Slug control

I posted last time that I had set some slug traps. These appear to be working much better. This time, I purchased some pyrex custard cups and placed them with the lip at ground level. I then filled them close to the top with Budweiser. My earlier efforts with Coors were less than satifsfying. Believe it or not, the brand of beer may make a difference. A study was performed by Whitney Cranshaw of CSU many years ago comparing the efficacy of different brands of beer in trapping slugs: Slugs prefer (table at bottom of page)

Peeking under the covers

Our late autumn has been mild overall with several relatively warm periods, but we have also had a number of hard frosts including a recent dip close to 20F. Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to peek at the garden under the covers, do some harvesting and cleanup, plant spinach and set some slug traps. We harvested lettuce, kale, chard, radicchio, carrots and beets. The largest carrots were about finger sized and are the best tasting carrots that we have had from this garden. The radicchio is heading nicely as seen in the photo.

After many frosts...

The good news is that the garden has survived many frosts with just a layer of ag-cloth and a layer of plastic. The bad news is that the slugs have been wreaking havoc. I was hoping that they would freeze or go into hibernation, but it has not been the case. They destroyed 98% of the 300 tatsoi, spinach and VIT that we transplanted and have been attacking the kale, chard and beet leaves with a vengeance. Ah well, I understand that spinach will grow through the cold season, so I will have to get some of that planted along with some slug traps.

The radicchio which refused to head all season is finally starting to form nice little heads. The beets and carrots that were planted in mid-August are not large enough to harvest.

Deep freeze on the way

They are forecasting temperatures down to 22 degrees on Monday night. I will have to add a layer of plastic this weekend to protect the garden.

Harvesting

Wednesday evening, I harvested a large container of lettuce, kale and chard. It looks like slugs are taking a heavy toll on the 300 seedlings that were transplanted last week. Eliot Coleman recommends keeping ducks for slug control. Does anyone have a duck I can borrow?

Planting and covering

Over the course of the month, I have realized the genius of using spun-fiber row cover to protect garden beds. The wonderful thing is that it breathes enough that it won't overheat on a sunny day in the 70's, at the same time it holds some heat in at night, allows sunlight and rain through, and provides a protective micro-climate against drying, cold winds. All of this adds up to a very low maintenance way to extend the growing season. We had one night with extremely high winds and I expected to find all of the covers blown off, but everything was fine the next morning.

Last Friday evening (10/12), I was out in the garden using a 500W halogen lamp to see, covering the rest of the garden beds. As I was working, I noticed ice crystals forming on the strawberry leaves. Soon, I will be placing a layer of plastic over each garden frame to protect from deeper frosts.

On Sunday, we had wonderful 70 degree weather. Youngest daughter and I transplanted about 300 seedlings of mizuna, cress and pac choi, and planted about 40 spinach. That pretty much covered all of the available garden soil.

I discovered a new weather site that shows the forecast in a novel way. It is an hourly temperature infographic including cloud cover and precipitation. Check it out at: Time and Date: Buffalo Hourly

Racing against the dark

On October 3rd, I started several cold-weather crops inside including mizuna, cress, and pac choi. Yesterday afternoon after work, I tried to get these planted, but quickly ran out of daylight. Looking at the sunrise/sunset schedule for the next week is disconcerting, we will lose more than 15 minutes of daylight (wish I had found the time to setup garden lighting this year...).

I also harvested tomatoes and beans along with lettuce, kale and chard. The beans seemed to be at a good stopping point, but there were quite a few tomatoes that had not yet ripened.

I will be bending hoops later today. This will allow me to cover seven of the garden frames with ag-cloth before the expected freeze Friday evening.

Update: I did bend ten more hoops today, but only got four planted before darkness fell and it became apparent that I wasn't going to make further quick progress. Some plants will need to be harvested to fit under the hoops. I will be out there Friday evening with a halogen lamp covering everything ahead of the expected frost.

Time to Cover

According to tips I gleaned on the Johnny's Seed site, now is the time to plant winter greens and cover them with agricultural cloth. I will start several things tonight inside and move them under cover this weekend.

I am planning to use PVC pipe or electrical conduit for the hoops. Using AutoCAD, I was able to simulate a 10' PVC pipe and see that if placed 12" from the sides of the 4' square garden frames, it will clear the edge of the frames including the protective fencing. The other layer of 6' hoops will be placed inside the frames and fencing.

