautiful blooming lavender. The mints weighed 6 oz. I didn't weigh the lavender since I don't plan on eating it, it will be made in to sachets.

Total this week: 9.8 pounds
Total this year: 22.5 pounds

You can see other gardeners' harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday 6/28/10

This week was a week of firsts harvests.

The first two broccoli (9.5 oz),
The first (and only) cherries (4 oz),
The first kale (1lb 2oz),
The first shelling peas (2.5 oz) and the first broccoli rabe (6.24 oz).The broccoli rabe is the back of the colander. Standard broccoli is in the front.
And then there was still more lettuce. We were traveling to visit my mom in Maryland. Her lettuce has gone bitter so she requested I bring some. I brought her over 12 oz of thinnings. Earlier in the week I harvested lettuce too so that brings the lettuce for the week to 1 lb.

Total this week: 3.5 pounds
Total this year: 9.4 pounds

You can see other gardeners' harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

June Update: Greens & Root Vegetables

It has been a while since I updated on the various crops I'm growing. Rather than do it all in one long post, I am going to do it by crop family over the next week. First up are my greens and root vegetables. These are in Bed 1 of my garden.
So far succession planting of lettuce has been going well. I've already pulled the first oakleaf lettuce and arugula that began in the cold frame in April. Remaining in the cold frame is later transplants of Freckles Romaine lettuce and some swiss chard.

The bright pink chard is from seeds I saved, the rest is a Rainbow chard mix.Recently I spread out the plants to give them more room to take off. I want more chard because I want to start blanching and freezing it as a spinach substitute for winter. I also seeded some more in the garden.
I have a section of mesculn mix that is going crazy. I planted the seeds a little close and didn't thin drastically enough so the slugs are enjoying the moist environment.
To the left of the mesculn are my first planting of red beets, followed by carrot and italian chicory, both going to seed.

My third planting of lettuce is a red leaf that my sister sent from China. It is ready to be thinned. In front of it is cilantro and recently seeded carrots.

At the end of the bed some white icicle radishes. These alway seem to go to seed before forming a root, but it may be that I plant them in warmer water. I also have my first seeding of carrots and some golden beets.
My plan is to continue to seed lettuce, cilantro, beets and carrots every few weeks for the rest of the summer.

Harvest Monday 6/21/10

This week was another week of mostly lettuce.

We harvested 11 oz of lettuce. I took two large salads to potluck events this week.Also 3.5 oz of yellow onions came out when I mulched the rest with grass clippings. It is good to see that they are thickening up.
I also pulled 1.5 oz of icicle radish. They were going to seed and there was only one that seemed like I might want to eat it. I washed them and put them in the refrigerator. We'll see if they make it onto a salad this coming week.

Total this week: 1.06 lbs
Total this year: 5.85 lbs

Harvest Monday 6/14/10

This was a week of more and more lettuce. I harvested 11.25 oz of lettuce. I slowly pulled my oak leaf lettuce to create room in the cold frame for starting fall seedlings of broccoli and cabbages.
We finished the first plant of radishes, 2.75 oz. The green onion isn't counted in my total because I bought green onions at the store back in late April and planted them like Annie's Granny does.

I also pulled my arugula which was going to seed and harvested 4 oz of it.
I harvested 2 oz of peppermint and hug in the attic to dry. I drink peppermint tea almost every day so it makes sense to start drying my own. There is a lot of peppermint and spearmint in the front garden.
Total this Week: 1.28 pounds
Total this Year: 4.79 pounds

You can see what other gardeners harvested at Daphne's Dandelions.