Potatoes and Onions

The weather held on for us this weekend so I was able to get in the garden and dig around. I put cages around my three tiny Strawberries. I also got the kids to help me with my potato barrel. First you need a barrel, drill some holes in the bottom and put about 6 inches of dirt in.

Then Emma cut three red potatoes that had started to sprout into three pieces ensuring there is some growth on each piece. Those go in the barrel.

Annie covered them with Peat and we watered them.

Annie also helped me put onion sets in my friends dad gave me. Onions and shallots. I read online this morning that you shouldn't cover the onion bulbs. This goes on the long long list of things I will do wrong this season. I really hope the shallots take. I like shallots alot. The girls also transplanted mescalum from the basement greenhouse and romaine from the cold frame. The mescaulm was tender so Emma put them under mini milk jug green houses. the lettuce is gonna need nitrogen. I may steal some worm castings from the worm big to make sure the lettuce stays strong.

Finally Radishes went in on Saturday morning. I see sprouts in some of my wintersown containers and have my fingers crossed.

St. Patrick's Snow Storm

"Never yet was a springtime, when the buds forgot to bloom."...Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

We will have to keep this quote in mind on this St. Joseph's day. This, because in my backyard at least, there is still about 2 inches of snow. I finished the pea trellis and planted the peas last Wednesday so now i have my fingers crossed I didn't kill the peas. It looks OK but is a little short (about 4.5 or 5 feet). I may have to figure out how extend it.

In addition , I drilled the holes in the bottom of my future potato barrel, and planted the tomatoes I had gotten from wintersown.org (black krim, Amana orange, monte carlo, yellow perfection and yellow pear). They are safe and secure in the basement.

According to the Old Farmers Almanac "If St. Joseph’s Day is. clear, so follows a fertile year." Thinks look good today so I should have nothing to worry about this season.

Starting Sugar Snap Peas

"How luscious lies the pea within the pod."
Emily Dickinson

1 packet of peas.
5 paper towels
1 plastic storage bag


Wet the paper towels spread the seeds, wrap em all up and put them in the bag. dont seal the bag they need to breath. put them in the green house for a coulpe days. plant those suckers.

Not My Job

"I'm not really a career person. I'm a gardener, basically."-- George Harrison

Weather.com tells me that the temperature is going to 55. That makes having to drive into Philly, climbing to the ninth floor of 411 N. Broad St and working on servers a real chore. I mean I have sprouts!

Compost needs to be turned, the pea trellis needs to be erected, and based on the videos I watched on the PBS's Victory Garden website, I wanna double dig. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/video/video_04.html

I have a willow tree directly in front of my Garden Beds. The rumor is that the roots of that tree are at least as big as the tree itself, and shallow. I am trying some raised beds closest to the tree. However, behind that I wanna double dig the soil to make sure I have a good base for the tomatoes that will go there. Also I had tomatoes is that same spot last year so enriching the soil should prevent heirloom diseases.

After I double dig, I wanna take this pile of wood and create beds, and build a pea trellis. After pictures to follow.

Filching a Potato Barrel

For a while know I've wanted to try making a potato barrel. I got the idea from one of my favorite websites "Gardening as an Anarchist Plot" http://www.rain.org/~philfear/garden.html

I have been running past a 30 gallon container that someone left under a billboard on the way into Pitman for weeks now. It finally occurred to me the other day that this would make perfect vehicle for the barrel. So I snagged it yesterday.

I already have the blue lake bush bean seeds I will plant in the top of the barrel once its full. I'm thinking I'm gonna try some baking potatoes.

Starting Seeds in the Basement

I started dill and all of my lettuce varieties in the basement today. They are in a 50/50 mix of compost and peat.

Foul Weather Gardener

The forecast is 18 degrees Fahrenheit tonight and only going up to 28 tomorrow. Despite the fact that we have moved daylight savings time up two weeks this year I'm having a hard time justifying putting Mescalum , Romaine, leaf lettuce radishes and dill in the green house in the basement. When you have to put the flats inside over night just so they are warm enough to put the seeds in, that should be warning enough. Warning for some.

I went to organincgardening.com this morning and exported the Seed Starting Plan from their website to Excel. Then I found New Jersey's proposed Frost Free Date from the Rutgers Extension Service on the Web. ( http://gloucester.rce.rutgers.edu/ ) Which for us is May 15th according to the Rutgers site. I began to plot out the garden calendar for the spring. I noticed some of the things according to their calculations should not go in for weeks. I was outside yesterday making flats and it was 30 degrees outside.

There is no way I'm gonna hold off until those suggested times. I just can't. I need justification to bump everything up at least two weeks. My southern exposed sun room and this quote where all the justification I needed. "The fair-weather gardener, who will do nothing except when the wind and weather and everything else are favorable, is never master of his craft."-- Henry Ellacombe

I know that my wife would like me to heed this quote in areas where I could make some side work money but alas here is my tentative calendar.

YOUR SEED-STARTING PLAN    
The Spring Frost-Free Date in My Garden is May 1st    
CROP   START INSIDE WEEKS SAFE TO SET OUT TIME  SETTING OUT DATE
              
Basil   March 17th  6    1 week after     May 8th
Beets*              4_6  2 weeks before   Apr 14th
BroccoliMarch 17th  4_6  2 weeks before   Apr 14th
Cabbage March 17th  4_6  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
CaulifloMarch 17th  4_6  2 weeks before   Apr 14th
CollardsMarch 17th  4_6  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
Corn*               2_4  0 to 2 weeks aft May 8th
CucumberApril 1st   3_4  1 to 2 weeks aft May 8th
EggplantMarch 11th  8_10 2 to 3 weeks aft May15th
Kale    March 17th  4_6  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
Kohlrabi            4_6  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
Lettuce March 7th   4_5  3 to 4 weeks bef Apr 1st
Melons  April 1st   3_4  2 weeks after    May 15th
Mustard*            4_6  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
Okra*               4_6  2 to 4 weeks aft May 15th
Onions  March 10th  6_8  4 weeks before   Apr 1st
Parsley March 10th  9_10 2 to 3 weeks bef Apr 14th
Peas*               3_4  6 to 8 weeks bef Mar 15th
Peppers March 7th   6_14 2 weeks after    May 15th
PumpkinsMarch 17th  3_4  2 weeks after    May 15th
Spinach March 10th  4_6  3 to 6 weeks bef Apr 15th
Squash  March 17th  3_4  2 weeks after    May 8th
Swiss chMarch 10th  4_6  2 weeks before   Apr 14th
TomatoesMarch 17th  6_8  1 to 2 weeks aft May 8th
"* These crops are usually direct-seeded outdoors, but they can be started inside."

Full Worm Moon

My lovely wife pointed out that March 3rd is the Full Worm Moon. This is described by the Old Farmers Almanac as

• Full Worm - March Moon As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.

Hear that people! "the end of winter" Yipppeeeee.

It is fitting then that my daughters and I put the worms in the worm bin last night.

I ran about 3/4 of the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer through the paper shredded and put it in a bucket of water and let it soak. Then the wet shredded newspaper, 2 cups of sand, the rinds from 1/4 of a water melon, some coffee grounds, and an egg shell went in the bin. The red worms (Eisenia foetida) went in next.

Finally a wet brown paper bag and the lid of the worm bin.

I checked the bin this morning and almost all of the worms had disappeared into the wet newspaper. I'm anxious to see how long it takes them to break down whats in the bin.