Holy Smokes, The Asparagus has awaken!

This week's blog discusses overall progress and growth. Everything is greener, the seedlings are bigger and starting to show their true leaves, and the greenhouse is nearing its first harvest of microgreen thinnings; but the exciting news this week: The Asparagus shoots have begun rising. They have been growing about 1/4-1/2" per day. I've spotted around 12 spears so far, with more popping up every day. Since this is only the second year growing the asparagus in this location, we are not supposed to harvest them yet, to help establish a strong deep root structure. I've decided that it can't hurt to cut a few spears to make a small meal. We should be chowing down on some fresh young asparagus early next week.
(Click on the pictures for bigger image)

The asparagus isn't the only thing waking up for winter hibernation. The roses, blueberries, and blackberries are sprouting their buds; the first sign of Spring growth. The parsley(biennial) has begin growing leaves after its winter dormancy.

The seedlings are doing fantastic. The strongest performance award is going to the tomato plants. Those suckers are germinating almost 100%, and are growing quick and straight. I'm going to try and transplant every last tomato seedling, including the ones that must be thinned out. Those hairy fibers you can see on the stalks will turn into roots if kept moist, so i will simply cut the thinnings off with scissors when ready to transplant.

In the greenhouse, things are looking good.. and tasty. Deb and I have decided, when we thin out the plants that are very overcrowded, we are going to make a micro-green salad. This may happen this weekend. The lettuce, brassicas(kale, collards, brussels, etc.) and spinach are all running into one another in competition for sunlight and root space. This is a good problem to have, since the most tasty and tender of greens are the young ones. Other greenhouse news; the artichokes and celery are finally sprouting. The peas are starting to get their climbers, and are beginning to attach to the fencing. There are several pots of assorted annual flowers started inside the gh, all beginning to sprout.

Last week I spotted mole holes in the raised beds at the small garden. Apparently, Spring brings about hungry moles feeding their young. Moles do not eat veggies or plant roots. Moles eat grubs, which eat plant matter. Moles are not necessarily bad for your garden, except they often accidentally burrow through plant roots. The other problem with moles; voles(small ground burrowing mice, that love tasty plant matter) often use mole tunnels to get to your vegetables. Last week I sprinkled an organic-approved mole repellant on the raised beds. The repellant consists of castor bean oil. Castor beans and their oil is toxic for humans to consume. The smell is highly offensive to ground burrowing rodents, so monthly applications pending no big rain storms, can keep them away. I also ordered two ultrasonic mole repellers. These ground probes emit a sound that travels about 30 feet in each direction through the ground. The 3 C batteries last about 18 months. Each probe cost me $15 bucks plus shipping. One is at the small garden, and one is at the big garden/greenhouse. So far I have not seen any new holes appear. 

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Total produce count for the year:

1/8 lb dark greens

1/16 lb micro greens

The first produce of the season

It's March 1st! The farmers markets aren't going yet, but I am eating fresh local produce tonight. From the small garden, I picked some overwintered arugula, kale, turnip greens, and mache(corn salad).  It's not a huge exciting meal, but there's something special about the first home-grown eats of the season.

One of the goals I had in mind when I started this blog is a tally of all the produce grown by Deb and I.  Today will be the first addition to this count; 1/8 pound of greens.

In other news, the self watering bucket planters project has started. I decided not to mess around with fittings at the entry and exit to each bucket reservoir. Instead I simply ran a garden hose through each bucket and drilled an 1/8" hole in the hose. When the water reservoir fills, the overflow just below the soil bucket will release excess water.  The trick to this system working is that the lower bucket must have a waterproof seal around the hose entry/exit.  I have used marine grade silicone sealant to seal the gap. On the outside of the bucket I will next use foam insulation, the kind you use around windows and doors to stop air transfer.  The foam insulation is glue that expands and finds any possible leak, then hardens.

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Total produce count for the year:

1/8 lb dark greens

Pictures of the seedling wicking system

As promised here are some pics.

Today I planted a various assortment of flowers. Some worth mentioning are Zinnias, Pansies, Echinacea, Marigolds. I posted a picture of the fungicide because I am now using it on my seedlings, and I gave everything in the greenhouse a quick spray today.

We are over the hump with a majority of winter behind us.  Last week, we experienced a few nice days, with one day even breaking mid 70s. With days like that in February, there is hope that Spring is coming and green will be popping up everywhere soon!

Deb and I started two low tunnels this week next to the greenhouse. Before covering the rows, we raked dirt out of walkways, piled into loose tall rows. They are like raised beds, but without the wooden frames. The hoops are slightly flimsy, and the 50mph wind tested them significantly. The goal is to warm up the soil under the covers, using the greenhouse effect. We planted some of the cool weather crops underneath, pretty much all the brassicas. We also planted some herbs (fennel, celery, dill, parsley, and basil). The perennial herbs are at our house, not the big garden. We hope to be uncovering the low tunnels in a matter of weeks. The hoops will remain, and row cover material may be used after the plastic to shut out the bugs. Deb looked at the new low tunnels and said "The greenhouse had babies". 

