Work to Do

      During the winter, we hope for spring, for warmer days in the garden.  Then our wish comes true and it is time to garden.  But back in the winter, maybe our enthusiasm for planting got out of hand.  Maybe we planted a wee little bit more than we ever could hope to chew.  A good problem to have.  So on Monday and Tuesday with better weather forecast, you most likely will find me out in one garden or the other trying to plant my over abundance of veggie starts.
 

On deck supply, 4-6-11

 

 

      Here are eight flats of starts that I moved out of the porch to the deck for things to get a little more sun and for the slight aphid population to move out.  The aphids seem to have a much tougher go at the plants outside than in the nice comfy porch.  The pot in the middle of the round table is the artichoke/cardoon? that overwintered on the porch.  The black pots around it are an ornamental called duranta.

Bellevue cold frame, 4-9-11

      These veggie starts have been in a cold frame in the park for maybe three weeks.  Some have a little leaf burn from too much heat when yours truly should have provided better ventilation on some of the mid fifties days.  But most things look pretty good, and are ready to go in the ground.  Only a six pack of cardoon and one of artichokes will be held back to a later date.
      So that is the cold weather stuff.  On the porch is a flat of peppers consisting of a six pack each of eight different varieties.  There are two flats of various tomato plants.  The beans, squash, cukes, egg plant and what ever else I have failed to mention are yet to be planted.  Just in case I had nothing to keep me busy.
      Garden on - George

Collards rescued

     As I have passed piles of discarded plants stacked in throw away piles at the park, I questioned the merit of just tossing collards and kale that successfully overwintered.  Why not just leave the plants in the garden and pick the new growth that is edible?  But some folks want to till up everything in the spring, and those plants get in the way.  So out they come, to be thrown on the community compost heap.

Destined for destruction, 4-7-11

      Well, I finally could not pass them up anymore.  I scavenged through a couple of different piles, pulling out plants that had good green growth and some decent amount of rootball left.  As the cole crops should do fine in partial shade, I took the plants home to my back yard garden.  Trimmed them up and dug them in.  I hope to water them often in the next few days.

Transplanted Cole survivors, 4-7-11

      Here is a shot of the transplants in their new home.  The huge mound of leaves in the back ground is another project waiting to happen.  Some of the newly made leaf mulch from a couple of days ago will go on this new bed of collards.  Hopefully I will get a couple of pickings of fresh greens before they go to seed.  The worst that can happen is that they end up on my compost pile.

Winter over, over winter, or overwinter

      I can never keep it straight.  Is the proper term "winter over" or "over winter".  So I finally decided to look it up as to be correct on the blog, and found I was wrong on both counts!
      The Free Online Dictionary defines overwinter (one word) as:
             

1. To remain alive through the winter: sheep that overwintered on the steppe.

2. To pass or spend the winter: We usually overwinter in the Bahamas.

 

     So, it is one word, overwinter.  Now I have at least seven old posts that contain "winter over" that need to be corrected.  Who said garden blogging isn't work?

Cold Tolerance

       Some few veggies are so cold tolerant that they can overwinter unprotected here in Zone 7A in northern Delaware.  Others can go in before the last frost date of spring, which here is around May 10th.  Last year was warm for weeks before May 10th, then zap, that morning was cold.  So beware the desire to put out the warm weather stuff too early.

The following useful info was from the website:     

              http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu 

                    Cold Tolerance in Vegetables

Q. You have often mentioned cold tolerant vegetable crops and those which are very susceptible to frosty injury. Could you list these and temperature lows which they can tolerate?
     This is very difficult to do and be accurate since cold tolerance depends on preconditioning. For instance, if broccoli has been growing in warm conditions and temperatures drop below 22 degrees F., it will probably be killed. If these same broccoli plants had experienced cool weather, they would probably survive the sudden cold.
   A:   In general, a frost (31-33 degrees F.) will kill beans, cantaloupe, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, peas, pepper, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and watermelon.
   B:   Colder temperatures (26-31 degrees F.) may burn foliage but will not kill broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, lettuce, mustard, onion, radish, and turnip.
   C:   The real cold weather champs are beets, Brussels sprouts, carrots, collards, kale, parsley, and spinach.

