The Spring has Sprung

The weather is still cold but the garden is open for another season of growing. I brought my toolbox over to the garden. But I have yet to find the time to set up the fences and to sow the seeds. The peas must go in the garden first among the lettuces and radishes. I have also started some seeds indoor like tomato, tomatillo, ground cherry tomato and cucamelon. They are too young to go into the garden. Once the soil temperature reaching up to 60 degrees F I can transplant them outside. By then the green beans and cucumbers can go into the soil.

I had a good time harvesting lots of cucumber last year. I am planning to use the same method this year. Last year, I grow lots of cucumber seeds and I let them rambling on the ground. The cucumbers are abundance and they are very juicy and sweet. I cannot wait to see what happen this time in the garden. My hours in the garden might be lesser but I think I can managed.

I hope I get lots of rain this season. It is difficult to water the plants everyday. The garden area is 30 by 60 foot. I had to use the pump and it usually take up to an hour to water all the plants.

I will deeply thinking of you Grandma when I am in the garden raking and hoeing the soil. May you rest in peace.

Early Planting 2015

This week was a wet week in my neighborhood. We had tornado watch and lots of rain the other day.  The temperature remains between 40 and 50 degree F.  This temperature is too cold for pepper and tomato plants. But I still planted my pepper seedlings and tomato plants in the garden.  I covered them with empty bottles from wind and cold temperature. I checked on them yesterday and they seems to be growing very well.

I have yet to see the lettuces and radishes seeds sprouting. Even the peas are not coming up yet.  I am sure the seeds will break out from their dormancy as soon as the temperature remains high for several days.  It surely does feels like winter at times despite being in April. For this year’s growing season, I will plant all of my cucumber and squash seeds. I have so many collections over the years and I think it is time for them to hit the ground.

I did sow the yellow pear shape cherry tomato and the Carolina Gold tomato. These two packets of old seeds sprouted beautifully. I am giving away some of them to my co-worker. I have planted some in the garden with protection from the milk jugs.  I still have some more in my kitchen that I am waiting for the soil to warm up more before I planted them in the garden.

Besides cucumber, squash, tomato and pepper, I also plan to grow more watermelon. I have a few packets of old seeds of watermelon that I need to use.  I have sowed about 4 30-foot rows of peas. They are mostly sugar snap peas. I will also grow snow peas for my mother in law. I still have a few more pea seeds that need to go into the ground.

A friend of mine gave kang-kung seeds. I am growing them in a container at home. The garden is too dry and might not be suitable for them. She also gave some red a-foot long beans. That is very interesting and I cannot wait to grow them. In returned, I gave her my favorite purple string beans. In the past, I never get any disease or bugs on the purple string beans. Their beans are prolific. The taste is great. The purple beans will turn green when cooked. It was very easy to grow them.

I have planted all of the onion sets. I hope they are going to grow well despite the cold temperature. In between the onion, I sowed the beet, kohlrabi and the carrot seeds. I am pretty much finished putting in the seeds in the garden.

Once the weather is warmer, I will plant the Malabar spinach, lemongrass and stevia plants. They are rooting nicely in my kitchen. Soon they are ready to go into the ground.

Happy gardening!

 

Garden Update

The temperature can get very cold at night. I went to bed last night and had to pull my blanket up to my chin. All night I was thinking how cold it will be for my babies in the garden. I hope they are doing fine.
I think the collard greens are happy with the cold weather. They are young transplants I bought from the local farmers. I have 16 plants of collard greens. I forgot to ask the type of collards I've bought.

The peas geminated nicely. They received a nightly soaking prior to planting.

The radishes also had a nice overnight soaking and they are all sprouting.

I did the same method for the swiss card and beets. They are all sprouting faster than those without soaking.

I have about half of the garden plot remain empty. I did not get the time to start my tiller yet. I plan to till the plot before I put in more vegetables. In the meantime, I have been to at least 2 series of the master gardener seminar. There are so many techniques to learn about gardening.

