Seedling Sale/First Sprouts

Yesterday I dropped off two trays of extra seedlings at a garage sale my parents were having as part of the Great Mukilteo Garage Sale. About two dozen plants, mostly tomatoes of different varieties, a few eggplants, basil and cilantro. At a dollar a piece they sold out quickly. I made twenty-four dollars! Not bad, at least enough to recoup some of the cost of seed.


While the family was busy selling the plants I went garage sale-ing with my friend Landon. I was able to find all of the things I was looking for: a whole slew of plastic pots of various sizes, a couple of new flourescent fixtures, and a box full of mason jars for canning at the end of the growing season. All told those items cost less than $10 combined!



When I visited the garden this morning I noticed that the first seeds I sowed last week have begun sprouting. Mostly the spinach, but also several beans and peas. It will be important to keep the rows moist during this critical stage of the seedlings emergence until they have established a few true leaves. A thorough watering (about 2 liters for each 13' row, from the rain barrel of course) every morning should be sufficient to keep them moist without drowning them. The broccoli transplants seem healthy, although a few cold nights this past week have kept them from putting on too much new growth. At any rate they seem to be adjusting well to their new home.

When a cold frame becomes a hot frame...

Yesterday was a lesson well learned regarding the heat-sinking capabilities of the cold frame. The high was 70 degrees, but inside the cold frame, it must have been much higher. High enough to scorch the few seedlings I had inside. See for yourself:


Pictured are a few luffa and birdhouse gourds that were left unattended. Until yesterday I had been removing the windows from the cold frame during the day (and returning it at night), so just such a thing wouldn't happen, but yesterday I went to my parents house in the morning and didn't return until the late afternoon. When I returned, the seedlings were wilted and bone-dry inside the sealed cold frame. I watered them and removed the windows; we'll see if any of them recover. If not I'll still have time to plant some more, as gourds prefer much hotter temps (though not as hot as they were subjected to) and a later, direct sowing might actually be beneficial over transplanting seedlings. At any rate, don't forget to be attentive to the cold frame! I'm off to the Oregon coast for a few days of camping with Jenn, hopefully my first sowed seeds will have been sprouted when I get back...

Sowing Seed

Some mild, partly cloudy weather today, perfect to begin sowing seeds in the garden. Though I likely should have done it earlier (as peas love cooler spring temps), I sowed two rows of peas (pole variety) at the western end of the garden. Next to them I planted a half row(6 feet) of pole beans and a half row of runner beans. At the other end of the garden I sowed a row of spinach seed as well as the broccoli seedlings that have been chilling in the cold frame.

Broccoli in its new home.

For each of the seeds, I followed the sowing directions explicitly, something I neglected to do last year which to crowding and most likely smaller yields. Between the rows of peas and beans, I left at least 2 feet. As these are pole varieties (they are indeterminate and will require some sort of trellising), I tried to plant them to the far end of the garden to hopefully prevent them from shading smaller vegetables nearby. The fact that the rows are oriented north-south should prevent shadows for the most part anyway...

Plant far more seeds than you intend to ultimately grow, as you will be able to thin once the seedlings have grown a couple of inches and a couple of pairs of true leaves. The broccoli plants are spaced 18" apart. The soil can be filled all the way up to the cotyledon leaves. With transplants and seed sowing, be sure to pat the earth down around the plant or the top of the row with your palm. This restores capillarity to the soil, which will help the area around the seedling stay moist and encourage germination. After planting all the seeds and broccoli, the rows are watered are labeled so the different varieties won't get mixed up (and so my roommates don't step on them). Also this was my first opportunity to use water collected from the rain barrel, which was pretty neat.

A (short) planting list of the garden so far:

-Peas (Snow peas and Super Sugar Snap peas, both pole varieties)
-Beans (Scarlet Runner and Rattlesnake pole)
-Spinach (Bordeaux Hybrid)
-Broccoli (Early Green)

Transplanting

Well the leek and herb souffle was fantastic. There really is nothing like eating fresh food out of the garden, even if what you're eating has just weathered a cold and damp winter! The last few days I've been laboring over the transplanting of tomatoes from the small germinating trays we've had under lights and into larger containers. Transplanting to larger containers (as opposed to directly into the garden) mostly applies to heat-loving species (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers), which will usually outgrow the container you sprouted them in, but are still too fragile to be planted outside. In the Pacific Northwest this means they should not be planted outside until May or possibly later in the case of eggplants or peppers.

You'll want to transplant after the seedling has developed at least 2 sets of 'true' leaves. These are the leaves that are produced after the first leaves, known as cotyledon leaves.

