Sowing, clearing, pruning

I had a lovely day today. It would have been lovelier if the predicted sun had shone, but no rain or scheduled events made it a lovely gardening day anyway. I dug a plot for pac choi, scattered seeds, and raked them in. The plot is not far from where I did a similar job with lettuce on Monday, and I was amused at how much satisfaction I had from those two bare one-yard-square pieces of soil. Only I know the secret they hide, although anyone can see how much more neat they are than most of the garden.

I also sowed one squat-worth of peas again today. Squatting for a long time is not comfortable and probably not health-building, so I space my pea sowing over much of March. It's the most tedious job in the garden. Poke one hole, drop in one pea, and move on two inches. Again. And again. Until one squat-worth of time is over. I try to space them in a hexagonal pattern because you can fit the most in that way with the 2-inch spacing, but nobody could do this exactly and I don't worry about it.

Snow drops are blooming! Not far away, also between the sidewalk and street, the winter rose has bulging buds. Last year it bloomed in March, and it looks like it will do that again.

Having noticed the front yard, I also spent a fair amount of time today squatting there, pulling up the alysm that bloomed incredibly late last fall, and scattering the seeds for this year's flowers. There were also a fair number of leaves that helped fill four garden carts worth. Underneath were poor bulbs, trying to get some sun. I found myself remembering that old Sesame Street song about it's being all right to be green. They SHOULD be green, and white and yellow don't look right. Probably they will change to their proper color now that they can see the light of day.

Since that squashy time last week, I haven't walked on the lawn in the back of the yard, so emptying the garden cart was a true project in itself. I get to the compost heap by walking through the raspberry patch, which is on higher ground. I suspect the raspberry bushes don't totally approve since they keep snatching my hat and throwing it on the ground. I'm learning to outwit them as I carry bucket after bucket of goodies to
the compost heap.

I pruned some more trees today, but it's a long, long project. Not having given gardeners a useful February, Nature seems to be going full-speed ahead with March. So I'm trying to do two month's activities in one. Good thing I'm "retired!"

I like spring, and even March!

Pat

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Pruning revelations, preparations

What a lovely day! The robins were busily assuring me it was March.

Soil! I can now see most of the garden. The two kale plants that survived the insect onslaught last fall are trying valiantly to stand up after being squashed for two months; I'm sure they will succeed. The collards under the floating cover are also working hard to revive, having been similarly squashed. Floating cover doesn't provide protection from the weight of snow. More amazing, some lettuce seems to have survived under floating cover and snow!

Meanwhile, February slipped by without my usual chore of pruning being done at all. When I snipped some unruly peach branches two weeks ago, the juicy ground soon discouraged me. Before that there was too much snow to think of venturing to the fruit trees.

Knowing that I usually sow Sugar Ann peas the first week of March next to the house (and the cold frame), and enjoying the slight rise of the ground next to the house that causes more solid ground, I decided to prepare by pruning the grape vine next to the house. What a surprise! It grew last year unlike any other. I trimmed and trimmed; it took me several days of outside gardening. I finished that job today, and decided to take the yield to the wood compost heap. Slosh, slosh! I hope the lawn will forgive me and that I haven't ruined it. Anyway, I don't think I will go there again for a while.

So I deposited the rest of the grapevine branches (I had four loads!!) at the brink of the lawn in the back of the yard on the left, where they won't get in the way of my trips to the compost heap when I think I can venture there again. This motivated me to cut some of the peach tree that you may remember was getting in the way. This is a much bigger job than the grapevine.

For all the trees (and the kiwi vine) that I prune in February I also spray with dormant oil as I go. This keeps the baby bugs from emerging and causing trouble as adults. Last year I also sprayed the peach tree with copper oil, and I got more peaches than recent years. I could do better. I had hoped to spray both more thoroughly this year, but having lost a month on garden preparations may thwart that.

I started Green Goliath broccoli seeds ages ago, and the few seedlings are still less than an eighth of an inch high. My Bonanza Hybrid broccoli, started much later, is approaching two inches, so I thought I would throw the Green Goliath away. Then it occurred to me one of you might want free seedlings. Does anyone? They've done fine for me in other years, except for woodchuck effects recently.

Next week I'm going to get a haircut, and I'll ask them to save hair cuttings for me. They've been generous in the past, and it does keep away woodchucks. It looks awful, but just around the broccoli...

I wonder when the first deer might come. I want to put fresh Irish Spring soap around just before, which seems to keep them away.

