Saturday, May 5, 2012
God said "let there be Maters!"
. . . and I am forever grateful
Behold! 12 tomato plants of three varieties (Juliet, Estiva, Parks CR improved) planted April 28 in a lovely 20' x 4' raised bed with recently tilled in compost and lime, staked in 40" tall wire cages holding 75% translucent cloth to prevent sun scald, with drip irrigation and "green plastic" to suppress weeds and warm the soil.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Spring has Sprung
April 15 is the average last frost date here, but our most recent hard frost was early March I think. We had a frost-on-the-cars-but-nowhere-else morning on April 10, but I didn't find any frost thing on any blooms. The mild Winter seems to have put everything ahead of schedule. The crossvine is already in full bloom now -- a good week to ten days early. Now all it needs are hummingbirds to adorn it.
The greenhouse is full of seedlings ready to go. The tomato/pepper beds are prepped and I'll probably get plants in them the last week of April. I've got "green mulch plastic" for warm season plants this year. It's supposed to suppress weeds as well as black plastic, but warm the ground more than black (though not as much as clear). We'll see how that goes.
The oddest thing so far has been the germination of my peppers. I planted Marconi seeds (2012) and Yum Yum Gold seeds (2009). I expected lower germination rates from the older Yum Yum Gold, but I didn't expect the huge range of germination times. Eight of the Marconi came up in about two weeks. The first YumYum did not appear until three weeks after seeding. Another two came up 24 days after seeding, and another four came up five weeks after seeding. I assume they are done germinating now, but who knows.
Meanwhile, my Golden Star Hybrid seeds (2012) have done nothing in three weeks. Doh!
The greenhouse is full of seedlings ready to go. The tomato/pepper beds are prepped and I'll probably get plants in them the last week of April. I've got "green mulch plastic" for warm season plants this year. It's supposed to suppress weeds as well as black plastic, but warm the ground more than black (though not as much as clear). We'll see how that goes.
The oddest thing so far has been the germination of my peppers. I planted Marconi seeds (2012) and Yum Yum Gold seeds (2009). I expected lower germination rates from the older Yum Yum Gold, but I didn't expect the huge range of germination times. Eight of the Marconi came up in about two weeks. The first YumYum did not appear until three weeks after seeding. Another two came up 24 days after seeding, and another four came up five weeks after seeding. I assume they are done germinating now, but who knows.
Meanwhile, my Golden Star Hybrid seeds (2012) have done nothing in three weeks. Doh!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Midwinter update
Well, not much of a Winter frankly. We had a handful of days in the lower 20's in mid-December, but aside for that is has been remarkably mild.
The carrots, lettuce and spinach have been great success. The beats and brocolli have not done well, but think that is because I planted both too late (mid Sept) and did not thin the beets enough (see previous post on thinning).
Lessons: (1) Plant Fall crops by mid Aug at the latest (2) Space them wide enough to avoid thinning.
The carrots, lettuce and spinach have been great success. The beats and brocolli have not done well, but think that is because I planted both too late (mid Sept) and did not thin the beets enough (see previous post on thinning).
Lessons: (1) Plant Fall crops by mid Aug at the latest (2) Space them wide enough to avoid thinning.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Epiphany: Thinning is an attempt to correct a planting error
Seed packets often give instructions to sow heavily -- say, 1 per inch-- then thin the plants to the proper distance for the plants to mature -- say, one every 4 inches. The goal is to compensate for failed seed germination and still attain a full planting area at the optimal spacing that matures at the same time. I dutifully followed the instructions and sowed heavily back in early Sept. The results are the picture below, taken on Oct 31 after our first frost of the season.
Lots of plants, which smothered most of the weeds, but individual plants are too close together for optimal development. So let the thinning begin . . .