Now here's an opportunity to put 'sustainability' and 'green' ideas into use. Instead of going to the store and buying pots (which are more than likely made in China anyway), start to collect empty plastic containers that would otherwise be recycled or thrown away. Recycling is better than sending waste to the landfill, but it still requires energy (mostly fossil fuels) in order to reprocess it into a new product. Reusing bottles reduces even further the amount of wasted energy.

I use empty Gatorade bottles (32 oz size, about the equivalent of a 4" pot), Vitamin Water bottles (20 oz size), 2 liter soda bottles, and whatever else I can get my hands on (yogurt containers, other various juice bottles, etc.) Special thanks go to my roommates for their particular beverage addictions. The lids of some yogurt containers can also be used as trays to place under the salvaged containers to collect drained water.

Raw materials

First rinse the bottles out. Then cut the top of the bottle off using a sharp knife. Be careful, as this is the most dangerous step of the process. Poke the knife through, taking care the blade doesn't slip, and cut in a straight line. Or you can use scissors if you're not comfortable using a knife.


If you have one handy, use an electric drill with an 1/8" drill bit to drill a series of holes in the bottom of the container. This will allow excess water to drain, which will prevent the soil from remaining too damp and possibly causing the roots to rot. If you don't have a drill, you can carefully use the sharp tip of a knife to bore out the holes, or else try pounding holes using a nail and hammer.

Once the holes are drilled/cut the 'pot' is ready to fill with soil (I use a mix of compost and perlite, of a ratio of about half and half). Now you're ready to transplant!

The finished product

When transplanting it is of utmost importance to disturb the roots as little as possible. Try loosening the soil in the container by gently squeezing the outside. Turn the container upside down, with a finger on either side of the plant's stem, and squeeze the container to persuade the plant to slide out. Have patience with this step, it could be the difference between the plant not even realizing it's been moved and shocking it and causing it to halt growth for several days until it can recover.


Have the larger container you'll be transplanting the seedling into filled with your soil mix and make a depression in the soil where you will insert the plant. Gently place the roots into the depression, taking care to keep the root tips pointed down to the bottom of the depression. The root tips are the most delicate part of the root system, as they are the actively growing portion that is readily seeking out space and nutrients. Pat down the soil around the stem, then water the plant with luke-warm water. Place the plant back under lights or in a sunny windowsill.

The windowsill in my room. This window works well because it is a southern exposure (gets most light during the day) and is on the second floor (is not shadowed by the condos next door). If you're growing more than one variety of tomato, as we are, be sure to label the containers to help keep track of what's what.

Final Composting/First Meal

After a gloomy and quite cool spring morning the sun decided to show and warm the ground a little. I broadcast the rest of the compost and pulled a row of leeks that had (unintentionally) overwintered. Here's the complete composted grow space:

With last year's garden I made the mistake of planting my seedlings much too close, largely forsaking the recommended plant and row spacing for just about everything. Not this year. These leeks struggled under a perpetual zucchini shadow. But once I pulled the zucchini at the end of the season, the leeks kept growing. They even survived two weeks under several inches of snow. I think I'll make my first meal of the year from the garden tonight: leek and herb souffle.

Rain + Rain Barrel = Success

It rained all day long yesterday, soaking the newly composted half of the garden and overflowing the rain barrel. I may have to make an overflow valve at some point to divert water once the barrel is full so that the overflow doesn't degrade the soil directly beneath the barrel. I bought another 8 bags of compost to finish off the remainder of the garden, but that will have to wait for a sunny day, or at least a dry one.

Kept busy this afternoon transplanting some heirloom and cherry tomatoes into bigger pots. Looks like we'll be needing more windowsills and grow lights to accommodate all the plants we've sprouted. Also I moved the tray of oak leaf lettuce that Nathan sowed several weeks ago into the cold frame to begin adjusting to the cooler outside temps. As soon as the garden is fully composted I will be planting the broccoli seedlings, the lettuce, as well as direct sowing beans, peas and spinach. I re-planted the artichokes that I grew last year (but dug up before we roto-tilled) to the northwest corner of the garden. Here's hoping tomorrow's good for laying down some compost.

Adding Compost

This week has seen some fairly mild spring weather. The clouds parted long enough yesterday for Aaron and I to get our hands in the soil a bit. Using a method he learned while working at a golf course in our home town, Aaron spread out the compost bags along the surface of the newly graded growing space. He then stabbed the bags with a shovel to open them up, afterward dumping the compost into a pile which is then easily spread with a rake. Turns out we need at least twice as much compost to cover the space, which is about 450 square feet in all.


Aaron stabs the bags.

