Gardening: 2015-2016

[Anna N]

43 minutes ago, ElainaA said:

@Anna N  For microgreens nothing elaborate is needed since you only grow them for about 2 weeks. So, if you are now in possession of a more sophisticated lighting system you could find other additional ways to use it. It's easy to grow lettuce inside in a set up very like the microgreens although you would have to thin the seedlings out quite a bit. If you do not want to get into large planters (or buckets) or hydroponics you should stick with shallow rooted plants - you could grow a wonderful salad mix. 

 

Our house when we were first married was a converted three car garage. Beautifully converted by the same architect that did our current house but DARK. Anything I grew inside required lights. Fortunately, as part of his business, my husband has a metal shop so he built a three level stand with adjustable lighting for me. When we built this house one thing I insisted on was lots of light. So my microgreens are on a table near a window and do just fine. I still use the stand when I start my seeds for the outside garden as there isn't room for all the plants in the windows.

 

The posts in this thread have me yearning to get started but I know better. If i start seeds before the end of March they will get too leggy and pot bound before I can put them out. Last year I lost all my peppers and 12 tomato plants to frost on May 23 - this year I will heed my mother's warning of years ago - "NEVER plant tomatoes out before Memorial Day."

ElainaA,

 

As soon as I did the research and realized that artificial light was going to be crucial to any sort of success my mind turned to salad greens and herbs.  Being a singleton I don't need acres acres of lettuce to satisfy my requirements.  I will wait to see how well I do with the microgreens and if they are successful I will be looking for some lettuce seeds and perhaps some basil and parsley seeds.  I do appreciate all the help and encouragement.  

 

[Shelby]

I bought these at Christmas time...gave one to my mom in her stocking.  Just something for fun.  

 

 

 

Anyway, I planted them and set them in the windowsill a couple of weeks ago.  Finally I'm getting some little plants

 

 

On kind of a side note, I figure most of you in the U.S. heard about the shooting in Hesston, KS yesterday.  That town is only 8 miles from me and is the place I talk about going to all the time to get my garden stuff at the nursery.  Can't believe something like that happened around here.

 

 

[KennethT]

Wow Shelby... crazy!  Glad you're ok!

 

Back on topic, do you know if your cilantro is the slow bolting kind?  I've never had luck with cilantro - it always bolts so fast... then again, my windowsill does get warm enough that we need the a/c, even in winter!  When I plant my seeds soon, I'm going to try again with the cilantro, but I don't have my hopes up...

[Shelby]

5 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Wow Shelby... crazy!  Glad you're ok!

 

Back on topic, do you know if your cilantro is the slow bolting kind?  I've never had luck with cilantro - it always bolts so fast... then again, my windowsill does get warm enough that we need the a/c, even in winter!  When I plant my seeds soon, I'm going to try again with the cilantro, but I don't have my hopes up...

Thank you!  Us too!  My husband missed being at one of the intersections that he was shooting at by 30 mins.  

 

Yes, back on topic.  Hesston just is always my "garden" place so garden= Hesston.

 

Anyway,  I don't know if these particular seeds are slow to bolt.  The can doesn't offer much info.  Has to be slower than what happens in my garden every year lol.  I plant every year and maybe get 2 weeks of good cilantro before it gives up and seeds out.

[ElainaA]

15 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Thank you!  Us too!  My husband missed being at one of the intersections that he was shooting at by 30 mins.  

 

Yes, back on topic.  Hesston just is always my "garden" place so garden= Hesston.

 

Anyway,  I don't know if these particular seeds are slow to bolt.  The can doesn't offer much info.  Has to be slower than what happens in my garden every year lol.  I plant every year and maybe get 2 weeks of good cilantro before it gives up and seeds out.

That's scary Shelby - it seems things like that can happen anywhere these days. I'm glad your husband's timing was safe.

 

Your garden experience with cilantro sounds just like mine. And then you have volunteers coming up all over the garden the next year. I only grow it in containers outside the garden for that reason. And there is still only about a 2 weeks harvest period. I grew chamomile once to dry for tea and had the same thing happen. It was years before I stopped getting volunteers. 

[cyalexa]

I like the cilantro volunteers. Used some last night in salsa verde. Yes, my cilantro bolts but I will have volunteers until at least May. 

 

Shelby, I thought of you when I heard the news this morning.

[kayb]

@Shelby, glad you and your husband avoided injury. 

 

I "planned' all winter to prep raised beds. Haven't done it. Now they'll have to just be raised beds with topsoil and compost atop the yard that's there, after a week or so under black plastic to keep the grass from greening and the weeds from sprouting. Now just have to "borrow" a friend with a pickup truck to help me get all the stuff here from the nursery to build the beds.

