Boy, it was warm today! Very humid as well, but the stiff breeze made it quite pleasant....
At 4:30pm it is in the low 80's and there were thunderstorms to the north of us, racing across the state, but they stayed well away from us and the ones that were in line to get us just faded out well before they got here. Its a little bit disappointing because i love a good thunderstorm.
I didn't take any pictures today, but the apple trees are just on the verge of blooming. There are apple trees in the area that are in bloom, but not mine quite yet.
I'm not sure how i am going to get the measuring done for the garden, i know how...but not quite when. I have to be somewhat precise with my rows and beds since i am using the hoop and row covers. I have to have 4 foot beds, and 2 foot walking rows. If the beds are wider the hoops won't fit, if it is narrower, they won't bend right and if the walking paths are too narrow i won't be able to move between them. I also want everything to be as straight as i can get them, i don't want this to be an eyesore. With the white covers on everything for the first couple months, the garden is going to be highly visible and explaining it to people who might ask will be much easier if the presentation is....well, presentable.
But i think i will re-peg all corners and tie nylon string to them, and use the big 100' tape reel to measure and mark 1' increments with a sharpie. I can use pieces of flagging tape to make the marks visible from the opposite end of the garden. The permanent marks will help in case the tape pieces slide. Then i can pound in sticks and string a line for each bed across the garden. I can use the string to guide as i use the shovel to move the soil from the paths to the raised beds. They will probably be about 6" higher than the walking paths. Since i am only doing 2 foot wide, i should be able to manage, its only going to be 30' at a time. If i can get the strings done tomorrow and then 2 rows a day, it would only take 2 days. Then i could get the hoops set up on Thursday and then get some of the hardy seedlings planted out and some of the cool crop seeds sown, put the row covers on by Friday.
I think it is interesting that the Grow Veg program says our last frost date up here is May 1. Traditionally, we don't plant here until the last full moon in May... Maybe that is playing it too safe?
I think i need to re-read some things...! If i don't have to wait almost a whole 'nother month to plant things, i won't!
And i'm really trying to remember how often we got frosts after May 1st It is not proving to be easy. I remember many warm nights (though not as warm as last night). It might be that it referrs to tenders, but we always just did it all at once anyway. Maybe an online weather site has some sort of Almanac that took note of frosts and daily conditions. maybe i will have to commit more to this Blog and take note of daily highs, lows and presence of frost. I should get a soil thermometer too, that would be a useful piece of information as well. I despise having such a horrible memory!
But that is what this blog is supposed to help with.
The concept of multiple plantings is sort of new to me, i know it can be done and i think i remember my grandfather doing it when i was little, but it isn't something my parents took the time to do. So i have had to learn to expect to plant more than one thing in one spot in the garden. But working more than full time since before i got a house, i never had the time to think about it as much as i would have liked to, gardening has only been a weekend dream until now. So this i guess, is the year to unlearn some things now that my garden should be big enough to be a working garden and not just a hold out for 'someday' ... that day has finally arrived. The GrowVeg program has a custom guide that shows when to plant successive crops- if applicable. Its neat how it makes a chart of all the things placed in the garden plan. It also sends email reminders for planting times, and i think it also lets you plan the garden monthly as well as having a crop rotation guide.
My main issue with crop placement has been to make sure the tall stuff goes to the north side. When we planted the Jerusalem Artichokes, we were in a hurry, didn't have much time to plan and they had to be out of the way. The North side of the garden is closest to the house and if it was the only thing there, they would have gotten trampled.
Now as it is, i am going to have a shady spot next to them on the far side. I know the 3 Sisters style of planting... i have never tried it since my corn likes to fall over because of the wind alone. I can't imagine what squash vines would do to them... like watching the slow-motion vegetative version of a pack of wolves dragging down a megaloceros . So... maybe the JA's could handle the squashes? I have read about people saving the JA stems to use as stakes for next year's crop propping. Not as strong as bamboo stakes, but good enough to be useful. Maybe sturdy enough during growth to become supports?
