Seedling Updates

My cherry tomatoes are doing great and my heirloom tomatoes are coming up perfectly! My pepper plants are taking their time so I transplanted them and hope they get a little boost. 

Today I started zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, acorn squash, butternut squash, and corn! Most of these I've never grown before so it's pretty exciting. 

In a few weeks everything should be ready to go in the ground! Very exciting!

We also bought some fruit plants with the hopes of creating something of a bramble! When we get some deer fencing, we'll put them in the ground. We bought 4 raspberry plants, 1 blackberry, 1 boysenberry, and we already had a blueberry bush that's been in a pot. They'll all go in the ground soon!

So far so good, but not without a few hiccups

We've got tomatoes, peppers (3 different kinds), carrots, and at least one pumpkin plant coming in strong! The lettuce is looking a little weak. I'm going to try replanting them in a windowsill box and putting them outside since temperatures are expected to be mild this week. 

Those are the carrot seedlings on the left. They worry me the most because I'd love to get them in the ground sometime soon, but our night temps are still unpredictable. I'm going to have to look into making or buying a cold frame ASAP. 

The tomatoes and peppers are just fine indoors for a while longer. They have a heat mat and a lamp on them so they're all set for a while. 

And in the past week, the backyard went from this:

To this:

Aaah. Spring is finally coming! And boy do we have work to do on our yard! We have big plans this year to level it off, finally fill in the hole where the above ground pool came out of (last fall the ground froze sooner than we thought so we didn't quite finish that project) and we're putting a fence around the yard to keep the pup in. I've also requested permission from the town to have pet chickens! More details to follow!

The 2014 Garden!

Well, it's that time again! Time to start thinking about the garden. Normally, I spend all winter planning what to plant, how many to plant, when to start seedlings, etc. and then spring comes and all my best intentions are tossed aside as I struggle to find room for the way too many seedlings I've started.  This year is a little different. For starters, we've moved again! I have no community garden timelines to deal with. Instead, I have my very own backyard - my half acre homestead! The slight problem is that it doesn't get a ton of sun and I have yet to figure out exactly where the garden plot will go. But since I actually have a yard this year, I should be able to find some spots to fit some plants in.  Another problem is that we're still buried under about a foot of snow, which is frozen solid.

Once all of the snow melts and the trees come back I will re-assess the sun situation and find a suitable location for my sun-loving plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) and I'll look for some other spots to plant things like lettuce, carrots, and other greens. I'll also be dealing with deer-proofing everything.

Each year, I start by making a list of what I want to grow. I also set some goals for myself each year (last year's goal was diversity).  Then I start figuring out how early to start my indoor seedlings, what I can plant straight in the ground, and when.

This year's goal is self-sufficiency! To me this means that I start all my own seedlings, which I've done the past few years. This year self-sufficiency takes on another meaning.  I've decided not to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  The CSA we had on Long Island was amazing. We got a lot of vegetables each week, plus we had our own garden producing.  It was a struggle some weeks, but we accepted the challenge willingly.  Then we moved to Albany and signed up for a half share CSA.  Each week we got a very small batch, that didn't last very long before it started wilting.  Too much of it ended up going bad. I also never felt like we got enough of one type of vegetable to make a sufficient meal or side dish.  It was a lot of work in the kitchen for very small batches of vegetables.  This year, with the new "homestead," I decided to try growing everything ourselves.  This means my garden can't just be tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini.  It also means if I want to start enjoying homegrown vegetables in May, I need to start now.

This is what the set up looks like:

So what's going on in this picture?  The past two years I've chosen to use soil blockers (which was covered in a past post).  I started using a 4-block soil blocker and then I bought the mini blocker....and the blocks were so small that I was hesitant to use them.  Last year I didn't use them just out of fear.  This year I had the same dilemma about using them or not.  I finally decided to use the mini blocker (as you can see below), but I couldn't commit 100% so I also started some seeds in peat pots and some in an old egg carton system my dad devised for me.  It's a little insane to be so inconsistent, but whatever works.  Next year I hope to use a more consistent system and be more confident in my choices.

Those are the soil blockers on the right.  I also have a little bag of inserts that will allow the mini blocks to insert into the larger blocks once the seeds sprout (FYI - soil blockers require special soil that will hold it's shape without the use of a container).  Also to the right, you can see a timer.  Once I see the seedlings emerge, they'll start getting 8 - 10 hours of "sun" a day with the grow light. The timer makes sure that the light goes on in the morning and shuts off in the evening.  I haven't set it up yet obviously.

Below, you'll see lettuce in the peat pots (planted a week ago so they're just starting to emerge), swiss chard and pak choi in the soil blocks, and carrots in the egg cartons (planted today). I cover the whole thing in a plastic cover for some moisture.  I did not use the seed warming mat for these seeds because these seeds germinate better in temperatures between 50-70 degrees so no warming element is needed.  These seeds can even be directly sowed in the spring and can tolerate a light frost, but with a foot of snow still outside and our temperatures steadily below freezing, it's too early for them, not to mention I cannot work the soil yet.  I'll use the seed warming mat for heat-loving plants, like tomatoes and peppers in a week or two.