Leaves are beginning to fall from some of the trees while most are still green overall.

First Fall Harvest

I spent a happy morning in the garden. The kale in frame 1-2 was more than two feet tall. I took out the tallest and left a few of the smaller plants to grow a little more before frost. The twelve basil plants were harvested and several containers of pesto stored away in the freezer. I also harvested a lot of lettuce, kale, green beans and yellow pear tomatoes.

Of the 100 lettuce plants that were started at the beginning of September, only about 50 remain. I think that the biggest culprit is sluggo. Maybe it will be better to start these indoors after all and move out after they have their first true leaves. My experiment with setting out beer for the slugs did not seem to work earlier. Maybe I need a different beer container, or the thought just occurred to me, maybe I need to push the jar lids into the soil so that the slugs don't have to climb to get in.

While checking the garden at dusk recently, I came across a very large toad. I had to wonder whether he is the same one that I photographed earlier in the season. It looks like it was a good year to be a toad.

Basil is OK

The temperature got down to 46 F at the Buffalo Airport last night. The basil appeared to be fine with that. The forecast looks wet for the next few days, but no temps approaching 40 until Sunday night. Maybe we will do the final cut of basil this weekend and plant something to overwinter in its place.

Cooler weather

I noticed that the weather service is forecasting temps down to 42 F on Wednesday night. This prompted me to do some research on when I should make the final harvest of basil. I found one gardener who noticed that her basil leaves started to turn brown after 38 F temps. I will see how the basil does with 42 F and keep a close eye on the forecast.

Some Agribon-15 row cover and overwinter seeds arrived yesterday from Johnny's: Tyee Spinach, Winter Density Bibb Lettuce, VIT, Joi Choi, Mizuna, Ridgeline Romaine Lettuce, Wrinkled Crinkled Cress, and Persian Cress.

Second Spring

Eliot Coleman likes to call Autumn, the "second Spring". That is how it felt while working in the garden Sunday morning. The sun was shining, but not too hot, and the bug count was definitely down.

I transplanted the 9/2 lettuce to 4 per square spacing, a total of about 100 plants. I also harvested beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, basil, green beans, and yellow pear tomatoes. After a little work, the beech seedlings that have been straining under wire mesh finally have room to grow again. A total of 76 beech seedlings have survived which will potentially provide more than 200' of hedge.

I ordered some agricultural cloth in preparation for covering everything at the beginning of October. This cloth will then be covered by plastic in November and another layer of plastic in December. Based on the Four Season method, this should allow us to harvest greens into December and January and provide a significant head start in the Spring.

Plenty growing

Leaves are beginning to rustle, but there are still plenty of things growing in the garden. The lettuce planted 9/2 is about ready to put on second leaves. Very tiny green beans have appeared on the plants that were started 7/25 (49 days) and there is an abundance of fully mature kale, lettuce, basil and chard.

Several garlic cloves donated by our dear friend Marybeth were planted yesterday. This past week, there have been wide temperature swings as low as 48F at night and 80F during the day.

Woodchuck returns for more kale

Last week, a woodchuck made it through a section of chicken wire that had become detached from the frame. I patched that up, but he pulled another section out this week. I fear that he is learning how to get into the garden frames. If my super-duper stapling job doesn't hold up, I think I will have to try setting up an electric fence to "unlearn" him. Update 10/18/12: The stapling job did the trick. I haven't had any further woodchuck incursions since.

New lettuce started

I planted a handful of lettuce and arugula seeds in frame 3-1 under clear plastic covers and then covered them with wire and burlap (for shade). I have high hopes for this latest easy arrangement for starting lettuce seeds. The idea is to start them in an easily protected cluster and then to transplant them to the desired spacing after they have sprouted.

Late August update

Here is an update of garden activities and observations for the month of August:

The beets and carrots planted August 15 began sprouting above the soil on 8/22 (7 days).

The first yellow pear tomatoes from our volunteer plants ripened on 8/19. The girls and I agree that we would like to plant Sun Gold next year, they are much sweeter.

Several half-pints jars of pesto were created on 8/19, another batch will probably be made this or next weekend. Through trial and error, we have discovered the importance of olives and lemon juice in our recipe. Also, we prefer parmesan over the batch made with romano cheese.