So i put the vining things over there to try it out
The tomatoes and corn are going to be all the way to the Northern side, i am going to put the tomatoes at the front of that row and have the corn to the back i think... the shed can perhaps shield the corn from the wind and hopefully the fence will add some more protection.
Ok, off to check the preceding years' weather...
Showing posts with label garden planner program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden planner program. Show all posts
Monday, May 3, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Fun planning, long-term seed storage
This is fun!
I played with the GrowVeg program and it is really quite fun.
I do need to do my garden plan in a sideways orientation rather than up and down because it obliterates the veggie lables otherwise. I didn't realize it will let me map out my whole yard, not just the actual garden plot. So i have more things i want to play with... but in a half hour of playing to learn the system, i came up with this:
I really think i will subscribe. It lets you customize your varieties, their size, spacing and names. If they don't have a veggie in their list, they have a 'blanks' for you to customize- and it allows for much detail. It let me put in my paths in and it even has fruit trees. I'm sure there are more little features, but after just a half hour of just playing, those are what i found.
I did a test print also and it looks really neat, clean and comprehensive.
I'm going to concentrate more on detail for my actual working plan and i will let me put marks where my hoops will be. This will help me measure more accurately for the spacing when i actually get out there.
Now that i have a better guide on space needs of each plant, i will have a better idea of how many plants i will need and how many seeds i need to sow and which plants can be multicropped and companioned. If i subscribe, this could be a great tool to keep me more organized next year. I will be able to know just how many of what is needed and i won't have a ton of extra seedlings. I can plant only what i need.
Another thing i was thinking about is proper seed storage. Now i admit i have had awesome luck with germinating old seed, but i'd rather be sure that i can be sure. So around the time when college gets out, i plan to see if i can find a good deal on a used mini refrigerator. I want a dedicated storage place for my seeds to hang out.
From what i have read, seeds stored at cooler temps and very low humidity can be kept extremely viable for 10 years or more. Silica gel is used to keep humidity down and little refrigerators are adjustable and if i plan to use it for seeds only, it won't be opened much throughout the year. That means there will be few temperature fluctuations in their lifetime.
Gardening authors like Steve Solomon even encourage you to buy the bigger packets of seed of many types of veggies and store them properly to save some money. His math does work out in favor of this. Particularly if you like the varieties and plan to plant them every year.
This would also be good if i try the Eliot Coleman method of low tunnels in the late fall, i'd need to buy extra seeds to keep us in cold season crops longer since my season for them would be extended... i might need twice as many seeds each year, so for 8-10 years worth of seed in a bigger packet rather than multiple small packets, the difference could be quite dramatic.
That is if my attempts are successful.
House work.... then more GrowVeg playing.
I played with the GrowVeg program and it is really quite fun.
I do need to do my garden plan in a sideways orientation rather than up and down because it obliterates the veggie lables otherwise. I didn't realize it will let me map out my whole yard, not just the actual garden plot. So i have more things i want to play with... but in a half hour of playing to learn the system, i came up with this:
I really think i will subscribe. It lets you customize your varieties, their size, spacing and names. If they don't have a veggie in their list, they have a 'blanks' for you to customize- and it allows for much detail. It let me put in my paths in and it even has fruit trees. I'm sure there are more little features, but after just a half hour of just playing, those are what i found.
I did a test print also and it looks really neat, clean and comprehensive.
I'm going to concentrate more on detail for my actual working plan and i will let me put marks where my hoops will be. This will help me measure more accurately for the spacing when i actually get out there.
Now that i have a better guide on space needs of each plant, i will have a better idea of how many plants i will need and how many seeds i need to sow and which plants can be multicropped and companioned. If i subscribe, this could be a great tool to keep me more organized next year. I will be able to know just how many of what is needed and i won't have a ton of extra seedlings. I can plant only what i need.
