Catching up

Before I begin to write about our experiences, I want to get some basic statistics recorded to get everyone caught up on our progress so far. According to our notes, we started planting seeds on March 8. We planted (5) chard, (5) romaine lettuce, (5) spinach, (5) cabbage, (20) morning glories, (20) asparagus, (5) delphinium, (5) petunia, and (5) foxglove. On March 9 we planted (5) kale and (5) malva.

Also on March 9 we moved bulbs from a bed which is slated to be covered with a patio. These bulbs are beginning to fill out the two 2' x 10' beds that I started last year with iris and crocus. These beds are framed by two lilac bushes begun from cuttings of a lilac that once dominated the front yard. Eventually, a pretty picket fence is planned here as well.

A week later, on March 15 we planted (5) oakleaf lettuce and (10) morning glories (can you tell we like morning glories? : ). On March 17, we planted (18) marigolds and (9) broccoli.

Three weeks after our initial planting (March 29), we planted one square foot garden frame [(16) 1' squares] in the garden with the following: (32) sugar peas, (4) parsley, (32) beets, (32) carrots, (2) oakleaf lettuce plants, (2) romaine lettuce plants, (2) spinach plants, (1) broccoli plant, (1) cabbage plant, (2) oakleaf lettuce seeds, and (2) romaine lettuce seeds. The plants were from our initial plantings.

In spite of the weather forecast calling for freezing temperatures and snow that evening, I decided to try an experiment to see if cold-loving plants would survive being transplanted without the traditional "hardening off" period that is recommended. We covered all of the plants with the tops of the half gallon milk containers left over from our seed starting. Half of them received caps, the rest no caps. I also covered them with carboard to keep out direct hits from rain and snow. The cardboard is suspended on the chicken wire which has been setup to protect the garden from critters. So far so good. We haven't lost any of the plants that were set out.

For starting the seedlings, we used half gallon milk containers cut off about 3 inches from the bottom, with (4) 1/4" holes drilled in the bottom and filled with coarse vermiculite. We then placed these in trays and filled the trays with water, allowing it to soak up into the vermiculite. Finally, we wrapped the containers in a plastic sandwich bag and placed them on top of the refrigerator.

It became a fun ritual to check the containers every morning to see what came up. It is important to get the seedlings under lights as soon as they come up. We are still waiting on some of the flowers to waken.

We setup (2) 4' fluorescent light fixtures in the back room (which is usually cooler than the rest of the house) and set them to be on from 6:30AM until 10:30PM (16 hours).