Today I plan on buying some more bags of compost and as soon as the rain gives I'll finish broadcasting it on the remaining square footage. For new growing spaces, it is recommended that you add approximately 1/2 inch of compost to the top 2-3 inches of soil.

Cold framin'

Summer's still months away but it felt like it had already arrived today. Temps in the 70's and gorgeous, gorgeous sunshine. I took the opportunity to build a cold frame with some salvaged windows my dad gave me and 2x material I scrounged from the scrap pile of a construction site. There are numerous plans for building cold frames out there, but the basic construction consists of a box shape frame built with 2x boards with the windows lain on top. Here's what I was working with:

The windows are about 30"x30" and are single-pane. Double-pane would work fine as well. For this cold frame, the windows will sit side by side, so the materials required are 1 piece of 2"x12" at 60", 2 pieces of 2"x12" at 30", and a piece of 2"x8" at 60". Since I'm poor and unemployed, I screwed together 2 pieces of 2"x6" at 60" to substitute for a 2"x12" at the same length. The 2 pieces at 30" are cut so that the board tapers from a width of 11 1/4" (actual width of 2"x12") down to 9 1/8" (the actual width of the 2"x8"). This will allow rain to flow off the panes. The boards are screwed together with some three-inch screws. Four small blocks are screwed onto the inside of the frame 1 3/8" inches (the width of the panes) down from the top. The windows will sit on the blocks and be flush with the top of the frame. Here's the finished product:

A block of wood screwed to the outside of one of the windows will allow you to easily lift it off to access the inside. In my research on seedlings, I read that before planting them in the garden it is beneficial to allow them to sit outside for a few nights to adjust to cooler nighttime temps. The cold frame (if properly insulated) will keep the plants up to 5 degrees warmer than outside the frame. Later on in the season I may directly plant lettuce or other over-wintering varieties within the frame. For now it will serve to acclimatize seedlings before I plant them in their permanent dirt home.

Sunny days soothe the soul

Well the sun finally decided to deliver some beautiful spring weather today so I took the opportunity to move the rest of the compost and grade the new grow space. I have yet to turn the soil in last year's garden, but tomorrow is supposed to be a repeat of today if not better.

David installed the rain barrel today. The barrel sits on two cinder blocks dug level into the dirt. I read online that a full barrel can weigh up to 400 pounds (though I'm sure we'll be using the water often enough for it to hardly stay full), so making sure it rests on a solid base is an important consideration.


The downspout is cut with a hacksaw (though if you have them I'd recommend using tin snips) so that it feeds into the screened pot.



Top: The old compost pile (overflowing)
Bottom: Where the new heap will go


The new compost heap. To make the decomposition go faster, it helps to cover the heap with black plastic or an old tarp you have lying around. This will allow it to achieve a higher temperature faster. Just make sure you leave a little space at the bottom to allow some airflow. If you're able you'll want to turn the heap once a week to also speed along the process.

Bugs-eye view of the newly-graded grow space.

(Actual) spring weather

On Thursday I rigged up the first rain barrel with some help from David. I loosely followed some instructions I found on instructables.com. Here's the finished product:



Besides the barrel, the hardware required is as follows: a 9" screened pot (to keep sediment and mosquitoes out of the reservoir), 4 screws to hold the pot in place, a 3/4" bulkhead fitting, a 3/4" faucet that screws into the bulkhead fitting, and some Teflon tape. Assuming you can get the barrel for free, all that should run you about $25 or less. All that's left to do is cut the downspout and place the barrel underneath it to start collecting free water. (I probably should check with the landlord first to make sure it's alright)

The sun in actually shining today and it's starting to warm up, so I plan on moving the compost heap and grading the dug-up growing space to begin prepping it for the addition of compost and lime that will ideally increase the nutritional content of the soil.

Rainy days

Since Sunday's pleasant sunshine, we've had rain, snow and more rain. Spring rains are normal for our climate, but they begin to inundate the spirit when they carry on ceaselessly. The past few days I've spent reading and working with the seedlings. All are doing quite well, especially the various tomatoes.

After the fact (as it usually goes) I've learned that the best time to prepare an outside garden space is directly after the growing season (early fall) or else in late spring AFTER the rains subside. As a result we're probably going to have to deal with some compacted soil from the constant precipitation. Oxygen within the soil is immensely important to good plant/root growth, so it will be important for us to turn the ground again before we continue. Today I picked up a few pieces of hardware for turning our food grade barrels into rain barrels and will make the first attempt at building one. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the seedlings.

Tomatoes under the flourescents.


Cilantro (at left) and Cherry tomatoes (right)