Fedco said they would backorder both Sugar Ann (short) and Sugar Snap (higher, later, and sweeter) peas, and the accompanying explanation didn't sound reassuring to me. So finally Thursday I ordered them from Johnny Seeds. Yesterday they both came. ("Oh, ye, of little faith!") So I have twice as many pea seeds as I need in fresh new packets. What should I do with them?

I may sow my first Sugar Ann seeds tomorrow. And maybe I'll also sow some lettuce seeds outside. What exciting thoughts!

Pat

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Ordering Seeds

Yes! Yes, indeed, we will have spring. It is remarkably hard to imagine these days, when we haven't even begun February. "Snow showers this morning" was still the prediction at 10:00 AM! I shoveled an amazing amount of snow this morning -- repeatedly.
What better activity when one burrows inside (following the admirable example of those happily-forgotten woodchucks) than planning one's seed orders? I have spent quite a bit of time already and will do some more. This is my biggest gardening expense of the year, but it's worth it. The catalogs are well worth browsing too.


Fedco keeps expenses to a minimum on most items, but does not have telephone order nor any color in its catalog. Nor does any company have all the items I want, so I place several orders every year, although Fedco gets my bulk.
Only Burpee's has "Two Season Hybrid Chinese Cabbage," which survives
all winter in my Johnny Seeds cold frame. Thus I paniced when it wasn't in the 2011 catalog so much that I went on their website. There it is! It is 65953A, one packet for $2.25. There may be competitors, but I'm afraid to try because so much is at stake and this is so good. This morning I'm feeling glad that I picked tonight's dinner yesterday afternoon!

I will forward cold frame photos after this for those of you who receive attachments, but the cold frame is not in Johnny Seeds' catalog, and someone else will have to be motivated enough to go onto that website. Burpee's offers two that are much cheaper, but they advertise only "for early spring harvests," so I don't know whether they would collapse under our post-Christmas snow. Jose offers to construct custom-built cold frames in Montclair.

Only Johnny Seeds offers Nufar OG basil, which withstands the wilt and has huge leaves by basil standards. I will raise lots more this year than last year because the plants I bought locally last year had tiny leaves by comparison on the plants that survived. Johnny Seeds is also the only provider of hakurei turnips, which are wonderful to eat raw, and far better than radishes in my opinion, although I used to raise radishes.

Burpee's is also the only provider I know of green goliath broccoli, which yields from June to Christmas if woodchucks don't destroy it. This year I'm going to try bonanza hybrid also, which sounds even better. And this year I will stoop to putting human hair around my broccoli, which I have missed enormously in the past two years! The hair looks ugly, but I can keep broccoli in less obvious parts of the garden.

My large tomato has been in recent years Burpee's Supersteak Hybrid, but it too isn't in the catalog. I will try ordering last year's number, but if it isn't available, there are some plausible alternatives, and it doesn't seem as special as a veggie that grows all winter in my cold frame. I raise Sweet 100 (red) and Sun gold (yellow) small tomatoes for eating. The former are still ripening, although no longer quickly and well. Maybe I should give up and binge out on carrots! These are abundant under the bags of leaves, but this is the first year I've had trouble locating the bags. They don't bulge under the driven snow.
Only Park's Seeds provides Malabar spinach, which climbs beautifully and abundantly in late summer where I harvested peas earlier, but, poor Park's, I use my own saved seeds. I do hope they keep them in the catalog, so please do consider ordering them, oh Others!

I find winterbor kale the best type of kale, but this year the bugs made lace of my kale and collards. I may have to take steps against them. Any suggestions as to what steps? I like Roma bush beans. Sugar snap peas taste far better than snappy, I think. Sugar Anns are the best of the low early types of snap peas. I don't know why anyone would go to all the trouble of shelling peas in these days of snap peas! Lettuce mixes are far more satisfactory than individual types. I raise only leaf lettuce, so it will be fresh when I eat it. Gigante parsley and tango celery seem to work well in my garden. I like Spineless Beauty zucchini because I don't like being pricked by prickers. Fedco's catalog comments, "With so many spineless politicians, why do we like spineless zucchini?"
I just answered that question!

Happy indoor planning!

Pat

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Sprouting Seeds Indoors

An incoming email indicated that the techniques for sprouting seeds are not well known, so I hereby offer them. It's easy to do anywhere, and provides us a nice salad ingredient all winter long. Sprouts don't compete with the garden veggies I harvest in warm weather, but they are always a treat this time of year.

