our homestead: surveying growth in a cold spring

Well, the sun decided to show itself today (finally!). What a glorious day it turned out to be- bright blue sky, big puffy mountains of clouds and a gorgeous pink and orange sunset (which I watched down on the riverbank with my dog). We've been having such a frigid spring this year. Last night's temperatures were 39 degrees Fahrenheit by my house and it tried to snow in a few spots, so I was very grateful for some sunshine today.

I spent my time outdoors starting the preparations needed for transplanting my tomatoes into my hoop house. Mainly, I have to finish ripping up the sod along the floor of the hoop house, and then I'll bring in compost and supplement the soil. Then I'll be able to direct transplant my starts into the earth. Luckily my hoop house will protect my starts from the cold (though the chill does slow the growing process).

While out and about in my yard I stopped to weed my potato and pea patch. Hooray! My sugar snap peas (bottom photo) are starting to shoot out of the soil. Not surprising since peas do fairly well in cooler climates. I also checked up on my garlic (which I planted in October), and all three varieties are growing quite well. Next year my garlic patch will become my vegetable patch and my garlic will be replanted in my current vegetable patch (right near the asparagus). I plan to do wider rows for my next garlic planting as well. Anyway, seeing that things are continuing to grow (albeit slowly) makes me hopeful for the growing season. I am chomping at the bit to plant some carrots and onions though!

DIY almanac: asparagus planting video

Here's a little video I made while planting my asparagus crowns. It shares a few basics of the planting procedure.

our homestead: planting asparagus crowns

I was visiting with my mom the other day when she informed me that our local nursery had $1.00 Jersey King and Sweet Purple asparagus crowns for sale. $1.00! Hot boy! That's a deal! The asparagus crowns I'd been dreaming about were retailing at around$7.00 each, thus about 30 minutes after she let me in on this great find I was at the nursery, digging through a tub of soil picking out the best 10 crowns of each variety. Such a steal...I felt like an asparagus vandal.

Asparagus is a ferny spring perennial which will last about 15 years, providing delicious crunchy spears at the very start of the growing season. The only catch- you have to let it establish itself in the first two to three years after planting it before you indulge. So, there's a bit of planning involved when you decide where you want to grow your asparagus. I chose a previously prepped, deep raised bed at the bottom of my hill that receives ample amounts of sunlight every day (asparagus loves sun!). I checked my soil about a month ago, it seemed I had a pH of about 6.5...asparagus prefers a pH range of 6.5-7.5 so before I planted my crowns I sprinkled a few handfuls of wood ashes along my bed in the hopes that it would help maintain a pH ideal for my little crowns. Asparagus crowns are really cool looking- they are essentially a clumpy bulb with several long rooty tendrils. If you hold two up under your nose they'll make an earthy mustache.

To plant the crowns I dug 20 holes, 6 inches deep and about 18 inches apart from one another. I've also heard that folks can dig a long, 6 inch trench, but I wanted to stagger my plants. I spread a few inches of homemade compost in the bottom of each hole and then gently set each crown into place, being sure to spread about all the roots as best I could. I then covered each crown with about 2 inches of soil, and as my asparagus spears emerge from the earth I'll hill soil up around them (much like you hill potatoes). I then mulched around my asparagus. Throughout the next few years I'll try to keep my crowns well-fed and weed free so that they might prosper and become a welcome friend at future springtimes.

 

DIY almanac: upcycled seed starting containers and where to find cool seeds

I nearly have a vegetable garden growing throughout the windowsills of my home: Pink Brandywine and Evergreen Tomatoes, Candy Onions, Merlot Lettuce, Agnes Pickling Cucumbers, African Marigolds, Red Sun and Russian Giant Sunflowers, Mammoth Dill, Long Island Brussel Sprout and more. Soon I'll be hardening off and transplanting my little starts outside, but in the meantime I wanted to write about some of my seed starting methods...mainly in regards to some alternative seed starting containers I've been using and where I find my seeds in the first place.

Anyway, one doesn't need to invest in peat pots or seed trays (though these are certainly handy) to successfully produce baby vegetables- most times there are perfectly functional seed starting trays in your very own household, just waiting to be repurposed. Basically anything that can be filled with a few inches of seed starting mix with good drainage will do. You can use old yogurt and Tupperware containers providing you punch a few holes in the bottom for excess water to escape."Sawed-off" milk cartons work great since their waxy coating helps to retain moisture. Of, if you stop by your local grocery or food co-op you might be able to find tomato, pepper, apple or pear flat boxes which come with a protective plastic or cardboard tray for the produce (with individual grooves for each fruit. These are great because you can easily fill these with starting mix, plant one seed per groove and then easily punch out your start from its container and transplant it, much like a fancier seeding tray. Also, in lieu of peat pots, grab yourself some simple cardboard egg cartons, fill them with your starting mix and plant those seeds (check out my cucumber starts above). When you're ready to transplant you can either push the starts out of the carton or you can simply pull the carton apart (per start) and directly plant the starts into the earth since the cartons will biodegrade quickly. If you directly plant the carton pots, it does help to make sure there's a hole or tear in the bottom of each, to make it easier for your starts' roots to acclimate to the soil.

