Second seed order-

I managed to submit my order last night to Pinetree.  I tried to be good about not ordering extras. I was mainly intending to get only Pruden's Purple tomatoes, Golden Zebra summer squash, a large packet of radish mix and Provider bush beans.  But i caved a bit when i remembered i didn't have a short-vining winter squash. I have never grown Butternut squash myself, though it is my favorite squash at the grocery store. I was happy to find a seeds for a compact growing  Butternut simply called "Early Butternut", so i added a packet to my order. I also found another open pollinated broccoli besides the Waltham 29- which i read may have universally degraded. I love broccoli, so i don't mind trying more than a few types so i added Nutri-Bud to my order.
I also ordered 'refills' of my two types of onions i planted last year- Ailsa Craig Exhibition white onions and Southport Red Globe.  I'm pretty sure those were the only extras so even though i did add those i think i still did well!

I also have printed my stash list and highlighted only the seeds i intend to use this year. Its a reasonable handful i think.

Mostly Final List 2011

Bush Bean- Provider
Bush Bean- Jacob's Cattle

Beet- Crosby Egyptian

Broccoli- Rapa, Spring Raab
Broccoli- Nutri-Bud
Broccoli- Purple Sprouting

Brussels Sprouts- Bubbles

Cabbage- Krautman
Cabbage- Mammoth Red Rock

Collards- Vates

Corn- Hopi Blue
Corn- Oaxacan Green

Cucumber- Beit Alpha
Cucumber- Boston Pickling
Cucumber- Spacemaster
Cucumber- Specialty White

Eggplant- Raveena
Eggplant- Slim Jim

Greens- Longevity
Greens- Arugula
Greens- Pak Choi, Red Choi
Greens- Pak Choi, Brisk Green
Greens- Rose Orach

Kale- Chinese Kai Lan Queen
Kale- Red Russian
Kale- Starbor

Kohlrabi- Early Purple Vienna
Kohlrabi- Kossack

Leeks- American Flag

Onion- Ailsa Craig Exhibition
Onion- Southport Red Globe

Radish, mix of Pinetree's mix and last year's French Breakfast, Hailstone and Round Black

Rutabaga- Laurentan

Shallot- Ambition
Shallot-Mirage
Shallot- Picador

Summer Squash- Golden Zebra

Tomato- Banana Legs
Tomato-German Orange Strawberry
Tomato- San Marzano Lampadina
Tomato- Sweet Chelsea

Winter Squash- Early Butternut

Herbs- assorted culinary herbs tucked among plants with Companion Planting theory in mind
Flowers- Nasturtiums and marigolds tucked here and there as above

From my experience last year, i think that by the time the Purple Vienna and Pak Chois are ready to harvest, it will be time (soil nice and warm) to plant the eggplant and peppers.  I'm hoping to get a good grasp of succession planting this year. The rows will also run North to South instead of East to West this year.  I think i should put the corn in the Easternmost row and cucumbers 2 rows forward, the cole crops can go between, i'm hoping this will keep them cool when the heat comes in.
I still have a good half row to fill in, likely with kales.

The number of cucumber plants is no mistake, my family loves them and i hope to learn to pickle as well.  I love my green veggies so the makeup of the garden is mostly cool, green crops that will hopefully freeze or can nicely. I also want to try making sauerkraut.  Not sure where the potatoes might go if i decide to plant any. Radishes will be sprinkled here and there as early as i can get them in.


Its sunny and warm outside, i can almost hear the snow melting!

I wonder if i am going to have enough PVC for the number of hoops i need.  I wonder if hubby is going to have a cow if i decide i need more.  He just might if i can't make do with what i've got.
I am pretty sure i won't have enough for the anchor sockets...  I can cut those and find out pretty fast since hubby bought a PVC cutter a while back.  I had forgotten this and planned to use the shoelace saw trick. It works (i have done it many times before) but it makes a mess.  The PVC cutter works just like a pruning shears.  It is much faster too.

I may need sand bags to hold down the Reemay edges, but i won't be sure until i get it all set up.

I  think i decided what to do about hoop clips.  I'm going to get some of the thinner walled PVC and split them up one side, then to protect the Reemay from rough edges, i can cut scraps of polar type fleece into pads to go between the clip and the Reemay covered hoop.   If i leave plenty of extra material around the edges it should cushion any rubbing that the wind will cause.   I have plenty of fleece fabric.

As soon as the little  one gets settled down for her late morning nap i will be out there, trying to finish up the walking rows.  After that, the hard labor will be mostly over. I am very sore from yesterday, but the idea is that i can get this hard stuff done, then rest a few whole days.  I can get some frost resistant things planted this weekend. Like radishes and salsify, kale and onions.  The rest of the rows, like where the corn is going, can be covered in black plastic to speed up the soil heating.

 Some things will need row cover as soon as they are planted.  I keep seeing cabbage butterflies in the yard and while i don't mind picking a few caterpillars out of my broccoli as i am cleaning it for the table, i don't want an infestation.

I also have to decide how i want to measure out the garden in the opposite direction. I where i am trialing so many plants this year and using up old seeds before they go bad, i need to measure carefully to fit them all in but still let them have the right amount of room. But i don't want to go through the tedium of laying the string out in the opposite direction and i know that i will trip over it all anyway.
Maybe i will just make a giant ruler out of a scrap of plywood and use the 100' tape measure. Since i will have the hoops spaced 4' apart that will also be a measurement guide.



I think i will end up with extra space in the melon/squash patch since i charted it out for one plant per hill, but i plan to plant 2 to 3 per hill and won't need half the space i charted. I might be able to put the popping sorghum in there, but that needs as much room as corn....