 

Two 6 x 12 beds, plus my front flower bed that's about 4 x 12. Front bed will get cucumbers and squash, so they'll serve as ground cover in the bed; two raised beds will be tomatoes, herbs and possibly onions and peppers. I have another space in front of the house, across the front stoop from the flower bed, that I think probably used to have boxwood or some such. Contemplating planting blueberry bushes.

 

 

[KennethT]

Yes! As long as the weather stays mild early this week, I will be getting my rau ram plant soon! I was doing some research, and it seems that this plant is not grown from seed, but only from cuttings.  I called my friends at Well Sweep herb farm, in NJ, who have a ridiculous variety of herb plants, and they are going to ship Monday as long as it'll be warm enough for the few days after that.  If I wasn't so busy, I'd just go there to pick it up, but it's probably over an hour's drive for me to get there, and then I have the cost of the toll, which would be more than the cost of shipping!

 

Once it arrives, I'll have to do my normal routine when bringing in plants grown in soil (which could be harboring all kinds of pests...  this includes quarantine away from all other plants, get the plant nice and healthy prior to taking the cutting, and also a dose or two of azadirachtin, which is an organic insecticide which works great for mites, thrips, aphids and other pests that are common around here.  It is also safe to use on plants to be eaten - it can even be used up to the day of harvest!  Once the quarantine period is over, I'll show how I clone it by rooting a cutting....

[dcarch]

With future food supply highly questionable, (Climate changes, bees dying, and ----) I decide to greatly expand my garden. 

So I will need a tractor to help out.

 

I took a chance on eBay, ( a $26.00 chance ! ) for a $2,000 broken tractor. 

A few hours later, got it working. 

 

Asparagus plants, veggie seeds, fruits -------- I may even raise live escargots.

 

.dcarch

 

 

 

[Shelby]

@dcarch  NICE

[cyalexa]

The battle with the insects/arachnids begins....

 

Today I saw my first grasshopper. A couple days ago I applied 1000 Mesoseiulus longipes (predator mites) to the herbs in my greenhouse to prey upon the spider mites on my sage. Beneficial mites are available from quite a few more places this year, possibly as a result of the burgeoning cannabis industry. When I have shopped for them in previous years I saw no mention of cannabis. This year cannabis was mentioned on most of the websites selling beneficial insects. 

[Anna N]

Well not only did I not inherit the gardening gene I didn't even get the beginners luck gene. I read the books, watched the YouTubes, consulted the blogs  and my first crop looks and smells moldy.   I think I planted the seeds much too thickly.   Not sure what else I might have done wrong. But it's back to the drawing board.  

[ElainaA]

@Anna N I'm so sorry your micro greens failed! I didn't think it was possible to plant them too thickly. Maybe over watering? Is it possible that the warmth from your lights combined with too much moisture could cause mold to grow? I'm really guessing here......   I plant very thickly as you can see here. The somewhat more open area in the center was caused by a rampaging kitten.  You can see the hardware cloth guard that I need to keep him out in the background. These are ready to use - they will go into a salad tonight.

 

 

This shows the container I use more clearly. Both are meant as plant saucers. I punched holes in the one containing the plants.

 

 

And finally, the problem child - the reason I need the guard. As soon as I removed the guard to take the pictures, he was there.

 

 

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by ElainaA (log)

[KennethT]

Finally!  My rau ram plant, and my other herb seeds have arrived!  The plant is a little too young to clone yet, so I'll give it a bit of time under the light to get it stronger after it's trip...

I don't know if you can read the selections on the bags (especially the b/w ones) so we have:

Coriander (cilantro), Tia To (Vietnamese perilla), Sawtooth coriander, snow pea shoots, Kinh Gioi (vietnamese mint), chinese leek (chives), Yu Choy.  The colorful seeds are a couple years old that I got from John Scheepers... we'll see if they're still good.  I can already foresee a problem with the kinh gioi - since it will send runners up and down my plant trough... but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

 

I was thinking about doing a pictorial for planting seeds and cloning the rau ram in a hydroponic setup... should I do that here, or should I make a separate thread?

[Tere]

I did my seed order yesterday for our new veggie plot. I already had some freebie basic salad leaves. To that I've added a courgette and squash selection, carrot, parsnip, borlotti bean, dwarf french beans, runner beans, broad (fava) beans, peas, nasturtium (for the seeds to pickle), sunflowers (likewise and for cutting), leek, sweetcorn, sprouting broccoli, perpetual spinach, sorrel, coriander, basil, parsley, raab broccoli, and cornichons for pickling. I am sure I have ordered way too much but only one way to find out! I also ordered asparagus crowns for the asparagus bed and some rhubarb plants.

