Bad harvester

This always happens to me. Stuff gets out of hand. Exhibit A: club zucchini. 

But there's also some edible stuff. Wonderful delicate lettuce from a succession planting. 
 

The garden grows...

Some highlights:

 

 
 
 

 

Status report (May 9th)

Finally the rains came! A week and a half of no rain and then 2 inches over two days. It's a great time to pull deep weeds even if its not a good time to turn the soil. Unfortunately, it's also a great time for weed seed germination. (See asparagus photo below.)

Herbs: chives led the way, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and tarragon are all ready for picking. Sage and rosemary are greening up. My parsley roots rot and have bugs every spring, so despite the classification of 'biennial', I need to plant that new. Basil is started but its a long time out. 

Perennials: sorrel is overproducing, asparagus is giving us a small handful each day, enough for salad adornments, horseradish is bolting, and rhubarb is too. The rhubarb leaves have short stalks - I'm told to top dress with cow manure. Dill has come up in carpets under both. I was hoping for that!

Roots: Beets are up with their first true leaves, but the germination wasn't uniform, I wasn't the best about watering them. Planted on April 13, they are now nearly one month in the ground. There are about 30 there, a satisfying amount for a first planting, but I better put the replanting on the to-do list. 

Stuttgarter yellow onion sets are in and a couple inches high, having been planted on April 23rd, 2 1/2 weeks ago. There are about 120 of those. 

Parsnips are in, but not up, same for first and second planting of carrots - red, purple, and orange! (Parsnips were planted April 13th (one month ago), 1st planting of carrots went in April 25th, 2nd went in May 6th.) Daikon radish is in (April 25th) and up, barely, and my leek starts are in (April 24th) and growing gangbusters! There are about 30 of them.

Garlic is always the stunning crop of spring. About 100 heads.

Peas and beans: sugar snaps are doing better than shell peas, but both are growing. Sugar snaps have even begun climbing. Both were planted on April 8th.

Fava beans are so beautiful! It's my first time growing them. They need an early start (mine were presoaked and went in the ground April 10th), and they seem to be making the most of it. Nearly 100% germination on those.

A Fedco mix of plants that attract beneficial insects has been planted in two spots, totaling about 16 square feet, and it'll go in yet another spot when the soil drains enough to work it. Beans, brussels, okra, and more greens all have spots reserved for them.

Last, but definitely not least, the cold frame gives us salad greens every night, lettuce, arugula, spinach, Swiss chard, and soon cilantro! The arugula is already starting to bolt however...

And that's where we stand on May 9th.

  

Cold frame lettuce

The first trip to the greenhouse provided some useful context. Their lettuce starts (in flats) were about the same size as mine, maybe a little smaller. BUT, the lettuce in their cold frames, planted last fall and over wintered were fully harvestable, and their spinach, planted last September and over wintered was 10 inches tall!

The cold frame arugula is also interesting... The direct seeded row was started 5 days after the transplanted row and is twice as big. It gets a little more light, it has probably been kept a little wetter since I used those cardboard planting pots and left the plants in them, and there are differences in soil.

 

 

Lessons on light

Well, I ran an experiment (with no controls and only out of desperation.)

I was headed out of town for a few days, and I knew the indoor seedlings were going to be starved for light with grey days in the forecast and no grow lights. I also knew that my cold frames may be no match for the forecast temperatures, 20-something nights and 30-something days. So I split a batch. Six of Fedco's winter mix lettuce plants went out in the cold frame and the other 6 stayed in the house in the sunniest window I have.

After 5 days, here's how they look in the house:

And here's how they look in the cold frame:

Cold frame looks to have less growth overall. No leggy stems, but no second leaves either. And the color of the leaves is changing - that could be fine, this one might be a red-leaf lettuce, or it might mean it got too cold or something.

But either way, neither croaked. I put the leggy ones in the ground in the larger cold frame today... Not sure they will recover, but I have some certainty they won't freeze. Last night the large cold frame reported a low of 23 degrees!!! But I'm not sure that was what the plants experienced. All the carrots, green onions, kale, and collard were upright and waiting for the sun this morning.

I've moved the thermometer to lay on the soil instead of hanging on the wooden wall of the cold frame, that should give me a better idea what the plants are "feeling".

the calendar

I haven't exactly been keeping up with that calendar off to the right, but I did finally get some things started.

I started 12 of Fedco's Winter Mix on Monday (3/4) and with nearly 100% germination by Friday (3/8) I'm looking forward to the 6-7 week harvest estimate. I wish I'd started them earlier, because the cold frame is ready for them now.

I started a plastic organic spinach tub full of Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds on Monday (3/4) as well, and wonder of wonders - they are germinating already! I may never go back to direct seeding carrots.

Today I started the green onions, also in a spinach tub.

Tomorrow I plan to start collard, kale, chard, basil, and cilantro.

I sort of planned not to do too much starting indoors because it's a challenge to manage light and moisture for such a long period. But the chance to gain weeks on the harvest date is teasing me into trying it again. I may set up grow lights yet.