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!

Greenhouse and seedlings update

Mid January has brought many cold days with temperatures barely above freezing if I was lucky. This didn't stop Deb and I from working on the greenhouse at the big garden.  Last week we finished the frame. This week we bundled up, made some hot tea go go, and finished the base frame, main wall, and door. The plastic just arrived from Homedepot.com, a 3mil 20'x50' sheet of polyethylene. We have invested somewhere around $120 with everything. Deb and I are waiting for a clear snow-free forecast to hang the plastic. I'm waiting for dryer soils to run the rotor-tiller inside the greenhouse beds.

The first seedlings have been planted and have sprouted. I used the new self-made syringe small soil blocker with some organic potting mix. The plants seem to be growing at a rapid rate and with good health. The cabbage and kale are the pace setters, both making fast progress and noticeable growth every day. The spinach seeds have germinated a bit slower and are finally showing a sprout pushing through the soil surface. The mini greenhouse made from an upside down Office Depot storage bin does the trick of keeping a warm humid environment for the baby plants.

In other news, the worm composter is doing well and I have spotted many new baby worms. Deb and I have planted a sweet potato in the window to grow many sprouts which will all turn into sweet potato factories in the garden. The neighborhood community garden idea in my community has been canned (apparently they think a community garden will cost money to start up..). Lastly, Deb and I have more aloe plants than we know what to do with; those things keep reproducing!!

Seed starting time is two weeks away!

It's no secret that Deb and I love greenhouses. It's finally time we have our own. I've had cold frames before, standing one to three feet above the soil. There's just something cozy about being in a warm humid greenhouse surrounded by green lush plants when it's cold, dry, and windy outside. We spent hours looking at videos online of various methods of building greenhouses. We decided on one and jumped into the project. We should be done within one to two weeks. The frame is done now.

The worms are here! 500 redworms arrived in the mail and I got right to work. The worm farm had to be prepped with some starter compost for beneficial organisms, shredded newspaper, and the supplied cocoa peat material. The worms need appropriate bedding and moisture retaining materials to sustain the right humidity they need. For now, I can only add a small hand full of kitchen scraps per week. As the worms reproduce and increase in numbers, the food intake and compost output will speed up. Each of the three trays can house up to 3,000 worms, so the 500 may turn to 9,000 in 3 months! Food consumption can reach about 5 pounds of kitchen scraps per week. The best part is, no smell.

Deb and I spread out some finished homemade compost on the big garden. Last year the garden was not organic under the care of my late grandfather. This year, it's going organic. The use of chemical fertilizers last year means there were no slow release nutrients causing diminished soil microorganism activity. This has probably rendered the soil in major need of some real fertility. The compost will help, but my secret weapon(no longer a secret?) is kelp meal. Kelp has no substantial amount of the big 3 (Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen), but it is amazingly rich in tons of other nutrients that are often in short supply. I've used kelp meal in the past and had great results. I'll be putting the kelp out mid February.

Next, we turned over & moved the massive mound of unfinished composting materials at the big garden. Although the air temperature was around 35 degrees, the inside of the pile was steaming hot. We must have a good ratio of carbon/nitrogen and good moisture.  We've probably got about 100 gallons of organic matter breaking down right now. If we weren't adding anything else, after the decomposition completes this would make somewhere around 10 gallons of compost.

In the past I've always had my seeds in various bags and envelopes. This worked for the first time sowing seeds, but when going back to them again, I found major clutter and often spilled seeds. This year I wanted a new method for keeping our seeds straight. We bought some bead organizers from the craft store. It took about an hour to organize them all, but they are all neatly tucked away in their little containers now, clearly labelled.

Two weeks till seed starting time!

Worm Farm, Mini Cold Frames, Homemade Soil Blockers

One good thing arising from January's short days, brisk temperatures, and inhospitable planting conditions is a surplus of free time to plan for the season ahead.  For me this is a chance to launch the first attack in preparation for the March 15th initial seed sowing. I've been reading various articles about a new(to mainstream) method of seed starting called soil blocks. It is the same premise as peat pots with the mesh around a compressed expandable pill of peat moss and nutrients. I have three problems with peat pots:

1. Poor/inconsistent results due to damping off or to lack of nutrients.
2. The environmental cost of using peat moss. Peat moss is not a sustainable resource (Read here if you want to know more).
3. That stupid mesh around the outside of the peat pot is still in tact in the soil 3 years later. 

A soil block is a chunk of the soil of your choice packed into a mold, then ejected to stand freely in a tray. The compressed soil is packed just tight enough so it will hold it's shape until the roots begin to fill it, and hold it together even tighter. As the roots reach the air surrounding the blocks, they gently prune themselves rather than hitting a wall(like  potted seedlings). The roots of potted seedlings wrap around the container until they become root-bound which stunts the growth of the plants later in life.

Poor choice of soil for the blocks, too Grainy.

Several companies offer products that make soil blocks at home. To start a typical garden, one would need at least two sizes. A smaller sized blocker would be needed for smaller seeds such as carrots, brassicas, etc. Larger blocks would be needed for larger seeds such as beans or corn, and for plants with long tap roots, like peas. I decided I wasn't going to spend $60 to $70 for these soil blockers, so I began the usual Google search with strings such as "home made soil blocker". I found a few sites that had exactly what I wanted (here, here, and here).

The first blocker I made was simple. I took an old unused grease syringe and cut the tip end off. I affixed a portion of the syringe nozzle to the piston for the seed pit on the soil block. The process took five minutes. This blocker is fine for the smaller seeds, but I needed a bigger one. I scavenged around the house and could not find suitable materials. I decided to use PVC from Lowes for the larger device. All in all, my cost was $17.00. 

The tip is for the seed pit

The pit is for seeds and fits the smaller sized soil blocks too!

It is made from 3" PVC

Last week I took advantage of some free time and built two quick cold frames to warm up the garden soil. The 3D cold frame was built from panels leftover from my late grandfather's blizzard-collapsed greenhouse. The 2D frame is simply plastic draped over the walls of one of the raised bed gardens. These protected beds will now stay warmer and will begin growing Spring greens a few weeks before the uncovered beds.

The worm farm is here!  The worms are still a week away. The company may do so to make sure you have the farm all set up before the worms arrive. It's like a hotel setting up the room before you arrive for your stay. You must prep the beds for the worms and make sure the right amount of food will be available for them within the first few days.