Some of the lettuce and chard became mature enough for picking about 8/25 which is about 45 days since they were started inside. The kale has another couple of weeks to go.

The green bean plants are reaching the top of the trellis frames, but no flowers yet

A new frame of lettuce and other greens will be planted this weekend.

The shorter days are definitely putting a damper on my gardening activities.

Succession planting

Our garden is the most productive it has ever been in the August time frame. The succession planting has worked well except for the second planting of mesclun that turned out to be mostly radicchio. We have lettuce that was planted mid-July that is almost ready for harvest, and the early June planting is still producing. We harvested about 20 carrots from garden frame 1-1 and transplanted another 32 lettuce seedlings there this week. The green beans in that frame are about 24" tall.

We have an additional 64 lettuce seedlings, 12 kale and 12 chard growing in frames 2-1 and 2-3 and just planted a new frame completely in beets and carrots. The kale from the spring are still going strong and the basil is coming into its prime. I am planning to add two frames at the beginning of September which will be planted with new varieties of greens for overwintering.

The days are quickly getting shorter. From the beginning of August to the end, the sun will set 45 minutes earlier at 7:51PM. I would really like to get some lighting set up this year so that I can continue to work in the garden at the end of each day.

Some growing, some harvesting, some storing away

Some of the newly planted green beans are already five inches tall! The new lettuce, kale and chard are also doing well, maybe another three weeks before the lettuce is ready. Last weekend, I pickled some beets just for the experience. I only had enough for one pint, but they turned out well. We also made some pesto for the freezer. I will be ordering some alternative greens (mizuna, arugula, savoy, pac choi) from the Johnny's catalog and planting an entire frame with them. I am also planning to start an entire frame of carrots and beets for fall harvest.

I finally made it to the Buffalo Garden Walk this year. We visited the cottages on Little Summer. The gardeners there have created some really magical spaces.

The Japanese beetles came out in force following the soaking rain we had last weekend.

Beans planted

The old (1994) seeds did not germinate so I planted 32 pole beans this morning after soaking them overnight. You may ask why I had bean seeds from 1994? I guess that shows how much I like green beans... but I received a special request from family members for them, so Aunt Mary provided Purple Trionfo Violetto and Emerite Haricot from Pinetree Gardens. With luck we/they will be eating green beans by the end of September.

I harvested the first quart of basil from our garden and noticed that the cherry tomatoes are starting to flower and fruit.

I also (finally) got the grape trellis up so the grapes have something more than a metal stake and protective fence to grow on. The Japanese beetles are much reduced after daily swims in rubbing alcohol, but they have still taken their toll on the foliage.

I ate the first raspberry yesterday from our raspberry patch. It reminded me of my grandfather's raspberries on Whidbey Island, Puget Sound. I remember eating them with cream and sugar. What a treat!

New planting of lettuce

A new batch of lettuce(80), kale(8) and chard(8) was planted on July 19. The 32 everbearing Ozark Beauty strawberry plants have been producing about 8 berries per week for the past two weeks.

The day lilies and pink spirea in the front are finished blooming, but the gladiolus are putting on a good show.

First of the next lettuce

We gleaned our first harvest from the lettuce frame that was planted in June. DeAnne made some great pesto with arugula from that frame along with some basil that Aunt Mary gave us.

Last night I soaked some chard and green bean seeds and placed kale and lettuce in a wet paper towel. I was planning to do mini-soil blocks for the lettuce, but haven't found the time to make the soil block mix. This morning, I pulled most of the peas and planted the beans in their place.

I left the cover off of the new strawberry bed for a couple of nights and found most of the leaves gone, most likely from the woodchucks.

Last of the first lettuce

On the 5th, we cleaned out the last of the lettuce that was planted during the warm spell in March. It is noticeably bitter, but not too bad. I applied about a quart of COF (Complete Organic Fertilizer) and top dressed both frames with half a bag of Bumper Crop in preparation for the next crop.

The salad frame that was planted in early June is almost ready for selective harvesting. I have decided to stop using the mesclun mix because I have a lot more radicchio than I need. I would like to have more control over the lettuce varieties. For the next salad frame, I will be starting seeds indoors and then transplanting them out once they are an inch or two tall.

I gathered about a 4' pile of weeds from the backyard that I will use to build a compost pile this fall. When the compost pile is built, these weeds will become the carbon supplemented by fresh nitrogen rich greens and microorganism rich topsoil.