Since I have limited space under the grow light, I'm waiting for this first batch to emerge so I can start the tomatoes and peppers.  These can withstand less light and lower temperatures, so they should be able to do well in a sunny window or even outside in a few weeks by day when the temperatures get a little warmer.  It's all a little bit of a gamble, but I do not want the seed starting process to become too elaborate or take up too much room.  This forces me to create cold frames and sheltered garden beds outside for the plants that can go outside earlier.  

*Remember to always label your seeds. I make this mistake almost every year! I also try to make a note of what was planted, when, when it's expected to germinate (this way I can tell if any of the packages of seeds are duds), when it can be repotted or transplanted outside, and finally when we can expect to be harvesting it.  I always have plans to make some elaborate spreadsheet, but it ends up being scribbled on a pad of paper.  As long as you make a note of when you plant them and what they are, you should be OK.

It's that time of year again...

Time to plan out the garden and start seedlings! Actually that "time of year" was a few weeks ago, but it's not too late. I promised to post about what I'd be planting, how much, and when.

Let's start with the "what":

Eggplant-black beauty
Last year I grew black beauties from seed and purchased Fairy Tale from an internet vendor. The black beauties were great although I got them started too late because I got into our town garden late. The Fairy Tales were too small and honestly, I never knew what to do with them. Maybe i just don't love fresh eggplant as much as I thought I did. I decided I wouldn't even grow eggplant again except I had some seeds leftover and Morgan has a Tunisian stuffed eggplant recipe from his grandmother he is eager to try again. So...I'll give it a shot.

Tomatoes-Roma and grape
I'm not the biggest tomato lover. I could even foresee a day when maybe I didn't grow tomatoes at all. That day is not today though! Mostly because I'm Italian and every generation of my family have grown tomatoes. Because of this luke warm attitude towards tomatoes (I should say Morgan likes them, so that's a reason too) I decided to only grow tomatoes I thought I might like-grape tomatoes for snacking and Roma tomatoes for making a sauce. Besides, vine-ripened sun-warmed tomatoes are so different from any other tomato I have ever met. I also ordered some heirloom variety (4 plants online) just in case everything goes belly up. I still want to have something decent to plant come May. Another reason to grow tomatoes is for canning purposes and Morgan has a great pan y tomate recipe of grated tomato atop French bread with garlic that's really delicious.

Peppers-sweet and banana, maybe one or two hot
Last year I was surprised by how much I enjoyed growing peppers. We had a lot of uses for peppers, especially the mild hot ones that we made into poppers for the beginning of the football season. This year I would like to try and preserve banana peppers because I like adding those to salads or sandwiches. Also, preserving is a good way to have home grown vegetables all year long. I also ordered 6 pepper plants, a variety pack of sweet peppers just to mix things up. The banana peppers I'm going to grow from seed.

Lettuce-Bibb
I only had one plant make it last year. But a lot of seeds left. Here's to a whole year of learning and a good batch of lettuce.

Swiss Chard
I have the seeds and I like to eat it so why not!?

Beans-pole beans
Same here. Plus, this year I'm focusing on pole beans rather than bush beans. For some reason, last year I thought I didn't have enough room for pole beans, but this year I realize it's not really a land issue. Pole beans grow up but don't require much more room in the garden. Plus, they produce a better yield.

Zucchini
My favorite! It takes up a lot of room but I love zucchini. Im going to try for two plants and see what happens. Also, Johnny Appleseed style I may spread seeds all over my relatives' yards in the hopes they are able to grow some too.

Carrots
I have the seeds and thought they'd be good for eating and preserving maybe.

The "when"-these are more or less laid out in order of when I need to start them, with the exception of the lettuce. I just want to start my lettuce early because I love it that much. But normally lettuce isn't a plant that needs to be started indoors. I've had bad luck starting seeds in the ground. I think my problem is keeping them moist enough. So I'll be starting all of my seeds indoors, just that some (eggplant, peppers, tomatoes) need 6-8 weeks indoors and the others will just get their start (2-3 weeks) indoors and then go in the garden. Most are cool weather tolerant too (not eggplant, tomatoes, or peppers) so they can go in the ground as soon as they start sprouting.

The "how much"-I'm not going to concern myself with this element that much. There are worse problems than having too many fresh vegetables. If this happens, it'll give me a great opportunity to learn about preserving vegetables. The banana peppers especially I'd like to preserve.

"Where?" - this year I am starting my seedlings in soil blocks inside on a heating mat under a grow light. When the weather is clear and sunny, not too warm or too cold, I move the seedlings into what I like to call my carden. This way I don't have to use artificial measures the entire time my seedlings are indoors. Especially as seedlings, it's important that plants receive enough light.

What's a carden? This is my car + garden = carden. It's the perfect greenhouse.