You need a proper container, I think. I have two lids with holes that fit over standard Mason jars. Trina has a much prettier container that is nice to bring to potlucks.

Put two or three tablespoons of sprouting seeds in the jar, cover them with water, and let it sit overnight upright. Then pour out the water, and put it on its side to drain.

Henceforth, three times a day pour in fresh filtered water, shake it a bit, and pour out the water. Resume its sideward position with the seeds. I do this before I go to bed, when I get up,and mid-to-late afternoon as convenient.

Keep the jar on your counter. NEVER put it in the sunlight if you can avoid it or the sprouts sizzle. (The same is true for fresh tomatoes ripening inside).

In four days I usually have edible sprouts. After six days I put the remainder in the refrigerator. They last maybe a week, so I start another before the previous jar is completely finished.

I buy seeds mail order from Johnny Seeds. One pack lasts years for the two of us. I think Trina said that the health food store on Bloomfield Avenue also carries them. It's just west of Midland Avenue, I think, but it may be just west of Park Street. It's above where the stairs go down.

We like alfalfa sprouts best, but there are many choices, and some people prefer other types or a mixture.

It's easy and nutritious. Happy indoor gardening!

Pat

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Blizzard Challenges

I just got in from beginning to work the hardest I ever have for a single dinner. Tomorrow evening it will be time to have some yummy fresh vitamins amid this holiday eating! I was surprised at the thrill I felt when I could see about an inch-worth of the corner of the cold frame that contains my coveted Chinese cabbage. As I shoveled and pushed more, I realized that there was about a yard of snow above most of the cold frame, apparently the contribution of the roof and the greenhouse window. After all, we've had "only" about two feet of snow directly here.

Little did I know last Thursday as I dug for root crops for the first time this season how they would be used. I thought I was harvesting for guests, but they all drove for home suddenly Christmas evening after the predictions became more dire and imminent. They are now glad they did. I savor 27 hours of wonderful holiday festivities, which feels good.

So the carrots I dug Thursday are still abundant and will probably serve Fred and me for a at least a week. We had our first parsnips of the season Thursday evening. Yum! The parsnips are smaller than usual this year, in contrast to the carrots. I measured one carrot that was slightly more than two inches in diameter.

After my guests left Christmas evening, I went out to harvest Chinese cabbage for Sunday evening's dinner (as a consolation) and then closed the cold frames in the dark. Good thing I did that!

Amusingly, we each ate eight "fresh" tomatoes for last evening's dinner. There are more green ones, and they seem to ripen nicely. The taste is definitely competitive with store-bought tomatoes, although not up to summer tomatoes. We were glad to enjoy them on December 27, mostly products of last January's starting.

The lettuce in our greenhouse window is abundant, as is the parsley in our refrigerator, picked before the great cold not long ago. The basil, raised for the first time in the greenhouse window this year, adds a nice touch, and there are abundant sprouts. So our salad in midwinter is delightful.

Happy eating in the holidays!

Pat

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Winter!

Winter has arrived. Perhaps you noticed.

What a difference in the garden from just this past Saturday, when I sat out in it comfortably talking with a guest! Greens that stood up proudly then have lain down. The carrot tops that looked like the ones in the store but more so no longer look like they are trying to feed the roots.

This means it's time to put the plastic bags of leaves down on top of the carrots and parsnips to keep them warm for the winter. This is a sizable job, but now accomplished. This year had the new quirk that I had packed all those plastic bags myself (because others are using paper bags), so I was critical of how they had been packed as I took them from the other side of the driveway to the garden. Isn't it interesting how the human conscience finds ever-new ways to annoy us?

The best culinary part of the week was the two meals of collards (with the traditional Italian recipe), the only two probably this fall. Yum! They have been attacked by some bug I haven't seen, but I've covered them with floating cover for winter, so maybe I'll get more delicious collard meals in March.

We also had our last two meals of the season's pac choi, picked before they lay down, but that's not so sad because we will now start eating Chinese cabbage from the cold frame. I've kept the cold frame closed the past few days because the temperature hasn't peeked above freezing. Today I should give them some fresh air in midday.

We now swing into our winter diet. The refrigerator freezer is packed, so it doesn't look like we will go hungry during January and February. By March I will be harvesting (I hope) collards and maybe other newcomers from the garden.

