Garden at Mid-June Zone 6B

The growing season is underway, big time. Here are a few images captured 16 June 2012.

First ripe tomato - Husky Cherry

Super Sweet 100

Orange Bell

Mixed Loose Leaf Lettuce

Watermelon-Little Gem sprouting amongst the no longer producing snow peas

Butterfly Bush - Buddleia davidii "honeycomb"

Hydrangea macrophylla 

I need to add some sulfur to the soil around the Hydrangea to change the color of the blooms to blue. I will do that on 17 June.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Early June in the Square Foot Garden

The first seven days of June have past. Before you know it there will be juicy ripe tomatoes. For now, let's take a look at the square foot garden plus the potato towers.

As of 7 June, over 8oz/226g of young, tender, fresh, sweet snow peas have been harvested. Lettuce will be the next. 

This is the potato tower #1, planted first. Atop the tower is a cherry tomato plant. There are several cherry tomatoes close to harvesting size. Warm nights are needed to ripen the fruit.

The encircled are actually potato plants that grew up instead of out the sides of the tower.

Here are the potatoes that cooperated by growing out the sides of the tower.

This is one of the bell pepper plants. There is one orange and one red plant. 

This is one of the many varieties of full size tomato plants.

This is the lettuce from a mixed packet of loose leaf style lettuce seeds.

In the center of the plot is a solar powered light that was used to light a few squares when trying to capture time lapse images of slugs at night.

The snow peas will soon be finished bearing fruit. Today melon and cucumber seeds were planted in the rear of the square foot plot now inhabited by the snow peas. This is where the trellis was placed. The melon and cucumbers vines will be trained up the trellis. 

 


Once the melons begin to form, they will be placed into ladies nylon hose and tied to the trellis. This will provide the melons needed support and still allow room for expansion.

Bush bean seeds were also planted amongst the lettuce squares in the front row of the plot. The lettuce will bolt to seed as the temperatures rise. The beans will take over the squares where the lettuce now grows.


Fertilizer will be added to the squares because of the intense use of the garden. Both fish emulsion and blood meal and green sand will be used. Blood meal and green sand will be scratched into the surface of the soil once the snow peas and lettuce are exhausted. Fish emulsion in a water solution will be applied every two or three weeks. That should be plenty but the plants will be monitored for both under and over fertilization.


Can you almost taste the tomatoes, too?




©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Guarantee Germinated Seeds Before Planting

It will soon be time for the 2012 initial planting of my square foot garden.  I have the seeds.  Their germination is first.


Seed germination in cool weather can be hit or miss.  Snow, heavy rain or near freezing temperatures could slow down or stop germination of seeds planted directly into the garden soil.  To increase the chances of successful germination, I plan to germinate the seeds indoors.


I will not be using sterile planting medium in pots.  I germinate the seeds in plastic sandwich bags.

Gather all the necessary supplies on a work surface.  

1. seeds
2. zip lock plastic sandwich bags
3. unbleached cone shaped coffee filters
4. filtered tap water  

Dampen the coffee filters with filtered tap water.  Don't want them  soaking wet, just damp.  

Place the seeds from one package on the interior of a coffee filter.  Make sure there is some room around the seeds.  Placing them too close to each other will result in the tiny roots intertwining.

Then enclose the seeds in the coffee filter.

Place the filter into a plastic sandwich bag.  Each bag must be labeled.  Either place the seed packet into the bag or use a permanent market on the outside of the bag.  Place the bags atop your refrigerator to provide warm air temperature.  Check the bags daily for germination.

When the first leaves of the sprouts emerge, transplant them into the garden plot.  As a precautionary measure dig a hole in your plot and pour in some sterile seed starting mix.  This can be purchased mixed or you can create your own mix.  Then place your seed on the mix at the recommended depth and cover with more of the same mix.  Water thoroughly.  Tag the seedlings position with some kind of marker. Tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, twigs covered with the seed packet or white plastic knives are just some of the items you can use to mark the seed location.


Proceeding this way you know the seed has germinated when it is place in the ground.  I will put my seeds into plastic bags on Monday.  I expect to plant this Sat, St. Patrick's Day.  A traditional spring planting date here in my area.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Garden Seeds

I planned to have three plantings for this growing season.  With my square foot garden plot plan finished, I purchased some seed packets at Lowe's.  I based my decisions on several criteria.

• Type of vegetable

• Planting time

• Days to harvest

• Height of foliage

• Easy to grow

Above is my early planting grid.  At Lowe's, I purchased bunching onions, carrots and snow peas along with their inoculant.  I liked the varieties of lettuce and radishes I saw in the Johnny's seed catalog.  So I will be online to purchase the other seeds at Johnny's Select Seeds.  I looked online at seeds from Totally Tomatoes and like what I saw there, also.  Here is the problem with mail order, shipping and the price of the seeds themselves.  The difference in the price of seeds isn't that great especially if I can only get those seeds online.  However, the cost of shipping must also be considered.  I think it is better to order all your seeds from one place to keep the ratio of shipping costs to seed packet as low as possible.  At a Lowe's store the prices are lower and there is no shipping (there is the cost of gasoline, though).  Plus if I made an error in choosing seeds, I can return them without spending money for return postage.  But, Lowe's doesn't have all the varieties I desire.  So, I will order some seeds from Johnny's.