      So right now, Groups B and C could be direct seeded or transplants put in.  Resist the urge to put in Group A until after May 10.  It won't really be warm enough to have them grow well until that date anyway.  Fedco Seeds is one of the two seed catalogs that I use, the other being Territorial Seed Company.  I wish I got some money for backing these two, but that is just a pipe dream.  Fedco has free shipping on orders over $30, usually easy enough to reach.  And they are a co-op that includes YOU as the buyer!  That meant that I got a $3.12 check back in the mail as my share of the profits on my order.  Pretty neat.
      Being located in Maine, Fedco offers a lot of seed that can handle colder conditions.  In particular, on page 53 of their 2011 catalog they have a listing of season-extending greens.  They say that with protection the greens can survive the entire winter in Zone 6 and south.  I am experimenting with the following varieties, and will probably add more of their list for the fall of 2011.  Some of their seeds are sold out, so if you want to try some, don't delay your orders.  The following list includes plants that I now have started of these  hardiest of greens.
      Here is the website for Fedco:  http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds.html 

Plant	Description	Supplier
Arugula	Ice-Bred Arugula	Fedco
Arugula	Sylvetta Arugula	Fedco
Claytonia	aka Claytonia perfoliata	Fedco
Collards	EvenStar Champion	Fedco
Corn salad	Bistro	Cook's Garden
Kale	Red Russian	Lake Valley
Kale	Redbor	GWD
Kale	Rainbow Lacinato Kale	Fedco
Kale	Beedys Camden Kale	Fedco
Lettuce	Tango Lettuce	Fedco
Lettuce	Winter Marvel	Fedco
Lettuce	Rouge d'Hiver	Fedco
Minutina	Minutina	Fedco
Mustard	Pink Lettucy Mustard	Fedco
Mustard	Pink Lettucy Mustard	GWD
Mustard	Green Wave Mustard	Fedco
Mustard	Tenderleaf Hardy Green	Fedco
Mustard	Chinese Thick-Stem	Fedco
Senposai	Senposai	Fedco
Spinach	Tyee	Lake Valley
Spinach	Olympia Hybrid	Lake Valley
Spinach	Bloomsdale	Burpee & Livingston
Spinach	Bloomsdale	Alexander's Bulk
Spinach	Space Spinach	Fedco
Spinach	Giant Winter Spinach	Fedco
Spinach	Giant Winter Spinach	Heirloom
Tatsoi	Tatsoi	Fedco
Tatsoi	EvenStar Tatsoi Gene Pool	Fedco

 

From Trash to Treasure

New leaf pile, 4/3/11

     This year saw the addition of a new leaf pile, as the garden leaf pile was over flowing.  I shredded the leaves under a maple tree right on site, then more and more leaves appeared from neighbors, and the black plastic bags that miraculously disappeared from neighboring streets only to reappear on my pile.  It is best to do this shredding right after Thanksgiving while the leaves are dry, but last fall was an early start to a miserable winter for outdoor chores.  December was winter with a vengeance.

     So out came the old trusty John Deere lawn tractor and the repeated process of attacking the pile with the tractor.  Leaves flying everywhere.  Using the tractor to herd the leaves like errant sheep.  Moving the pile across the lawn with the tractor blowing ever finer pieces of leaves.

Kiddies play house gets a wee bit dirty

Now to blow it back

     Having shredded all the course pile out into the lawn, it is time to reverse the process and shred and blow all the small pieces back into a pile.

Much better, even beautiful (to me)

Done!!

     From trash to treasure.  Black gold.  My most precious garden resource is leaf mold.  Turns miserable clay into beautiful loam.  It is indeed a sad day when the leaf mold pile has been used for the summer.  But then the bounty is usually restocked the next fall.  Recycling at its finest. 
     Ah, but that was just the small pile.  The back pile awaits.  Garden on,  George

Bursting with Promise

     It is still cold, yet spring can not be denied.  Some day too soon, the spring blooms will be gone.

Flagstone walk, 4/2/11

Hellebores, 4/2/11

Daffodils, regular and miniature, 4/2/11

Wood hyacinth, 4/2/11

Wood hyacinth, 4/2/11

Blood Sorrel, with dried vine, 4/2/11

Making more

      When I start seeds, I usually try to put in four to five seeds per cell with small seeds like lettuce, and maybe only two seeds for peppers or tomatoes.  That way at least something comes up.  Often times I will plant the multiple seedlings as is, and let mother nature decide who will win.  After all, weeds certainly do not grow without fierce competition.

Rhodos Endive Frisee, 4/1/11

 

       The Frisee shown above, planted on 2/11/11, have grown on nicely on the porch.  They could probably go outside now and be OK, but I thought I would multiply my blessings by separating them.  Most cells have multiple plants growing.  Also the Frisee makes such pretty heads, that individual plants are much more attractive in the garden.  So the plants were gently teased apart and then replanted. 

Frisee repotted, 4/1/11

      A fast and easy way to go from 12 Frisee cells to 36!  So Barb and Em, are you watching?  And wishing and hoping?

Fedco Ice Bred Arugula, 4/1/11

     The arugula also had multiple seedlings.  These separated out to a final 33 cells from 12, again a nice increase.  The repotted seedlings therefore have about three times as much soil to spread out in as they did before their expansion.  In a week, they can probably go outside.