Flats to the Cold Frames

      With all of the sprouts coming along from the recent paper towel seed starting, I have quickly run out of room for flats on the porch.  This morning I was forced to start moving some flats out to cold frames to free up some porch room for newer flats.  In the Trex cold frame out back, the pak choi had not fared so well, whereas the tatsoi did wonderfully.

      I pulled all of the pak choi from the top right corner, and weeded some of the dead leaves of the minutina in the bottom right corner.  A flat of Walla Walla onion starts and chinese cabbage starts was put into the frame.  Should have enough room to get a second flat in there, as well as maybe planting a couple of lettuce.

      A couple of years ago I moved a large fish tank (5 feet long) out of the basement by myself.  All sorts of physics involved.  Used ladders, ramps, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.  Pushed and pulled it up the basement stairs.  Got it up onto a wheeled butcher block table, through the garage, and out to the driveway.  When trying to shift from the driveway to the grass, my good luck physics ran out.  I had one end, and the other rested on the wheeled table.  The wheeled table then decided to roll out from under the tank, and in slow motion, I watched the far end of the tank fall to the driveway.  Was thankful not to be hurt, embarrassed to be so dumb, and amazed that only a piece of about 1/3 of the bottom broke out.  The tank has since been waiting for a new duty out in the garden.  That new duty started this morning.   

     

      All of the plants above went in the tank with the exception of the onions that went previously into the cold frame.  These little lettuce and cabbage starts should do fine in the tank.  And now I can pot up some more seedlings to go out to my new found room on the porch.

Back Garden Update, 2/1/2012

      Here we are into February!  The winter has been about non existent so far.  That is no complaint by me.  Although it seems I would not have needed the cold frames, only the real hardy kales and collards appear edible if not under cover.  Other things may be alive, but not appealing.  But the cold frames have been productive throughout the winter.  And now the day length is past ten hours, which will increase production.

Feb 1st:    Day length:   10 hrs, 11 min 
                Sunrise:         7:10 AM
                Sunset:          5:21 PM
                High Temp:    67 degrees F      Low Temp:    46 degrees F

Don't be fooled by those temperatures, the high should be in the low forties (41 average at this time).

Wooden Frame, 2/1/2012

      The mizuna mustard that was transplanted a couple of weeks ago is doing quite well.  Some of the transplants from last fall have died.  I had left the transplants on top of the soil for a couple of weeks, probably killing the outer roots.  Then when put in the cool ground, they probably never developed a good root system.  Had I not been lazy and planted them immediately, I probably would have done a lot better.  Or if I had divided the lettuce and potted it up to develop good roots, I suspect I would have had better transplant success.  In any case, the above frame has been yielding good pickings for salads.

Trex frame, 2/1/2012

Trex frame, left side

      The mustard greens in the upper left corner were lifted from a path at the park and have transplanted quite well.  The thick stem chinese mustard to the top right has been doing much better in cold frames than the patch left unprotected at the park.  There are a couple of head lettuce that should be harvested. 

Trex frame, right side

      The pak choi at the top has died, and some of the minutina in the bottom right corner don't look good.  Don't know why in either case.  The tatsoi however, is doing great, and needs to be thinned out.

      These red burgundy onions rescued from the compost pile at the park had begun to sprout on the porch.  Black aphids were multiplying on the green sprouts.  So they have been planted to an outdoor bed.  The cold exposure will put a major hurt on the aphids.  Each onion should sprout multiple plants which can then be separated and replanted.  I don't know whether I will get bulb onions from that effort, but I will certainly get lots of scallions.

Season Extending Greens

      One of my favorite seed catalog companies is Fedco Seeds, based in Waterville, Maine.  They have a lot of seed appropriate for their cold winters, so I believe some of those plants should bask in delight in the relative warmth of my zone 7A gardens.  While I have been doing a lot of experimenting with cold frames, much of their stuff should overwinter unprotected.  I could not figure out how to copy and paste from their internet delivered pdf catalog,

http://www.fedcoseeds.com,

so I took this picture from page 53 of my hard copy catalog.

From Fedco Seeds 2011 Catalog

      I have tried all of the spinaches, without much success.  They grow, but then get these tiny little pin head sized bugs that probably suck the sap.  Yet I continue to try spinach, and realize I have none planted inside the cold frames.  I should try, as maybe the little bugs won't like winter.

      The lettuce varieties I have from this list are the Tango and the Rouge d'Hiver.  Love them both, and the Tango did overwinter unprotected last year!  Anyone want to go together to buy and share some of the other lettuce varieties on the list?  Fedco has free shipping for orders over $30.00.  Can't beat that.

      I have Rainbow Lacinato kale, curly leaf kale, and Beedy's Camden kale currently in the park garden.

Beedy's Kale at top, Thick Stem Chinese Mustard at bottom, 12/8/11

Rainbow Lacinto kale on left, curly kale on right, 12/8/11

Tatsoi, 12/8/11

      The tatsoi has been a huge success.  This block of tatsoi germinated very well, and I have been thinning it to move to my cold frames, Barb's cold frames, gardeners at the park, and anyone else willing to take some.  It overwintered for me unprotected last year, and I have read numerous reports of people harvesting tatsoi from underneath a snow or ice cover.

Collards, unknown variety, 12/8/11

Savoy cabbage, unknown variety, 12/8/11

      I tried two varieties of parsley this year, but ended up feeding the bugs.  Claytonia has self seeded in one of the cold frames, and has come on to a nice rebirth in the cooler weather.  Only enough though to graze once and awhile when at the park.

Right side of back yard cold frame, 12/8/11

      The minutina is in the bottom right corner of this shot.  It is reputed to be quite cold tolerant, so probably does not to be in the cold frame.  The lettuce directly above the minutina is Winter Marvel Bibb lettuce, the only head lettuce that I am growing.  That one nice looking head may be a self Christmas present.  The tatsoi is on the bottom left, and really has done well from the transplanting and thinning.  Pak choi is in the top right corner, and although a good candidate for a fall garden, it apparently can't take the winter cold.

Left side of back yard cold frame, 12/8/11

      Some of the thick stemmed chinese mustard appears at the top next to the pak choi.  Also on the cold hardy list is arugula, the two plants at the bottom left corner.  Some of these folks from the back yard cold frame may be invited for dinner tonight.