Muddy Monday
A pretty good Monday - I managed to get the veggie garden weeded as hoped, although it ended up being a ridiculously muddy affair! Hopefully we'll do another till next Saturday (add some compost and peat moss) and then I'm good to start planting!
Snow peas have been soaking since yesterday, so I'm about to put them into the ground - they seemed to do well in behind the herb garden, climbing the fence, so I'll do that again.
Did a little bit more pruning and tidying in the various beds... transplanted one sad looking violet into the shady garden on the backside of the house. I also added a whole bag of cedar chips to this garden to try and keep the weeds down. I'm not a huge fan of this look, but it's a lot cleaner looking that a bed full of weeds. And once I start adding a few more things here and there, it will look a lot fuller.
Finally, I discovered a bird's nest in the tall grass inside the raspberry patch (but outside the fence, thankfully). Today, I checked up on it, and there were 3 little birds inside! I snuck a couple of pictures, but didn't want to be too obnoxious. Here are a couple:
Tomato Chronicles
After last year's success, Science Nerd and I ordered tomato seeds from Upper Canada Seeds again this year. We went with a few of same varieties as last year, and a few new ones for fun.
1. Black Pear - black spicy flavor
2. Fireball - earliest in the garden
3. Green Zebra - green & yellow eye catcher
4. Isis Candy Cherry - multicolor
5. Moira - best seller
6. Quinte - dark red - for canning
7. Thai Pink Egg - prolific good taste
8. White Currant - cherry size -good flavor
I decided to plant the seeds a few weeks later than last year, hopefully avoiding the leggy seedlings I had last year. Ultimately I'm aiming for 6 -7 week old transplants as suggested on the UCS website. I planted the seeds on April 21st, 2 seeds per cubicle, put the cover on, and sat them on my old heating blanket as I did last year. Germination was quick (within a few days) and germination success rate varied among the different varieties, but at least a couple of each popped up, and in some cases more. One exception... only one Isis Candy germinated! I am going to have to be extra nurturing to that one. The White Currants are teeny tiny little plants, but look super strong and healthy. And I was happy to see the distinctive Black Pear leaves!
One they germinated I removed the cover and lit them up with the nice grow light I bought last year, moving the light higher and higher as they grew. Once they had true leaves I repotted (May 12th - 3 weeks old). I think I waited a lot longer this year before re-potting than last year. They seemed stronger this year anyway, not sure if waiting made a difference.
I have to make a decision about applying fertilizer now. I did last year (a couple of applications of very dilute solution), but I've read that over fertilizing can cause leggy plants. They really don't look like they are struggling, and they did get some compost in with their potting soil when transplanted. I bought some Wegener's Organic Liquid from Lee Valley, which is supposed to be pretty conservative, so I think I'll give them one application of that and see how it goes.
Here's a quick pic of the current tomato set-up.
I've supplemented the grow light with 2 Philips Agro-Lite bulbs that I bought last year. These are incandescent bulbs, so they give off some heat, and I have to be careful not to get them too close to the plants. I'm not really even sure if these lights are any good - I may just buy another fluorescent set-up next year and be done with it.
2008 Begins
I have been a terrible terrible blogger, but it's time to get back on the horse. The spring has been slow so far, but I have managed to do a bit of gardening so far:
1) started tomato seeds 3.5 weeks ago - blog post with details to follow
2) some yard and bed cleanup and the beginning of an inventory of what made it over the winter (to come later)
3) 2 crabapple trees professionally pruned (they look awesome!).
4) moved the wretched rhubarb - it was so close to the back door, and I was losing things (like my shoes) under it's enormous leaves. So far it looks good!
5) prune Raspberries (both sides of the fence)
6) dug up blasted elm-ish type spready thing on backside of the house, and replaced with hosta and Snowball I moved from old perennial bed
7) tilled the vegetable garden (will incorporate some peat moss and compost on next till)
8) cleaned up 75% of my herb garden
This weekend I hope to:
1) plant some garlic (I'll try this again this year, I may have waited too long again)
2) plant snow peas and sweet peas
3) finish cleaning herb garden
4) continue bed clean-up including spreading more wood chips as mulch.
5) plant some Arugula along back of house - I'm hoping in the shade it won't go to seed as quickly
6) pick weeds out of the veggie garden and get ready for second till
More details later, with pictures, but I had to get something started!