The second planting will follow the above grid.  I purchased the melon, cucumber and zucchini seeds at Lowe's.  I still need lettuce, beans, peppers, and tomatoes.

The final planting will follow the above grid.  I will have enough seeds remaining from the early planting of carrots, lettuce and radishes.  I need to add broccoli and cabbage to my order.


Lowe's also sells vegetable plants when the weather warms a bit.  I like the plants sold under the Bonnie Plants label.  I perused their website and chose tomato and pepper plants that I wish to purchase.  I talked to the Assistant Store Manager in charge of the seasonal area at Lowe's to see if they can request the kinds of plants to put into their store.  I was informed that Bonnie Plants places their plants in Lowe's on a consignment agreement.  Which means that Bonnie Plants decides which plants to deliver to Lowe's.  I guess I need to contact Bonnie Plants.


Here are the Bonnie Plants I would like to purchase for my garden.


Tomato
• Mortgage Lifter 
• Black Krim 
• Black Cherry 
• Super Sweet 100 
• Sweet Cherry

Pepper
• Cajun Belle 
• Cubanelle

That is my plan.  I have about one month before my early planting.  I will order the seeds from Johnny's and they should arrive in time. If not, I will look for seeds at other local stores.  I am sure I can find seeds there that are close to my criteria.


I will email Bonnie Plants and see if I can request the above plants delivered to my nearest Lowe's.  I have one month to ready the soil and prepare my supports and stretch string to delineate the grid.


Are you planning your garden?  Leave a comment and tell us about your 2012 garden.


PS - At the last minute I found a free shipping code 12-1005 that saved me $10.00 at Johnny's.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Kronos and My Spring Garden

I get great satisfaction from growing plants, whether ornamental flowers, vegetables or fruit.  The satisfaction is like that of a proud parent, bringing an infant into the world and nurturing it to fruition.  Then someone who loves them, devours them, Kronos-like.  I think of Kronos every time I hear someone say, "That baby is so cute, I could just eat it up."


I began planning my 2012 square foot garden the minute my Johnny's Select Seed catalog appeared in my mailbox.  To get the most out of a 4' x 4' garden plot, I planned three plantings for the year.  As the first planting is harvested, the second planting will go into the square in its place.  The same for the third planting.  The crops will be rotated reducing the possibility of passing along disease and viruses.  Additional soil amendments will be dug in with each new planting.



My first planting will look like the graphic below.

The rough schedule for planting is as follows:
• Late winter -  approximately 17 March, St. Patrick's Day
• Late spring - Mid May to Mid June, after the last frost
• Late Summer - Mid August to Early September, several months   
                           before the first hard frost

Brandywine Pink
Source:BonniePlants

Cherokee Purple
Source:BonniePlants

Sweet and Thai Basil in my garden 2011

Thai Pepper
Source:BonniePlants

Bitter Melon
Source:Bonnie Plants

Over the last few decades, if I wanted good tasting produce, I had to start my own seeds.  The plants I wanted were not offered in garden centers.  Garden centers offered the same plants the commercial growers planted.  I found places like Johnny's Select Seeds, Seeds of Change, Seed Savers Exchange, Totally Tomatoes where heirloom seeds could be purchased.  Heirloom tomatoes taste like the tomatoes I remember from my yout' ("Excuse me, did you say yout'?").  Starting seeds is a difficult chore and a big commitment but until recently it was the only way to get good tasting tomatoes.  


While shopping in Lowe's garden center over the last few years, I noticed they sold Bonnie Plants, individual plants in 3"- 4" peat pots.  Amongst the usual garden center plants, Bonnie offered some heirlooms and unusual plants like Brandywine Tomato, Cherokee Purple Tomato, Thai Peppers, Thai Basil, Stevia and Bitter Melon.  Curious to see if Bonnie would be adding new varieties to their line this year, I went to the Bonnie Plant website.  There I saw a few new plants that I am eager to purchase, such as Black Krim and Black Cherry tomatoes and Epazote.


Inside my local Lowe's, last week, was a display of Burpee seeds.  I think I picked up each and every packet of seeds on the display.  I read each label.  I read when to plant, the expected height and spread of the plant and the number of days to harvest.  I spent a long time reading packets.  Lowe's employees frequently asked if I needed any help.  I think they thought I couldn't get up or fell asleep, or worse.  Having finished a preliminary plan for the garden plot, I knew which seeds I needed.  I purchased over $15.00 of seeds packets including a packet of inoculant for the peas and beans.  Later, if I change my mind about the seeds I purchased, I can always return the seeds.  Something I don't think I can do if I purchase via a website.  Nonetheless, I will probably purchase some seeds on the web to fulfill my plan.  Even though the cost of shipping seems to be quite high for the weight being shipped.  But you know what Kronos always said, "You gotta do, what you gotta do to get a good tasting kid."


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved