Around the garden...
Finally!
We had a decent weekend around here. It wasn't too hot, not too cold, just about perfect. I could work around the house and the garden and get some stuff done when it needed to be and not be in the cold damp yuck that all too often becomes the spring around here. Which is good, because I had some second sprouting of kohlrabi that needed to get into the ground.
Last year I laid seed out on trays and covered with paper towels that were soaked and rung out, and then sprayed them regularly to get them to germinate. This year I tried this method and loved it. I just folded a soaked p-towel in half and laid the seed out on it, then folded into a narrow quarter size and put it in a zip-lock.
These Kohlrabi seeds popped in two days. So, as I said, this was a good weekend for good weather because these couldn't wait. I do still have my first planting of Kohlrabi in the basement in cell packs. These will go out soon too and will be the first harvested. here's a good look at the seeds after two days. Very nearly 100% germination rate and these are seeds that were packed for 2008. Local heirloom seed from Mountain Valley seed company.
SO then... out to the garden why don't we. I got those seeds planted, and also had second germination of broccoli and cabbages to plant. Those will be going under the hoop house with the couple of cell pack bok choy and broccoli that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. (Spring fever...I can't resist it!!) I added another twelve plantings of germinated broccoli seed and 12 of head cabbage. By the time the head cabbage gets up to size that bok choy will already be Kim chee in the pantry so it won't be in the way. (looking for good kim chee recipes btw in case anyone has one.)
I thought I'd give you guys a look at my peas too. There was some interest in the dense planting that I'm going for this year so I guessed an update was in order before they got so big that you couldn't make out the planting spacing. Above is an over view of the whole bed. As you can see, it's pretty dense. I planted them approximately 2.5 to 3 inches apart in the row and rows spaced about the same distance apart. There are, believe it or not, approximately 300 (Corrected post. 300 hundred per bed x 2 beds.) seeds planted in this bed. And I have two of them.
And here they are...my little soldiers all in a row. So far so good. This is sort of a double down, all or nothing sort of gardening. Last year we really loved the peas that we got, but from the 30 some odd plants that we had, there weren't nearly enough for us. I need to find a way to maximize yield to space and this is my best bet. worst case scenario I'll have good rich soil after they're out with all that nitrogen fixing that they do. I'll keep you posted.
Hope you all had a great weekend. Tomorrow I'll show you what got done in the garage!
Till then...
P~
We had a decent weekend around here. It wasn't too hot, not too cold, just about perfect. I could work around the house and the garden and get some stuff done when it needed to be and not be in the cold damp yuck that all too often becomes the spring around here. Which is good, because I had some second sprouting of kohlrabi that needed to get into the ground.
Last year I laid seed out on trays and covered with paper towels that were soaked and rung out, and then sprayed them regularly to get them to germinate. This year I tried this method and loved it. I just folded a soaked p-towel in half and laid the seed out on it, then folded into a narrow quarter size and put it in a zip-lock.
These Kohlrabi seeds popped in two days. So, as I said, this was a good weekend for good weather because these couldn't wait. I do still have my first planting of Kohlrabi in the basement in cell packs. These will go out soon too and will be the first harvested. here's a good look at the seeds after two days. Very nearly 100% germination rate and these are seeds that were packed for 2008. Local heirloom seed from Mountain Valley seed company.
SO then... out to the garden why don't we. I got those seeds planted, and also had second germination of broccoli and cabbages to plant. Those will be going under the hoop house with the couple of cell pack bok choy and broccoli that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. (Spring fever...I can't resist it!!) I added another twelve plantings of germinated broccoli seed and 12 of head cabbage. By the time the head cabbage gets up to size that bok choy will already be Kim chee in the pantry so it won't be in the way. (looking for good kim chee recipes btw in case anyone has one.)
I thought I'd give you guys a look at my peas too. There was some interest in the dense planting that I'm going for this year so I guessed an update was in order before they got so big that you couldn't make out the planting spacing. Above is an over view of the whole bed. As you can see, it's pretty dense. I planted them approximately 2.5 to 3 inches apart in the row and rows spaced about the same distance apart. There are, believe it or not, approximately 300 (Corrected post. 300 hundred per bed x 2 beds.) seeds planted in this bed. And I have two of them.
And here they are...my little soldiers all in a row. So far so good. This is sort of a double down, all or nothing sort of gardening. Last year we really loved the peas that we got, but from the 30 some odd plants that we had, there weren't nearly enough for us. I need to find a way to maximize yield to space and this is my best bet. worst case scenario I'll have good rich soil after they're out with all that nitrogen fixing that they do. I'll keep you posted.Hope you all had a great weekend. Tomorrow I'll show you what got done in the garage!
Till then...
P~
This post was corrected. I planted 300 seeds per bed for a total of 600, not 600 hundred per bed. Sorry for the mistype.
Labels:
2009,
2009 garden,
gardening,
organic gardening
4 comments:
It looks like you had good germination with your peas. I only had about 50% or so. What is your method, i.e., what do you make sure you do to achieve the results? Other than Kohlrabi, do you pre-sprout other seeds? I'm intrigued...
hmm, I should try presprouting some carrots, I have terrible luck with them.
Eric~ Yes, I do. What I do for those is about three days before I plan to plant them, I soak them over night in luke warm water in a coffee cup or bowl. The next day I drain them well and cover with a piece of saran wrap that has holes in it. I put that in the window or on the frige where it will be a little warmer. In a couple of days the little white root tip pops out, and you know they're viable seeds. plant them in rows about 1/2 inch deep and water them in. Bada bing...there you go. 95% (or so) germination.
Kory~ As for carrots, I guess it would work, but I wonder how hard it would be to plant them? If you have a hard time getting them started in the ground you might be getting a crust forming on the soil top. Carrots are a weak little seedling when they first start and have a hard time pushing past a hard, crusty soil. I've hearf of damp burlap on the soil surface to keep it softer. I've used the small bits of straw that fall off my bales and dusted the area with that before to keep the surface loose. Let me know if you try pre-germinating them though, I'm curious how it turns out.
P~
P~, Thanks for responding. When I saw something that I was doing NOT work, and something that you were doing REALLY work, I knew I needed to ask the question.
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