Another thing i was thinking about is proper seed storage. Now i admit i have had awesome luck with germinating old seed, but i'd rather be sure that i can be sure. So around the time when college gets out, i plan to see if i can find a good deal on a used mini refrigerator. I want a dedicated storage place for my seeds to hang out.
From what i have read, seeds stored at cooler temps and very low humidity can be kept extremely viable for 10 years or more. Silica gel is used to keep humidity down and little refrigerators are adjustable and if i plan to use it for seeds only, it won't be opened much throughout the year. That means there will be few temperature fluctuations in their lifetime.
Gardening authors like Steve Solomon even encourage you to buy the bigger packets of seed of many types of veggies and store them properly to save some money. His math does work out in favor of this. Particularly if you like the varieties and plan to plant them every year.
This would also be good if i try the Eliot Coleman method of low tunnels in the late fall, i'd need to buy extra seeds to keep us in cold season crops longer since my season for them would be extended... i might need twice as many seeds each year, so for 8-10 years worth of seed in a bigger packet rather than multiple small packets, the difference could be quite dramatic.
That is if my attempts are successful.
House work.... then more GrowVeg playing.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
A couple more links to bookmark...
This is a nice site with cute and clean graphics. They have seed sowing and transplanting times in neat little graphic charts.
I printed them out and put them in my 3-ring binder. I'm a visual person so i really like these comprehensive little images:
http://www.ourveggiegarden.com/GuideTime.html
The rest of the site is nicely organised and illustrated. There are tips and suggestions as well as season-spanning photos of their garden's growth.
This site is to a garden planner software. I am seriously considering using this, i think it will eliminate some guesswork and i could easily make multiple orientations to mull over. I plan on beginning the free 30 day trial tomorrow when i have time to sit down and play with it. They ask $25 for subscription, and i don't think that is a bad thing. I watched the little demo and it looks like it has all the little details i need.
You can plot your garden or bed size, place your crops, and the crops have a little shaded halo to show how much space the plant needs. They apparently have a database for Square Foot method as well. I am hoping to see if they will let you do a hybrid garden- by that i mean classic spacing and square foot spacing in the same chart.
http://www.growveg.com/demo.aspx
Since reading Steve Solomon's "Gardening When it Counts" i have gone a bit skeptical on the SFG method. According to Mr Solomon, just because you can grow 60 lettuces in so many square inches, your lettuce might look pretty and provide a lot of food, the available nutrient level won't be very impressive. He stresses the idea that your home grown veggies should provide maximum nutrition, especially if you intend to go 'off grid' when it comes to veggies. Nutritionally deficient home-grown veggies are worse than less fresh store-bought and worse than none at all. I think i agree with this. The majority of his book is dedicated to explaining and teaching how to achieve the proper fertile balance of the garden soil, not to make the veggies grown in it as healthy looking as possible, but to make sure the veggies have every opportunity to become as highly nutritious and productive as possible.
So to help maximize the nutrient value of each plant, that recently maligned "old fashioned" wide spacing of plants, is actually the best way after all. As if the farmers of old didn't know what they were doing all along.
But there are some items that i am not really looking to maximize the nutrient potential, i just want to snack on them. Things like radishes, or things that don't mind being in poor soil, but do very well when intensively planted in extra fertile soil.
I do want to try intensive plantings of corn. With a small garden, there isn't any other method that will give you more than a couple dozen ears in a season besides intensive. And if we aren't subsisting on corn, i'm not worried that it won't be as nutrient rich... i don't think corn is all that good for anyone anyhow.
But my cole crops, carrots, tomatoes, leafy greens and green beans... they must be as nutritious as possible because i want those to make up the bulk of our summer and fall eating. The squashes also need to be up there nutrient-wise to have over the winter months when we won't have as much fresh veggies to choose from.
Anyway, fascinating book. And great websites with good info.
