Into the Ground

The tomatoes were looking good and strong enough time move to the garden. The warm morning encouraged me but then it cooled off so I hope they don’t protest. The zucchini starts and the remaining broccoli and chard went into the ground outside the cloche too.  All four beds are weeded and mulched. Happy to see the tadpoles in the pond, too. 

Growing Salad

Tonight I remembered to add the basil, fennel, parsley and mini-peppers to the broccoli, peas and lettuce salad.   Added lavender to the sweet pea bouquet, too.   The kitchen has a nice aroma from the herbs and flowers.

In the garage, I have new sprouts of rainbow chard and lettuce. 

The Other Cloche

The broccoli looks good under the window frame cloche (all the other seedlings were eaten by slugs). We've been harvesting lettuce and chard leaves from these plants already.

Assorted Cloches in Action

A closer look at the pea sprouts yesterday revealed some nice roots out the bottom of the pot... an immediate call to action! As the forecasted rain hadn't started yet, I headed out to the garden to finalize the location for peas this year. In spite of the rain last week, the soil wasn't too wet for digging so I prepared the space for tall peas, short peas and climbing beans (all needing decisions about where to place the trellises, etc.)

The tips of the pea sprouts have been pinched back as recommended by Matron and they are sitting under the far window cloche. I hope to get them in the ground, but still under the cloche later today. Will add some radishes too.

Then I checked in on the broccoli, lettuce and chard in the winter sown/milk containers sitting under the larger cloche. I had already planted some of the seedlings in the ground under this large cloche, but had more seedlings than space.

I've learned the broccoli will grow quite large. I now tend to stash it around the garden, mixed in with other plants that can work around its eventual large size. So, all of the seedlings found homes in various places. The slugs will get some of them, but many will make it.

Next to two of the cloched broccoli, and under the front window cloche in the photo above, I planted two more broccoli with lettuce and chard mixed in. These lettuce & chard plants will be harvested as the broccoli needs the space. (The A frame part of the window cloches do have hinges holding them together, if you haven't seen them before.)

So, now that I've started planting things, I really must come up with a plan for the rest of the garden space!

March Salad!

I have been a bit negligent of my "covered wagon" cloche. Can you believe it did pay off a little anyway? This was our salad last night!

The chard has lots of fresh leaves and so does the red lettuce. There is no chard or lettuce outside of the cloche right now. The green lettuce I started out with in Oct. turned to mush by the end of Dec. The chives and parsley are doing about the same inside & outside the cloche.

The winds we've had often blow open the ends. I will find a better way to close it up in the future. But, it is still more warm and dry inside than anywhere else in the garden. See the Cloche label for more information about it.

I will plant the lettuce and chard seedlings from my winter sown milk jugs in the cloche soon.

Cozy Cloche Report

Here is a shot of the chard, calendula and parsley inside the cloche. They aren't growing very quickly but they do look a bit more happy than the chard outside the cloche. The sedum pan garden from the patio is overwintering in the cloche also. Otherwise, it spends the winter constantly waterlogged (even with holes drilled in the bottom).
The chard outside of the cloche doesn't look too happy about the cold & snow and frosts we've had lately. I suspect it will be quick to send out new growth in the spring, however.

Covered Wagon Cloche

Remember my tunnel cloche dreams post? Between and during the rain showers this weekend, we gave it a try. I think it has more of a covered wagon look, especially before we added the ridge board. It is 8 feet long by 4 feet wide. We had the wood already and just had to pick up the piping and plastic covering. We also prepared the parts for a 2nd one which would fit in this row too. (note that the bean structure had to come down to make room for this)

In trying to convince the piping it should be more of a U shape than C or O shape, I did stick short pieces of rebar in the ends. Right now, the ends stick through the holes in the wood and into the soil a few inches, but they could be pushed in further as needed. Otherwise, it can be free standing.

Tonight, I leveled the soil, settled the wagon in place and transplanted lettuce, chard and chives. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. Next, I'll attempt the plastic covering. Any great clip ideas to hold the plastic in place? So far, I've seen workable options for a $1 a clip. The cheap ones I found were too small.