Youngest daughter heard the first cicadas on June 28, I first noticed them on the 30th. I have been dropping Japanese beetles in rubbing alcohol for about the past week. This seems to be controlling the population and defoliation of our grape, cherry and plum leaves. The mornings are noticeably quieter now that the bird mating season is winding down.

We have gladiolus, lily, pink spirea and mullein blooming in the front. Next year, I would like to add some bee balm, echinacea and other flowering perennials.

Lilies, basil and lettuce

The "ditch lilies" (as DeAnne likes to call them) appear to be blooming everywhere except our yard, but will soon add some much needed color to our front gardens along with the pink spirea.

The lettuce that was planted several weeks ago continues to grow at a rapid pace. We will probably start harvesting that next week. I checked on the basil that was planted at the beginning of June under plastic covers and found 13 seedlings. I transplanted them to an even spacing and they are now growing along with the garlic, onions and cherry tomatoes in one frame.

I realized last night as I was watering the garden that we don't have nearly as many beets and carrots growing as we would use. I am planning to start an entire frame of them soon for a fall crop. I have noticed that the beets that were planted next to kale are in most cases stunted due to shade.

We harvested two carrots recently and continue to harvest lots of lettuce and kale. The peas are pretty much finished with four pods harvested yesterday. I believe that we can begin harvesting onions and garlic and have enough to provide for our needs for a while.

Once again, the ground is drying out here in WNY and there is mostly sunshine in the forecast. Remember to keep your plants and trees watered.

Growth spurt

Just yesterday I reported that the lettuce was about an inch tall -- make that two inches tall! It appears to have doubled in size in just two days. At this rate, we will be harvesting new lettuce by the end of next week. I placed shade cloth over the lettuce since the forecasters are calling for temperatures in the 90's over the next couple of days. We have been harvesting and giving it away to avoid any of it going to seed. There remains still half of the original closely planted frame and about four nice heads in the other frame.

I apologize for the lack of photos. My daughters took both cameras to camp, but DeAnne did snap a photo of the lettuce in the sink this morning. She said it was so pretty, it looked like rays of green sunlight radiating from the bowl. I will post the photo as soon as she sends it over.

The grape vines are also growing like crazy. I need to setup the guide wires soon to begin to train them horizontally.

This morning, I opened the window shade to find a bunny gnawing on some grass in our front yard. He then hopped over next to our statue of St. Francis.

That time of year

Well, it seems to be that time of year, when the bulk of seed starting is completed and the weeds become a constant menace on the borders of the garden. Over the past few years, I notice that my blog entries become less frequent at this time each year. How many photos of lettuce do I need to take, anyway? But, I do love my lettuce.

I kept things fairly simple this year, focusing on crops that I know we will eat and that are relatively easy to grow. We have benefited mostly from the lettuce, kale, peas and strawberries so far. The chard and spinach seem to have missed the starting gun. We are waiting for carrots, beets, garlic and onions to finish maturing.

The lettuce that we planted a couple of weeks ago is about an inch tall. Only about a third of the seeds that I planted made it this far, so I transplanted them into a four plant per square arrangement. This will give us 64 plants from which to harvest in another three weeks or so. I love how easy lettuce is to grow. It doesn't mind being transplanted and can be harvested little by little, or the entire head can be taken and will sometimes regrow.

The early peas are about finished and will be replaced by cherry tomato plants. The peas that were ravaged by the woodchuck are recovering and flowering. I will plant some pole beans there when they are finished.

I have had some difficulty getting basil started in the garden. I think that they are being eaten as soon as they emerge even though I have placed protective covers. I am going to experiment with making soil blocks from sand and Bumper Crop and try starting these indoors.

Our peas taste good, but they are nowhere near as sweet as I remember my grandparent's peas. Same goes for the carrots. I am planning to test my soil to see if something is deficient. I have read that phosphorous and calcium in the soil are important for imparting sweetness to vegetables.

Next year, I would like to build a couple of extra tall frames and try growing potatoes.

Catawba trees, roses, pink spirea, harebell, daisies and hosta are flowering, lilies are almost there. The peonies are done flowering, but the foliage is very pretty. Yesterday, I saw two dark-eyed juncos feeding a fledgling that had just left the nest.

Lettuce, strawberries and woodchucks

I built another garden frame and planted about 150 lettuce. We haven't kept up very well with the last batch, but it will soon be going to seed. I will need to harvest more aggressively in the future. I will do one more frame full of lettuce in another six to eight weeks, after the Solstice, and see if it will last through the fall and winter.

We had our largest harvest of strawberries over the weekend, more than eighty from one frame and seventeen that were past ripe. If we double that next year, with the new frame, we should have enough to make some preserves.

Two baby woodchucks appeared this week. We will post a picture as soon as we can sneak up close enough. They are too cute. Hopefully, they will remain cute and not become nuisances.

The irises are almost finished blooming, just a handful left. The peonies seem to be in the their final bloom.

Groundhog defense system breached

Last Friday, I discovered the first breach of our groundhog defense system. It looks like the groundhog dug through the wire at ground level where it has become corroded and weakened. The peas were in sad shape but none were pulled out by the root and they seem to be recovering.

We had our largest harvest of strawberries on Monday (30). These were mostly gone by the time I returned home from work. My mother always wondered why her strawberries didn't produce (not realizing at age 5 my friend and I were enjoying them fresh from the garden), I guess this is my payback.

The best news I have is that several of the ornamental cherry cuttings seem to be establishing roots. After cutting several branches and selecting the best tips for propagating indoors, I stuck what was left in a garden planter outside in March. It turns out that these are the only cuttings that have survived. Both of my indoor propagation attempts failed.

The kale is ready for harvest, I picked a handful of snow peas last night and lettuce is abundant. Basil is just beginning to grow.There are now 87 beech tree seedlings growing. We recently lost nine of them, most likely to a rodent (chewed off just above ground-level). Slugs have severely damaged five of them. Last night, I planted about 16 more seeds that sprouted in the refrigerator and there are about that many left to plant (if they germinate).

Now blooming are peonies, dame's rocket and wild rose. My daughter also looked up some weeds in our plant identification book including the ubiquitous gill-over-the-ground (aka "creeping charlie"), white clover, and dandelion-like hairy hawkweed.

Hot!

What a hot weekend! I planned to get started early each day, take a siesta and then get back to work in the evening, but there was so much to do, I ended up working through with only small breaks to rehydrate. I went to a local nursery to see about getting shade cloth to protect the lettuce from the heat. They didn't have any, but I spied the burlap and realized that would be a great inexpensive alternative to shade cloth. Last night, we finally received some much needed rain, but I have been watering the gardens every day.

We ate the first two strawberries that were ~almost~ completely ripe, and had the best harvest yet of lettuce. The arugula was all going to seed on Saturday so that was all pulled, the snap peas are flowering. We planted about twenty sprouted basil seeds from the baggy and transplanted some volunteer cherry tomatoes that were sprouting up from last year's fruit. Also, fifty new strawberry plants were placed in a newly built frame and two new dwarf plum trees were planted.

We haven't seen Woody the woodchuck in quite a while, but another more skittish woodchuck has been around. A toad jumped from the strawberry frame as I was watering Sunday morning. A Baltimore Oriole has been gracing the neighborhood with his varied song and the bird bath in the front has been a gathering spot for cardinals, cowbirds, finches, sparrows, starlings, juncos and robins. The catbird has probably visited also, but I haven't seen him. On the flowering front, iris and dames rocket are in full bloom, garlic mustard is fading. Little one counted more than 100 iris blooms in our front yard. Peonies are on deck. Next year, I am hoping that the Oriental poppies just planted will be blooming with the iris.

Watering advice

There is nothing but sunshine in the forecast and it has been a while since we had a good rain. Be sure to keep your plants and shrubs watered regularly.

Self-sufficient for salad

On Monday evening, we harvested two of the radicchio that overwintered, filling an 18 quart container. We also harvested two of the lettuce plants that overwintered along with some beet thinnings and arugula which filled a 13 cup container. We are now self-sufficient for daily salad greens for the foreseeable future (savings through October ~$130).

This morning, I found that three of our raspberry plants had been nibbled to a nub, so I quickly improvised some protection with chicken wire. I suspect that this was the work of the two bunnies I saw last night, it was the foliage near to the ground that was damaged.

Yesterday, I started some cherry tomatoes, parsley and basil inside using the baggy method and planted nine chard outside. This is a very late start, but better late than never.