The first crop of lettuce from the greenhouse window is ready to harvest and delicious. I have been alternating for salads with arugula that I picked before the below-20 weather. I still have enough tomatoes so that it appears we'll be eating them at least until Christmas. They taste fine, and occasionally one reminds me of summer. I won't begin harvesting carrots from the garden until the tomatoes are gone, so it appears I'll have plenty of carrots for an abundant winter.

The second crop of winter lettuce is over 2" high, and I will start a third by Sunday. This has worked in previous years for a steady supply of winter lettuce from the greenhouse window. Yesterday I started my first jar of alfalfa sprouts, which complement my winter salads. Yesterday we ate the last of fresh peppers and today we will finish the fresh celery. I have plenty of frozen peppers and refrigerated celery leaves; both will flavor the many stir-fries in our winter eating.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying preparations for Christmas, when both my kids come home. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season too! Soon we will have more sun again, but we know the cold is here to stay a while.

Pat

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Open Garden Report, solar panels, yellow celery, carrots

What a great morning I had yesterday at the open garden! Everyone was so kind and appreciative! It really gave me a "high."

There were lots of "oos and ahs" over my cold frame that is chock full of Burpees two-season Chinese cabbage. It is believable already that I will harvest two meals a week throughout Jan. and Feb. of fresh vitamins for stir-fries from them. In answer to a question, I said I cut the leaves around the edges and the plants keep growing. I have used this cold frame for years. I bought it from Johnny Seeds, and put it up and down every fall and spring.

"I did close it last night." When pushed further, I observed that I put a large plastic over the cold frame when snow is predicted. Otherwise it freezes shut. Then I can shovel snow off the cold frame, then push the rest off with a brush, and then open it to pick dinner.

The first question was about my solar panels. How did I feel about them? They have been a far greater financial benefit than I expected. Not only do I get large REC payments capably administered by my solar panel maven Bob Simpson (robertwsimpson@verizon.net), but last month my electricity bill was less than $3. When I said this, I heard a gasp. I added that this was with a refrigerator that dates to 1965. I saw eyes widen. "We bought it second hand in 1975 for $100, so I know its age only from repairmen, but it serves my needs and I know someone who has had five refrigerators during that time because they don't last. It certainly isn't energy-efficient, but the solid waste problem is worth considering too."

Someone else asked if we had a large battery. "No, our solar panels are connected to the grid." The dial runs backward much of the time, which is why my electricity costs are so little. Admittedly, last month seemed to be an all-time low, but they are never high.

I said I was very impressed with the installer, Jake Wig, who Bob had recommended to me. However, I am not happy with the state or local government's "help." The state required installing posts in the attic in any house over 30 years (are they really less well-built than newer ones?), to support the panels, which are light enough for me to pick up myself. The town harassed Jake about fire safety, but he seemed saintly to me. However, I am very pleased with the cooperation of PSE&G, who have a special telephone-answerer for solar panel customers. Someone else commented that she is plagued with telephone solicitations by alternative energy sources, so she investigated those who have already switched. The majority are unhappy because after a short introductory offer, the prices soar, and you must wait six months to get back to PSE&G. I said some more pleasantries about PSE&G and repeated my sentiments that I wish our governments would catch up in cooperating with solar panels.

Someone commented that her celery has turned yellow. "So has some of mine. I tasted it, and it seemed fine. So I serve yellow celery to Fred and he eats it and never comments." Smiles all round.

My carrot tops are many and big. I pointed to a row of plastic bags filled with leaves and said when the weather turns really cold at the end of this month and the tops drop, I will put those bags over the carrots. That insulates them from the serious cold. Then I shovel snow off the top of a bag, pull up the bag, pull a week's worth of carrots, and replace the bag till next week. It will take 8-12 bags, I think, to cover the bed.

In the summer I thin the carrots first to a half inch, then a month later to an inch, eating the "finger carrots," then a month later to two inches, eating store-sized carrots that are the thinnings. This means the winter carrots are two-inches apart, which some need to be. "That's why I'm not having success with carrots," observed one visitor.

I pointed out my unimpressive kale, which, like the collards, has been attacked by some bug this year. Kale goes through out winter without protection and was my major winter salad green when I was raising kids. With the carrots and seed sprouts raised indoors, we had good winter salads. Now with only two of us, I can raise enough lettuce in the greenhouse window for winter salads. I could point proudly to them yesterday. For the first time this year I am (successfully) raising basil in the window, which is a nice addition to salads already.

Happy eating!

Pat

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