I'm going to have to make an entry of just Bookmarks one day. That way if i ever have another destroyed laptop scare, i at least won't lose my Bookmarks permanently. I know there is a way to savy the bookmark list to my external drive, but i would have to update it often. Here i can just mention the new bookmarks every few days when i come across one.
I need to not worry so much about this blog being dull. Its really just a journal after all... mainly for myself since i have such a bad memory. Blogs have more bells and whistles than any of the free journal programs i have tried. This blog site is very easy to use and i won't lose it like i did the last time my computer crashed... i lost the journal entries i kept during my pregnancy. That was really upsetting. Had i blogged it, they would still be safe and sound.
Oh well, off to find something constructive to do...
I printed them out and put them in my 3-ring binder. I'm a visual person so i really like these comprehensive little images:
http://www.ourveggiegarden.com/GuideTime.html
The rest of the site is nicely organised and illustrated. There are tips and suggestions as well as season-spanning photos of their garden's growth.
This site is to a garden planner software. I am seriously considering using this, i think it will eliminate some guesswork and i could easily make multiple orientations to mull over. I plan on beginning the free 30 day trial tomorrow when i have time to sit down and play with it. They ask $25 for subscription, and i don't think that is a bad thing. I watched the little demo and it looks like it has all the little details i need.
You can plot your garden or bed size, place your crops, and the crops have a little shaded halo to show how much space the plant needs. They apparently have a database for Square Foot method as well. I am hoping to see if they will let you do a hybrid garden- by that i mean classic spacing and square foot spacing in the same chart.
http://www.growveg.com/demo.aspx
Since reading Steve Solomon's "Gardening When it Counts" i have gone a bit skeptical on the SFG method. According to Mr Solomon, just because you can grow 60 lettuces in so many square inches, your lettuce might look pretty and provide a lot of food, the available nutrient level won't be very impressive. He stresses the idea that your home grown veggies should provide maximum nutrition, especially if you intend to go 'off grid' when it comes to veggies. Nutritionally deficient home-grown veggies are worse than less fresh store-bought and worse than none at all. I think i agree with this. The majority of his book is dedicated to explaining and teaching how to achieve the proper fertile balance of the garden soil, not to make the veggies grown in it as healthy looking as possible, but to make sure the veggies have every opportunity to become as highly nutritious and productive as possible.
So to help maximize the nutrient value of each plant, that recently maligned "old fashioned" wide spacing of plants, is actually the best way after all. As if the farmers of old didn't know what they were doing all along.
But there are some items that i am not really looking to maximize the nutrient potential, i just want to snack on them. Things like radishes, or things that don't mind being in poor soil, but do very well when intensively planted in extra fertile soil.
I do want to try intensive plantings of corn. With a small garden, there isn't any other method that will give you more than a couple dozen ears in a season besides intensive. And if we aren't subsisting on corn, i'm not worried that it won't be as nutrient rich... i don't think corn is all that good for anyone anyhow.
But my cole crops, carrots, tomatoes, leafy greens and green beans... they must be as nutritious as possible because i want those to make up the bulk of our summer and fall eating. The squashes also need to be up there nutrient-wise to have over the winter months when we won't have as much fresh veggies to choose from.
Anyway, fascinating book. And great websites with good info.
I'm going to have to make an entry of just Bookmarks one day. That way if i ever have another destroyed laptop scare, i at least won't lose my Bookmarks permanently. I know there is a way to savy the bookmark list to my external drive, but i would have to update it often. Here i can just mention the new bookmarks every few days when i come across one.
I need to not worry so much about this blog being dull. Its really just a journal after all... mainly for myself since i have such a bad memory. Blogs have more bells and whistles than any of the free journal programs i have tried. This blog site is very easy to use and i won't lose it like i did the last time my computer crashed... i lost the journal entries i kept during my pregnancy. That was really upsetting. Had i blogged it, they would still be safe and sound.
Oh well, off to find something constructive to do...
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