Another sunny weekend

I gleaned more lettuce from the garden on Friday. I believe that we are self-sufficient in lettuce at this point, so that should save us at least $5/week. The kale is quickly approaching maturity, while the chard has quite a way to go. The peas are about 18" tall and on schedule for a June harvest. The strawberries are amazingly abundant this year. I can see how one may actually harvest a full quart from each plant.

We received two plum trees (Green Gage and Big Blue) and fifty more strawberry plants (Tristar and Honeoye) from Miller Nurseries last week. I will have to get those planted soon. I also need to get some tomatoes, parsley and basil started. I should probably just buy plants, but...

Our first iris bloomed on Mothers Day. We spent the afternoon working in the front yard, planning a new patio, and planting geraniums, poppies and gladiolus.

Sunny weekend

Not much to report for this past weekend. The weather was beautiful and I watered the garden on Saturday. The peas will need frame extensions soon for climbing. The iris are beginning to put up flower stalks, ants are working on the peonies, yellow celandine and forget-me-nots are flowering, quince and forsythia flowers have past and ornamental cherries and apple flowers are fading.

A pair of robins are nesting on the rain gutter and there are three eggs. Hopefully, this nest will avoid detection by the blue jays.

Update 5/14: There are actually a few quince flowers still blooming, but the major bloom is past.

Planting and harvesting

Last night, I harvested enough lettuce and radicchio to fill another 13 cup container. This was all from two lettuce and one radicchio plant that survived through the winter. I will definitely try to overwinter more salad greens next year, they are so much further ahead than anything I planted this spring. I also reseeded about 64 carrots (Laguna) and 32 beets, broadcast some spinach due to poor germination from the seeds that were planted in March, and started some marigolds inside. The cherry trees and tulips are in full bloom in Buffalo.

Second harvest

Yesterday, we gleaned the second harvest from our lettuce frame. This provided enough lettuce, arugula and radicchio for four people for dinner. With the warmer temperatures this week, I predict that our harvest next weekend will provide enough lettuce for at least two salads for four people.

Also included in this post is a closeup of the beech seedlings. They have an unusual "lily-pad" initial formation which then sprouts a more traditional leaf stem.

We had three hard frosts in a row this weekend. I didn't think that asparagus was susceptible to frost, but several of the stalks have wilted.

Winter's last blast?

We are experiencing what I hope is the last blast of winter, although it did not turn out to be as serious as forecast. It looks like the covers will remain on the garden until Saturday morning.

More than 50 beech seedlings are now up. I started to imagine what a chore it will be to trim 200' of twelve foot high hedge and, in my head, am already designing a trimmer on rails to make it manageable.

We harvested our first batch of baby lettuce today along with some lettuce and radicchio that overwintered. It filled one 3.5 quart container.

Spring is springing

After the last post, the covers were taken off on Saturday morning and remained off until Tuesday evening when we had another frost warning. The lettuce continues to slowly mature. I think that we are only days away from our first baby lettuce harvest. There are now 37 out of about 120 beech tree seedlings that have sprouted. By my figuring, that will provide more than 100' of hedge, but I need at least another 100' to completely enclose the back yard. I was standing there last night imagining the tall hedges and a complete sense of privacy, not to mention protection of the fruit trees from wandering deer.

The forsythia and quince are still holding on to their beautiful yellow and red flowers. The wild apple in the backyard is in full fragrant bloom and the dwarfs in the front are getting there. The backyard is filled with purple violets and light blue forget-me-nots, and some late daffodils are blooming in the front. Strawberries are flowering and several of the kale that were started inside have graduated from their protective milk carton covers.

Under cover

Everything went under covers again last night. We are looking forward to Friday morning when the weather will warm up for a stretch. There are now 14 out of about 120 European beech seedlings that have made their way into the light. The apple trees are beginning to show pink as the flower buds expand. The grape hyacinth, daffodil, forsythia, and quince have been in flower for several weeks now. I think that the generally cool temperatures have preserved them. All of the pea seeds (~64) have sprouted in the garden.

Sunny days, cool nights

We have had a long stretch of temperatures in the 40's or 50's during the day and near or below freezing at night. I left the plastic covers over the garden for most of the week, but will leave them off this week as there are currently no freeze warnings. I covered the asparagus with chicken wire to discourage squirrels from digging around them. The lettuce looks like it may be ready to begin harvesting in a couple of weeks.