This season, I am using some compost to germinate the seeds. I have the turnips, squashes, onion, cucumber, beans, and flowers like the sun flowers, the marigold, the nasturtiums, coleus and viola seeds in the ground.

I will try to grow anything in the garden but I do not grow potato or cabbage due to insect damage. New addition to my plant list for this year is the broad beans and the asparagus peas.

Another new technique I am using in my garden this year is to cover the new seedlings with a plastic jug. The plastic container will create a moisture environment to the plant. It will protect them from cold night as well as protecting them from strong wind and direct sun. I will remove the cover once the soil temperature rise and the young plants are stronger. I ran out of the empty milk jug, so I use old newspaper to shade the plants.

Another technique I am using for the garden is for the pest control. I am using a mixture of a cup of mouth wash and 1 teaspoon of mild soap to 2 gallons of water. This remedy will kill all the bad bugs which try to kill my radishes, spinach, lettuces and collard greens. So far, the plants are taking them.

Two weeks ago...

I soaked the seeds in some water. My trial was for radishes, beets, swiss chard and peas. I soaked them overnight. They plumped up nicely the next morning.

The next day I planted the seeds in this bed. I covered the seeds with compost.

Above are the 3 rows of sugar snap peas (Cascadia), super sugar snap and wando peas.

Above are the young plants of collard greens. I am using newspaper to mulch the bed.

Two weeks later, all of the seeds geminated, including the spinach and lettuces although I did not soak them prior to planting.

The peas came up too...

I've added rows for cucumbers, chives and asparagus peas.

Happy gardening!

Sprouting seeds indoors.

Seeing snow on the ground at the end of march is normal in my neighborhood. But it never stop me from sprouting the vegetable seeds indoors. This time I am using any containers I can find in the house. I am using some empty 2 litres soda bottles, yogurt cups and plastic jars or containers for peanuts or cashews. So far I have sprouted the sugar baby watermelon, okra, tomato all varieties,  spinach, zucchini, bunching onion, chives, head lettuces, asparagus peas and eggplants. I am excited to see them growing.

Besides sprouting the vegetables that are eventually going into the garden, I am also sprouting the mung bean sprout(taugeh) and the fenugreek (halba) in a glass jar. 

I will update later of the progress, so stay tuned....

Spring Time Soon

Fall was over and soon winter will be out of sight. And… here come the spring… I just love spring time. The air is fresh; the birds singing happily, daffodils and tulips blooming beautifully. Heavy winter coats are tucked away and so goes the snow blower into the back of the garage. The hoe, spade, rake and lawn mower will take their places up front. The garden tiller machine need tune up and ready to work in the garden.  Vegetable seeds have been ordered and arrived to the house weeks ago. They are sorted according to the time of their planting. Tomato, eggplant and butter head lettuce have been sprouted indoor and waiting for the ground to be ready.

I have been busy for the past few weeks watching on youtube how to grow vegetables. Although I have been gardening more than a decade, it never stops me from learning new techniques to yield better crops. Two videos interest me more than others are the “Fork to fork” and “How to be a gardener”. The mail carrier man gave me a brochure about gardening workshop housed by PS University. I was able to join one of the workshops and it cost so little, just $7 per workshop. The Giant center near my area also housed a workshop on gardening for free. I went to the program and learned more.

Last year, I grew a fig tree in a pot. The plant is securely under the warmth of a burlap clothes and tucked away under the porch where the severe winter frost can get to the plant at minimum. I have yet to remove the burlap cover since the temperature can get to below freezing at times. If this plant survives the winter, I will transplant it into a bigger pot. I am planning to invest on the Earthbox pot for this tree. For some reason, after battling over discouragement from Mr. Big over a decade on my gardening madness, things suddenly just changed. He reminds me if I forgot to order the seeds. He bought a soaker hose and planters which way too expensive for a novice gardener.

A friend gave me loads of old newspapers and they should be enough to cover the whole 30 by 60 foot area. I like to use the newspapers to curb the weeds from invading the ground. This way, I can work less hours weeding during the summer time when the sun is too hot for me to work outside.

Happy gardening and enjoy your spring time soon.