We decided to start some more seedlings this week. After the damping off disease that claimed over half of our last seedlings, We decided against a top watering system. After a little research, We decided We could use our current seed starting trays as a wicking self bottom watering system.  With each tray there are 5 holes on the bottom. I ran four cotton strings about 8 inches long through each hole. About 2-3 inches were below the hole, to wick the water upward. The rest of each string was laid on the tray bottom in a star pattern. On top of the strings was laid a paper towel. On top of the paper towel lies the seedlings. The goal of this wicking system: The string pulls water up from the reservoir below, spreads it out so that the paper towel can evenly suck it up, and the seedlings will absorb the water from the paper towel. It appears to be working, since this morning some lettuce had sprouted.  At the moment I do not have pictures; look for them in the next post. In the self watering trays we started every veggie and herb we have in small quantities, except for the direct sow/taproot plants. It's the first wave of the Summer crops. If the plants get to big before the last frost date we will just squeeze them into the greenhouse after we've harvested the Spring greens and such. 

This self bottom watering system got me thinking. Could I do it on a larger scale?  I have found websites where people have connected 10 or more 5 gallon bucket containers that are self watering.  Deb and I decided that we would like to play with this idea since we have about a dozen or so buckets that aren't being used. It won't be "self" watering, but it will be easy watering. The system is going to use the rain barrel at the big garden/greenhouse. When the flow valve is opened from the barrel, the water will flow by gravitational pressure to a hose entering the lower bucket of a 2 bucket system. As that water chamber fills, the water will flow into another water chamber in another 2 bucket system.. and so on until all the chambers on each bucket system are filled. The key to this working is a wicking system for the soil. Many folks use a dirt-filled funnel inserted into a hole in the top bucket. My system is going to use a cheaper material: red plastic cups. They are tapered, and they are cheap. A few holes punched into them should be all thats needed for the water to wick up the soil to the plant's root system. I was going to try and build the system today, but the flu got me and I'm stuck in bed. 

We've put a small space heater in the greenhouse. With some seedlings starting to sprout, it wasn't worth risking a frost inside. The heater is set to low, keeping the temperature at least 50 degrees. And man o man are the seedlings coming up. Even though i'm sick, I had to get over to the gh and see what was coming up. Cabbage, lettuce, spinach, kale, miner's lettuce,  radishes, kohlrabi, peas; they are all sprouting.

Seedlings: Without defeat you cannot appreciate victory

Over half of our seedlings fell victim to a juvenile plant disease known as damping off. This disease begins its attack in humid, stale air.  When Deb and I started our miniature incubator greenhouses in the living room, we didn't realize that we were creating the perfect home for not only young plants, but this parasitic micro fungus as well. With the commercial seed starting medium we chose, we believed we had sterile spore free soil. That's what we get for making assumptions.

Once the first few seedlings went limp and rotted off at the ground line, it was too late. Each morning we checked the tray and found 10 or so more dying or dead seedlings.  In a late attempt at recovery, I removed the top of the tray, and moved it under the grow light 24 hours a day.  I sprinkled the soil surface with cinnamon, which is said to be a natural anti-fungal agent.  I also made a concentrated garlic spray from 6 cloves and about 20 oz of water.  It didn't matter. Many of the resources I read said that prevention is the best way to avoid infant plant death from damping off.

This morning, Deb and I took the remaining 40% of the seedlings and planted them in the ground, in the greenhouse at the big garden.  We figured they would have a better chance at fighting off a light frost than the damping off.  With soil blocks as small as we used, it was very difficult to properly manage the moisture. If they became too dry, they would die from drought. If they were too wet, the soil surface would remain moist, inviting the fungi to stay for a visit. "Fungi is not such a fun guy" says Debbie.

At the greenhouse, we decided to roll the dice and plant all spring seeds. Included in the sowing was lettuce, kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, turnips, radishes, endive, miner's lettuce, celery, basil, fennel, dill, carrots, potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, collards, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and artichoke. Planted last week was several strawberry transplants that overwintered. The strawberries have already started making fresh green leaves in the greenhouse.

A bit later, while Debbie turned the steaming compost pile over, I cut the top off a plastic 50 gallon drum that was previously used for a rotating composter. It will be used this year to house sweet potatoes. In the fall we will turn the container over, and have easy access to 50 to 100 pounds of sweet potatoes. One trip to the local bulk nursery will fill that container up.  A truckload of compost/soil mixture costs about $30 bucks and that would fill up this 50 gallon drum several times over. The rest will be used to top off the new raised bed we plan on building at the home garden.

Later I fired up the Troy Built rotor tiller. Debbie spread out the kelp meal while I worked the dirt.  The soil is now loose and broken up down to about 10 inches. Earlier in the week, I scattered several pounds of a chicken-based organic fertilizer on top of the soil, so that was worked in today as well. The moisture of the dirt today was perfect for the tilling, so the clods were to a minimum and the work came easy. When I went to the deepest setting on the Troy Built, I did have the machine try to run away from me a few times, but that is always to be expected when digging 10 inches below ground. When I finished up tilling the soil to satisfactory for planting, Deb and I covered up the entire garden in cardboard and plastic sheeting. This will keep the weed recovery to a minimum, help the sun heat the soil temperature, and make sure that any precipitation won't erode and leach the nutrients that we left in the soil.  About 30 days from now, we will uncover the dirt, rake rows, and plant!