Also found this while puttering around, looking at more season extenders:
DIY Wall-o-Water

I happen to have a sudden surplus of 2 liter bottles. And suddenly, while wondering where to store them until next year, I saw The Light !
Take six or seven 2 liter bottles. Group them around one in the center so you have a circle of bottles.
Duct tape the group together at half-way up.
Now pull out the center bottle so you have a kind of 'donut'.
Put in the garden over a new tomato transplant. Fill with water from your hose.
Instant Wall-O-Water.
Cost, 10 cents deposit each in Michigan, plus duct tape.
Plants will get some light from through the 2 liter bottles and eventually grow above them.
The heat of the sun will warm the water in the bottles.
Six bottles times two liters is 12 liters.
That's three gallons, roughly.
One BTU is the heat stored in one gallon of water by one degree Farenheit.
If you can store twenty degrees of warmth during the day, that gets you 60 BTU's of heat stored for the cool nights.
Throwing a cap over this setup would conserve that warmth to deter fr*st.
And it's not unreasonable that you could store more heat in the water than that.
Paint the bottles on the North side of the plant black to store more heat. Add a pinch of salt to the water to push the heat storage a bit.
You might get up to 120 BTUs stored in the bottles, ideally.
Enough to last through a 38 degree night. Maybe.

Oh and i just ordered some more seeds from a small grower: Amishland Seeds
She had this odd eggplant that i have seen called "Pumpkin on a Stick"  they are very bitter though edible, but i want them as an ornamental.  I am also getting a super tiny and very early type of watermelon from her called Golden Midget.  I hope she has a quick mail out system. :o)

Housework time....

Flying fig and string-marking the garden.

The delivery estimate for my fig tree from Henry field's has changed. It used to have an estimated ship date of 5-3-10/5-10-10. Now it is scheduled for 5-11-10/5-18-10.

Oh, i can't forget to make room in the garden planner for my popping sorghum...!

11:30 am update.

It took me almost 2 hours cause i am so slow,  but i got the garden all marked out.

First thing i did was re-peg the corners. My dad plowed under one or two and in some places he tilled well within where i had marked. Its ok, but i have to recalculate some square footage because of it.

When i got the pegs in, i strung the pegs together to mark out the perimeter. Once that was done, i used our 100' flexible tape measure to mark the string with a Sharpie in 1' increments. Then i took fluorescent survey tape and made little flags and numbered them and tied them on.  If i didn't do that i would have had to run back and forth along the garden to count the Sharpie marks to be sure my rows were corresponding from one end  to the other.

 It is all strung here.
I was thrilled to see that i still ended up with 5 rows and plenty of walking room between.  The last row toward the trees is even bigger than i had expected. It is 6 feet wide so it will be the perfect spot for all the melons, cucumbers and winter  squash...and those gourds.

.
I made a 1' edging along the starting side so that we will have room to put some boards or bricks to make a sharp border,  if we don't  it will at least be a buffer between the lawn mower and the garden pants.

In the picture below, i used clothes pins to mark the per foot measurements. The pink flags were great, but it was time consuming. While i was rifling around for my other shoes, i noticed i had a whole pack of new clothespins. They will still be usable for laundry after this, so why not?

I'm hoping this won't be an issue...  but i am 1.5' short over here... This should be 28' long.  I might get out the mantis or just hand-straighten it.

.

This end is fine. :0)

Measuring the squash and melon bed.  I love extra room!
.

The apples are officially in bloom....

Are they supposed to smell?  Cause i'm not getting even a whiff...  but i have had so many bad sinus infections, my sense of smell is almost gone.

I don't know what this is all about. Maybe the branch was damaged and its being weird or maybe the Bonide can't  fix whatever this issue  is?  I'll have to look it up

I can see a chewed leaf right up against the white post.  Maybe my Bonide mixture was too weak?

Or maybe it really just reduces insect damage...  i guess that makes sense. Eliminating it entirely might not be as good as it sounds,  chemical overkill.
I don't know.  All products sell themselves as a cure-all.

Well, i am beat.  It is very nice out, but hot in the sun. The ground is uneven in the garden where it was tilled... the soft spots were a killer on my leg.  I hope to get the walkways scooped and the soil up on the beds tomorrow.

I'm debating on whether to use the Ortho snail-be-gone stuff yet.  It has been a fairly dry spring for us here.. Last year it was so wet that all my plants were snail eaten. The earwigs were coming into the house and getting trapped in our clean dishes! It was disgusting.  Since the snails have not been a bother yet, i'm not sure what to do. The earwigs have always been a problem. Every year they destroy my sweet peppers by boring holes into the fruit and then feasting on it all cozy-like from the interior. They also attack my corn,  worse than the caterpillars. But i have not seen any yet.  I don't know if i should be proactive or if it might be too late by the time i realize they are an issue...

I think i will treat...  it might rain this evening or overnight and the instructions say to use it on damp ground for best results. So i might do this later tonight or tomorrow in the morning.  I have to watch the dog around the area i put it.

Oh... and before i forget, i need to get ready to plant carrots and parsnips. This  means i need to get ready to make the seed tape for easier planting, better seed economy and  almost no thinning. So i hope to be able to make up a sort of tutorial to post for fun.

Also i need to remind myself of something i came across recently. When planting seeds directly in the ground that are the type that can only be covered thinly (like carrots and parsnips), the way to keep them moist is to cover the planted area with a board.  Plant the seeds, cover them normally, water them in and then cover with a board. Check daily for signs of germination then remove the board but continue to water frequently.

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.