[ElainaA]

@Tere  That sounds like a great garden! And you probably already know that in spite of those dates on the seeds envelopes, most seeds are viable for 2 -3 years or longer. So just put the excess away for the next year. Store them carefully though - one spring i went to check the seeds I had stored in the garage and found that, sadly, mice had found them first.

[Tere]

Heh. We discovered two yellownecked mice having a wild orgy in our (wildly expensive) wild flower seed a few years back so yeah. They are all tucked up in a metal box file

 

We also have some weird and wonderful things from the seed exchange, thinking about it. I forsee a line of All The Things in my future.

 

Currently stalking fruit trees but that needs a great deal more thought and consideration being such a long term investment.

[Tere]

Existing fruit:

 

Unknown eating apple in the Golden Delicious vein that isn't a heavy cropper but then I'm not mad on apples anyway so fine.

All form of crab apples and semi crab apples etc

Elderberries

Rowanberries

Hawthornberries

Hazels

Wild damsons

Sloes

A big cooking / cider apple tree that is allegedly Bramley according to the national collection but looks nothing like the Bramley I ever saw. Given they lost the other apple we sent in to ID I am thinking someone made something up to save face. It cooks and presses well, anyway.

The Bramley apple my father in law gave us and will sulk if not installed (we have a huge apple tree as it is, I am going to cordon train it in the least nice place as it doesn't really matter if it crops, although it does quite happily.
Fig (Wild Turkey) in the ornamental garden that is being designed ATM.
Amelanchier in the ornamental garden, hey free food!

Quince in the ornamental garden, eater specified

 

Current fruit wish list:

 

Nashi pear - I adore these

Other pear (same pollination cycle, Canadian pear or Williams de Chretien seems to be recommended)

Chinese hawthorn now I know I need one

Maybe a cooking plum, although we get plenty from our next door neighbour

Medlar

Ume plum for umeshu. Yum!

Persimmon would be hilarious but I don't know if it's possible in our climate.

Mulberry for two generations time

Walnut for ditto

 

Not all of these will fit in the 5 cordon spaces available so I need to prune or decide what's best just as a tree (mulberry for sure, and probably medlar). We have plenty of places to put trees so that's not a problem. We also managed to germinate a sweet chestnut from the tree over the valley last year so that should go into the ground soonish I think.

 

Bushwise:

 

Blackcurrants (although my neighbour gives me some too)

Redcurrants

Whitecurrants

Gooseberries

Japanese wineberry

Raspberries

Alpine strawberries

 

Lots of research to do

 

 

 

[ElainaA]

Tere - What a plethora of riches! What you already have would be wonderful and your wish list is exciting. I have had no luck with fruit trees except for the 'gone wild' apples sprinkled across our land. When we first moved here we planted plums and sour cherries - all of which succumbed to some insect pest within a few years. I decided to concentrate on veggies and flowers with the exception of a prolific raspberry bed. 

Seed catalogs are especially seductive in winter. When it is 15 degrees F outside, windy and snowy, I may find myself transfixed by the lettuce pages in the catalog from Johnny's, muttering "I want all of these. I need them."  Michael Pollen has a great essay in the Winter section of Second Nature titled "Made wild by pompous catalogs" on this.  Personally, I think it's a perfect way to fight seasonal affective disorders. 

[Tere]

I was an exchange student as a teenager for a year on the shores of Lake Champlain, so I know your winters are pretty vicious. Anything I plant has to be hardy down to -15 celsius just in case, so I am always looking out for hardy varieties! But not a patch on northern continental US and Canada, I'm sure.

 

I'm designing a cut flower bed as well, I'm working on setting a couple of holiday lets up and cut flowers for there and the house would be fantastic. I suspect I have bought 5 years supply

[Anna N]

 I have been just too embarrassed to post.   Apparently I know less than nothing about gardening.   feeling totally discouraged I ignored my microgreens for a few days  not knowing exactly what I should do with a failed crop.  Apparently I mistook tiny root hairs  for something much more ominous!   As you see these are healthy looking plants even to this pair of inexperienced eyes!   Thank heaven I didn't just dump them. 

 

[KennethT]

Fantastic Anna!

[ElainaA]

@Anna N They look beautiful! 

[Shelby]

Anna they look GREAT!!!!  Good job!!!!

[Tere]

Spent the day in garden clear up and hauling well rotted manure to the new veg plots. 30 asparagus crowns to plant and 9 rhubarb to pot tomorrow. Busy day