Beech seed and cherry cutting report

Last weekend I checked on the beech seeds remaining in the refrigerator and found that another 60 were beginning to sprout. Out of curiosity, I checked the temperature with an infrared spotter in that part of the refrigerator (upper right) and discovered that it was 55 degrees F. No wonder the seeds are sprouting! Further investigation caused me to realize that the refrigerator is coolest on the left side where it shares a partition with the freezer and lower down. So, the surface temperature in the upper right is 55 F while the lower left is 35 degrees F.

While I had the temperature spotter out, I checked the soil temperature outside and found it to be 30 degrees F while the air temperature was 34 degrees F. I hope these beech seeds won't mind too much being woken up only to be placed in near freezing soil.

So 62 more beech seeds were planted (~120 total with 3 lost to squirrels), other than those lost, only four have emerged from the soil. I have been placing foam insulation over them when temperature dips below 30. There are 90 seeds left in fridge.

The cherry cuttings seem to be doing well, though I thought the same thing in January just before the leaves shriveled up. I have been misting the leaves every 20 minutes or so when I am home to keep them hydrated until the roots take. The differences from January are more constant moisture and the placement of the cuttings under grow lights once the leaves appear.

We had several frosty mornings this week. Most of the garden is protected with two layers of plastic. I am looking forward to Saturday morning when the temperatures will rise into the 60's and the frost warnings are past.

A day off to work in the garden

I took a day off from work today to get caught up in the garden. The sun was shining and it was warm enough for short sleeves.

I planted some garlic cloves last spring, and am just now pulling them to see what is going on underground. It looks like they have all split into numerous very small cloves. I distributed about 50 of these to other locations and left a few as they were. This is my first experience with garlic, so I will report again in August on what happens with these. I also planted chard where the earlier planting did not come up.

I cleaned up the sixth and final garden frame and planted it completely with spinach (~100) and garlic. I have had so little luck germinating spinach in the past two years, that I won't be surprised if only half of it comes up, but at the beginning of June, it will be harvested and replaced with basil and cherry tomatoes.

The asparagus and raspberry beds were cleaned up and the raspberries pruned. There are several asparagus spears beginning to show above the soil. This is only the second season since they were planted so we will only enjoy a few spears and allow the rest to grow to strengthen the roots.

The front gardens were also weeded and part of the bed prepared for oriental poppies. The peonies are about 4 inches tall. I see a flower forming on the lilac for the first time since they were planted several years ago. Woody was out again today after a ten day nap.

Freezing temperatures

Temperatures were forecast to fall into the low 20's last night. I covered as much of the garden and fruit trees as I could with available blankets and plastic. As of this morning, the buds and early leaves of the fruit trees appear to have survived. It looks like temperatures will fall within freezing range a couple more times in the next week. It will be a fair amount of work to keep the buds from freezing, the lettuce and kale should be fine under the plastic.

We haven't seen Woody since the 17th. He made a good decision to go back and sleep a while longer.

Four frames filled

Everything has been growing well in this summer-like, early spring interlude with temperatures into the 80's. We planted 32 sugar snap peas, 32 sienna peas, 48 carrots (32 Nelson and 16 Laguna) and the rest of the kale that was started inside. This means that four garden frames are completely filled. I am planning to plant spinach in the remaining frame that will eventually hold the cherry tomatoes and basil for pesto.

I discovered that something had eaten several of the small kale seedlings that were set out a week ago (most likely slugs). This reminded me that I usually place cut-off half gallon milk containers over these seedlings and that keeps the harmful creatures away until the plants are large enough to take a little munching.

The strawberries have been cleaned up and fruit trees pruned. It is a good feeling to be on top of garden tasks this year. The weather forecast shows temperatures falling into the 20's early next week. It will be interesting to see how well everything copes with the cold.

Beech seeds

We have been enjoying unusually mild days in the 70's. The lettuce is growing rapidly, but I haven't seen any of the directly planted seeds sprout yet. All of the garden frames are under plastic at night and when the daytime temperature is below 70 with cloud cover. This evening, I planted about 60 European Beech (fagus sylvatica) seeds that sprouted in the refrigerator during stratification. This is about one-quarter of the seeds that were started. I wasn't expecting to plant them before summer based on the instructions from the seed company, but everything seems to be starting early this year. I have admired hedges of beech trees at the Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls and in Buffalo and would like to enclose the backyard with the trees that I am starting. Above is an extreme example of a beech hedge from Scotland and a more typical example.