But why? Why not sow each seed at the proper distance for mature plants and just fill in spots with ungerminated seeds? Let's say there's only a 50% germination rate. You'll know which seeds don't germinate within 2-3 weeks, so just re-sow seeds that don't germinate and wait another 2-3 weeks. Rinse and repeat until plants are growing every 4 inches or whatever the proper distance is. The crop won't mature at the same time, but for home gardeners that's a feature, not a bug.
Goodbye thinning, hello re-sowing!
Lots of plants, which smothered most of the weeds, but individual plants are too close together for optimal development. So let the thinning begin . . .
But why? Why not sow each seed at the proper distance for mature plants and just fill in spots with ungerminated seeds? Let's say there's only a 50% germination rate. You'll know which seeds don't germinate within 2-3 weeks, so just re-sow seeds that don't germinate and wait another 2-3 weeks. Rinse and repeat until plants are growing every 4 inches or whatever the proper distance is. The crop won't mature at the same time, but for home gardeners that's a feature, not a bug.
Goodbye thinning, hello re-sowing!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Landscape status - Oct 2, 2011
Lantana is the only thing in full bloom from this angle. Sporadic blooms on crossvine as well.
Different view, but still the same Lantana and crossvine blooms.
Side bed looks pretty barren.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Garden 2.5 -- planning begins
After 2 years of doing Very Little in the garden as we tried to sell our house, it's time to start digging again. Unfortunately I tore my ACL a few weeks back and the surgery and rehab will put a serious damper on my shovelling for several months.
So for the time being most of my gardening will consist of planning my upgrade from the current 2.0 garden to the new and improved 2.5. The first upgrade will be to my standard garden bed. Square Foot Gardening is a bit gimmicky, but the method does incorporate a few very important insights for home gardeners: (1) Long rows make sense for mechanised cultivation and harvest, but not for home gardening. (2) Planting a small amount of many different crops is more appropriate for fresh eating.
Here's the current prototype-in-progress:
It's 12' x 4' and made out of whatever knock-off of Trek decking boards my local DYI store had when I got it. I've arbitrarily divided the bed into 2' x 3' sections and planted spinach, onions, beets, broccoli and carrots.
Since this is a Fall/Winter garden in central NC (zone 7A) I have to protect against frost and freezing. I have bent an 8.5' piece of 1/2" PVC across every 3 feet and secured them with pipe straps on the top and bottom of the boards thusly
Near the end of October I'll cover it with 6 mil plastic to minimise frost damage. In my growing zone, keeping the frost/freeze damage to a minimum is no problem. The real problem is building a cold frame that can protect the plants from 25 degrees and night, then keep them from overheating when it's 55 and sunny that afternoon. Without some way to vent off the heat, cool season plants burn up pretty quickly. My solution is to create ends out of plywood and automatic foundation vents. But that's another post.
So for the time being most of my gardening will consist of planning my upgrade from the current 2.0 garden to the new and improved 2.5. The first upgrade will be to my standard garden bed. Square Foot Gardening is a bit gimmicky, but the method does incorporate a few very important insights for home gardeners: (1) Long rows make sense for mechanised cultivation and harvest, but not for home gardening. (2) Planting a small amount of many different crops is more appropriate for fresh eating.
Here's the current prototype-in-progress:
It's 12' x 4' and made out of whatever knock-off of Trek decking boards my local DYI store had when I got it. I've arbitrarily divided the bed into 2' x 3' sections and planted spinach, onions, beets, broccoli and carrots.
Since this is a Fall/Winter garden in central NC (zone 7A) I have to protect against frost and freezing. I have bent an 8.5' piece of 1/2" PVC across every 3 feet and secured them with pipe straps on the top and bottom of the boards thusly
Near the end of October I'll cover it with 6 mil plastic to minimise frost damage. In my growing zone, keeping the frost/freeze damage to a minimum is no problem. The real problem is building a cold frame that can protect the plants from 25 degrees and night, then keep them from overheating when it's 55 and sunny that afternoon. Without some way to vent off the heat, cool season plants burn up pretty quickly. My solution is to create ends out of plywood and automatic foundation vents. But that's another post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)