Seedling Challenges

Several weeks ago, I started some seedlings for the fall garden: lettuce, Brussels sprouts and, uhmmm, something. Was it broccoli or something else? (I was a little tired of broccoli at that time so why would I have planted so much?) Would broccoli and Brussels sprouts have similar seedlings? I either had one BS and lots of broccoli, or lots of BS and one mystery sprout. What to do, what to do? (yes, I know - mark them next time)

Finally, yesterday, I decided the giant leaves on the left, above, are for a 4 o'clock flower because I have a very similar one in the garden now. The next set of leaves will confirm. Then all of the seedlings on the right and in several more pots are Brussels sprouts.

Tonight, the lettuce seedlings and Brussels sprout seedlings (hopefully) were planted out in the garden. Swiss chard seedlings were planted out a week a go. Maybe this will give us something to eat with the pumpkins in the months ahead (stop by tomorrow for pumpkins). A little rain for a few days would settle them in very nicely.

Still harvesting beets and tonight I put some in the oven before I went out planting. My neighbor suggested it and I do like how they came out. Very sweet all on their own. Then some green beans for dinner too. I'll be freezing some this weekend as we probably won't be able to eat or share them fast enough for a while.

Seedling Update - Inside & Outside

Here are the March 24 planted tomatoes, anise hyssop, and spicy globe basil. As cute as they are, today is the day the baby tomatoes were potted up and moved out to the garage. What low temperature do you think they'll tolerate? They lean too much in the window and I'd rather they stay under the lights in the garage.
Big brother tomatoes here, were started March 3. They've been in the house ever since their purple screams, but I hope they'll now get comfortable in the garage under the light. As a side note, see the stone semi-circle and pipe out the window? The pipe is 4 feet, same as my beds. The stones are currently somewhere I don't want them so I'm considering using them as end caps for the garden beds. As they are, it has been a struggle keeping a clear line between the end of the bed and the grass. Straight ends would be more practical for grass trimming, but I think I'd like the curves.
The outside winter sowing experiment has had some good results. (I do take the caps off on the sunnier days.) They do get more light being outside. They are also should be better adjusted to the temperature patterns outside.
Lettuce seedlings and my first Swiss chard (Bright Lights). All my other lettuce seedlings were planted out in the garden last weekend, so these will be the next wave.
Spinach and broccoli here. My earlier seeding (inside) of spinach didn't sprout so I'm glad to have some here. Earlier seedlings of broccoli were also planted out in the garden last weekend.

The other seedlings now up in the milk jugs are nasturtiums. So far, the older seeds of catnip, chamomile and columbine haven't sprouted.

Inside today, I did plant some more seeds to go in the "oven." Hyssop, spicy globe basil, fennel and more nasturtiums.

So now I'm going to go curl up with a blanket. I've been cold all day. Hopefully, tomorrow won't have such a cold wind blowing and I can play a little in the newly rototilled space.

Seeding-Round 3

It's the year for seed experiments for me. Last year was the first inside seeding I'd done in years. Those cute baby basil seedlings hooked me so I'm back for more this year. With one round of garden seeding and one round of inside seeding so far this year, here is the next round.
Angie posted about winter sowing here and here. I wondered if cool season varieties sown this way might be less inclined to grow so leggy, plus move more easily to the garden. I'd sow some directly in the garden under a cloche, except it is too wet to be digging in the beds and the sweet gardener might melt in the rain. So, these 4 containers have trials of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard, catnip and chamomile (both old seeds), nasturtiums and columbine. If my labels dissolve, this might be interesting to sort out later. Thanks for the great information, Angie. These are the latest seeds in the "oven" (the cabinet under the kitchen sink that is warmed by the heating vent). Tomatoes (current 3 seedling are just not enough), the basil from Germany that sprouted so well last year, spicy globe basil (grew beautifully in AL, we'll see about WA), and anise hyssop. I believe they all like warm spots for sprouting, but then will be happy in cooler spots as seedlings. I'm still using up the planting pellets I have so that's what's inside this box.

Next up: Baby tomatoes threaten to split if not transplanted immediately. Gardener complies.