Starting more seeds

Last night we started more lettuce, parsley, kale and chard seeds. We also planted the spinach seeds that have been hanging out in a damp paper towel in the refrigerator for the past few days. It is too early to tell whether the spinach seeds are going sprout fully, but it looks like they are beginning to put out tendrils. We ordered a soil blocker from Johnny's and I am looking forward to doing away with collecting plastic containers as planters. A soil blocker allows one to create semi-permanent blocks of soil which can be seeded and planted directly into the garden without the use of containers. The snow from our Winter storm last week is almost gone, but several more days of rain and snow are forecast.

Spinach germination

A friend in Dansville mentioned that she has been having trouble getting spinach to germinate. On reflection, I realized that I have been disappointed with the germination rate of spinach as well the past couple of years. This is one of the reasons I decided to try starting it indoors this year.

So, it got me thinking that there might be a trick to getting spinach seeds to germinate, I pulled out my copy of "Seed Starter's Handbook" by Nancy Bubel. She suggests spreading spinach seeds between damp paper towels, placing them in a plastic bag and leaving in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. Who would think that seeds would germinate in the cold of a refrigerator? Well, if it works for Nancy, it should work for me. I will let you know how it turns out.

Seedling progress

Three of the seed flats that we started on Monday (3/14) sprouted on Friday (3/18): Ruby Chard, Oakleaf/Saladbowl Lettuce and Starbor Kale. The Bloomsdale Spinach sprouted today. This leaves Melody Spinach, Moss-Curled Parsley, Tendersweet Cabbage, and Green Forest Romaine yet to sprout. This weekend, we will start more cold-tolerant plants and the following weekend (April 2) the tomatoes, basil and peppers.

Taking stock

This morning I walked out to take stock of the garden. I have decided to build four more frames this Spring and adjust all of the frames to take better advantage of the sun in the backyard. I am planning to begin using 2x8 lumber for the sides of the frame to provide another 2" of soil depth. I also mentally marked out where the asparagus and raspberries will be planted.

There seemed to be an explosion of bird song this morning.

Spring has arrived!

Last night, in spite of the 20 degree F temp outside, I planted several cold-tolerant vegetables in vermiculite: Green Forest Romaine, Oakleaf Lettuce, Moss Curled Parsley, Starbor Kale, Ruby Chard, Early Green Tendersweet Cabbage, Melody Spinach, and Bloomsdale Spinach. This will be the first of what is expected to be a continuous fortnightly planting of greens and root crops up through early July.

I have been researching growing strawberries in square foot gardens. The best advice appears to be to plant 4 strawberry plants per square for a total of 64 plants per 4' x 4' frame. The runners are then pruned to encourage the plants to direct all of their energy to producing fruit.

Yesterday, youngest daughter spied the first crocuses blooming in the front yard and we heard the first Robin singing this morning.