Woody

Woody the woodchuck came out today to have a look around, scratch some grubs out of his coat and sit in the sunlight for a while.

Carrots, spinach and kale

Last night, in one garden frame, I planted nearly 100 carrots of three varieties: Short & Sweet, Nantes, and Ithaca. Also, about 30 spinach, and 16 kale. Next on my list of things to do is to finish cleaning up the strawberry bed, prune the grape vines, apples and pears; and plant peas. I would have planted the peas already, but didn't have seeds available. We are looking at temperatures in the mid to high 70's for the foreseeable future, so these plants will have a good opportunity to get established.

Strawberries and beets

Yesterday evening I planted about 30 beets in the garden and cleaned up about half of the strawberry bed. I didn't trim the runners last season, so there are a few new plants and many old leaves and runners to trim. It sure is nice having the frames all ready to go. Last year I had to move them all before I could start planting and in previous years, they were being built. Given time and foresight, I would build new garden frames in the fall so that they are ready to go as early as possible in the spring.

Daylight savings

Sunday was the first day of Daylight Savings Time. It is always a challenge to remember when it is DST and when it is "normal" time (UTC). The EU had a good idea by naming it "Summer Time". In Great Britain they use the acronym BST for "British Summer Time". Anyway, I took advantage of the longer daylight in the evening and the good weather to plant a couple of garden frames with lettuce.

In one frame, I used the traditional four plants to a square spacing all around the perimeter. In the center squares, I planted chard at four to a square. In another frame, I planted lettuce about one every 3 inches for a total of more than 150 plants. The idea is to start enough lettuce early that I will be able harvest baby greens and start eating fresh salads as early as possible. Both of these frames have been covered with plastic to protect them from frost and to encourage growth.

The next things on my list are to thin the strawberries back to four plants per square, to plant some beets and carrots and to prune the fruit trees.

Crocuses

We were happy to see the first crocuses preparing to unfurl their petals this morning. We started a tray of kale inside and soaked some pea and chard seeds. The lettuce planted 2/27 is doing well. I would plant it outside now if the weather cooperated.

Hello lettuce

I started some lettuce and other greens this evening. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible. I made a note last year to not start lettuce inside, because it took up time and space inside and by the time it got over transplant shock, the seeds that I had planted outside directly had caught up. However, this year I am planning to put these plants outside in covered frames as soon as possible. I may find that seeds that are planted directly do just as well or better than these, but it is worth another try.

Here is my simple setup:
Seed starting mix (90% spaghnum moss, perlite, fertilizer, wetting agent)
Clear plastic container with lid
Spray bottle with water
Mesclun salad mix (lettuces: black-seeded simpson, red salad bowl, lolla rossa, and royal oak leaf; arugula, radicchio)

1) fill container with seed starting mix to about 1" depth
2) mix with enough water to lightly dampen (2 cups)
3) spray with water until water pools, allow to absorb
4) sprinkle seeds across entire surface
5) sprinkle with a layer of starting mix to barely cover
6) spray with water again
7) put on lid and place in relatively cool dark place
8) spray and check daily for sprouts
9) when seeds begin to sprout, remove cover, put under grow lights and keep soil moist until ready to plant out


The cardinals were out in force this morning after being very quiet most of the winter.

Goodbye lettuce

I checked on the lettuce last weekend and most of it finally succumbed to the cold. We had a wind-chill of -15 F about a week ago and that probably did it. Still, under only one layer of plastic, the lettuce and kale survived into January.

I am trying to root some flowering cherry tree (Kwanzan) cuttings and they seem to be doing well. The cuttings were planted about November 20. After several weeks inside a plastic tent planted in peat moss and perlite, one of the cuttings began to leaf out. That one is now well developed with four leaves. Two more cuttings are beginning to green and leaf out.

It appears that the diameter of the cutting is important. The cuttings are coming alive from the widest which was about a pencil thickness to the progressively thinner cuttings.

I am planning to order some European beech seeds to plant a hedge around the property and am already planning a week-long vacation in April to get a jump on the main gardening season. These extended seasons make the winter go by quickly.