Now the fun part! Seeds! I get so excited when my first round of seed catalogues show up, right about the time winter is winding down. My favorite seed catalogues come from Johnny's Seed Co, the Territorial Seed Company and Peaceful Valley. Their selection is always astounding, chalk full of heirlooms and organics, and I adore the plant photos and illustrations. Recently I discovered a seed company called the Kitazawa Seed Co (it's funny because they have been around since 1917) that specializes in Asian vegetable varieties. They have all sorts of cool and quirky seeds such as melons, greens, cabbages, gourds, turnips, beans, sesame, eggplant, water peppers, leeks, mibuna, mugwort and the likes. I ordered a few packs of seeds from them including Lunar White and Kyoto Red carrots, a dark-orange winter squash called Uchiki Juri and Harukei Turnips (yum!). I've also had some success searching for seeds at my local Cenex (farm co-op). They usually have a decent assortment of seed potatoes and onion sets. Often I find myself on the hunt for local seed exchanges as well, wherein folks can come and share and collect personal heirloom seeds. I'm considering organizing one myself...

our homestead: breaking some of the rules

I'm fairly ecstatic to announce that despite some severe lack in equipment I've been able to grow 40 tomato plants on my windowsill from seed. A past blog I wrote briefly described a little about what goes into successfully growing tomatoes from seed. You can read about it here:

http://growingontheswanslough.blogspot.com/2010/01/baby-tomaters.html

Usually my family will use really nice LED lights and heated seed mats to get the tomato plants off to a good start. I was pretty used to this system, so when I received two free packets of fancy Pink Brandywine and Evergreen tomatoes in the mail, I initially thought I wouldn't be able to grow them myself unless I went out and found some nice lights and the aforementioned seed heating mats. Granted, grow lights and seed mats aren't that expensive, but I was a bit on a budget this winter (I think everyone was and still is).

Anyway, in early February of this year I was dawdling around down in my basement when I realized that I had a perfectly good seed starting rack which was being used to house boxes of odds and ends. I felt my hibernating green thumb start to come back to life and I quickly began to clear off the white, cast-iron metal rack and then drug it upstairs to my livingroom (which has a southwestern facing window, so it receives a fair amount natural light, as well as there's a heater vent in the next room). Our livingroom is certainly lacking furniture (save for a cool old, banana yellow desk that my mom and I refurbished together), so the plant rack was a welcome addition. I found some leftover empty seed-starting trays in the shed outside and filled them with some organic potting soil, kitchen compost from my worm bin and a scattering of coffee grounds. I planted both varieties of tomato seeds (about a half inch deep and a half inch apart) and gave them a sprinkling of water from a mason jar with a lid I'd punched holes into with a hammer and a nail. I crossed my fingers that something...maybe one or two starts might emerge. After all, I was trying to germinate these seeds without LED lights, heat mats or good spring or summer natural light (again, early, cloudy Western Washington February).

About a week or so later, I couldn't even believe it...there were healthy green starts popping up all around the little seed tray. I even had my mom and stepdad come over and look at them to make sure they were really tomatoes and not volunteer weeds which had somehow appeared or survived in my compost. Hooray! My tomatoes were really growing! Every day I gave them some water from my mason jar and made sure to rotate them as they'd usually bend all the way over depending on wherever any scrap of outdoor light was present...once again, cloudy, Western Washington February.

Now it's mid-March and I've separated and transplanted my tomato starts into their own 4 and 6 inch containers. I have a small hoop house going up in my backyard, so I'll be able to keep my tomatoes fairly warm and they'll be able to flourish in solar energy. My plan is to move them out from my windowsills to the soil in their hoop house in early April or so. I so look forward to being able to enjoy my very own homegrown tomatoes.

trail setters: looking forward to farmers markets

Here's a little video I shot at the Edmonds Farmers Market (when I was supposed to be selling vegetables). Just thought I'd post it here, after all, market season is right around the bend...

our homestead: welcoming spring with a potato (and pea) planting

Spring! Spring! Oh my darling, you've come back to me! In celebration of the growing season, I've spent the day digging around one of my garden patches, planting out potatoes and sugar snap peas. To prepare this year's potato patch, I was sure to clear out any pesky weeds and dig up any large stones, then I put down heaps of rich compost (potatoes love some fertile soil) and "green manure", also known as alfalfa grass, grown by a local farm. I selected three organic seed potato varieties: 1) french fingerlings (a buttery, gourmet finger-shaped tuber with a golden flesh and blush, papery skin), 2) all blue potatoes (it's safe to say that this one's my favorite- blue in hue, slightly sweet, and oh boy! it makes the best mashed potatoes with peas), and 3) classic red nordland roasters (bring on the rosemary!). I dug three long trenches about 3-4 inches deep, about 2 feet apart, and dropped a potato every 12 inches down each row before covering them up with a blanket of soil.

When their first starts emerge from the earth, I'll begin drawing up the soil around their stalks as they grow. This is known as "hilling"...essentially as your potato plant grows you build a mound around it on either side, ensuring its developing tubers aren't exposed to any sunlight as sunlight causes them to turn green. Eventually the potato plants will grow bushy (they almost look like determinate tomato plants), flower, and then they will start to turn brown. A midsummer dying potato plant marks the kickoff for potato harvesting (of course you can always dig around before this point...usually when the flowers appear...and steal a potato or two). To harvest, whole plants can be pulled up, attached tubers and all, and digging around the plant's surrounding hill will reveal even more new potatoes.

So why did I plant sugar snap peas by my potatoes? Other than the fact that a fresh sugar snap tastes like vegetable candy, peas, another cool-weather crop, are kindred spirits with developing potatoes. Peas, like all legumes, are "nitrogen fixing", meaning they'll grab a hold of nitrogen in the air and enrich their surrounding soil. Nitrogen is essential for healthy green development (leaves, stalks and shoots), and potatoes are heavy Nitrogen feeders. Want to strengthen your soil for some summer corn or tomatoes? Plant some good ol' peas now!