The Life of A Garden

More on Peppers

More on my search for trying to salvage the pepper seeds...

From the Old Farmer's Almanac:

PEPPER SEEDS need warm soil to germinate. Experiments by Georgia horticulturists have shown that the highest rate of germination (80 percent) occurs when the soil temperature is 70° to 80° F. Water seedlings from the top with warm water. I'm planning to dig out the heating pad for this and I hadn't used warm water before.

Start pepper seeds three to a pot, and thin out the weakest seedling. Let the remaining two pepper plants spend their entire lives together as one plant. The leaves of two plants help protect the peppers against sunscald, and the yield is often half again as good as two segregated plants. Interesting! I will definitely do this if I ever get some seedlings!

If you buy pepper plants at a nursery, use the seed leaves (the first leaves to emerge) as a "stress barometer." As long as they are strong, green, and healthy looking, you have a good, healthy plant.

When pepper plants bloom, make a solution of Epsom salts in water, and spray the plants. The NGA asked test gardeners to mix one tablespoon of Epsom salts in a gallon of water and spray it on the leaves of 'Gypsy' peppers, once when they bloomed and again ten days later. The results, attributed to magnesium in the salts, were larger plants and fruit. What's a Gypsy Pepper I wonder?

Take a book of matches with you when you set pepper plants out in the garden, and put two or three matches in the hole with each plant. They give the plants a bit of sulfur, which they like. There's that match head advice I was looking for. Check.

Okay then...
XXKHT

“Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”

My peppers are not doing well. The only ones that have germinated and grown leaves are the Chocolate Bells. The King of the North grew two tiny green curled over stems and failed to go any further. I tried replanting everything over, thinking that they were all victims of the holocaust, but so far a week later, nothing has shown up, and it's getting late for peppers!

I was so looking forward to Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying Peppers, and the colorful Fish Peppers from my native Chesapeake Bay area...I feel I can't just give up so I went searching for more information (the only thing you can do).

What I found is this comprehensive website on starting chilis at:

Uncle Steve's Seed Germination and Growing Tips

Excerpted from there are the following things I did not do but am going to today. Better late than never right?

Before planting, we recommend soaking the seeds in a mixed solution of 3 Teaspoon of 5% Chlorine Bleach and 1 Tablespoon of TSP (Trisodium Phosphate) into one quart of warm water for 15-25 minutes and then rinse for 5-10 minutes under cold running water. This does two things, kills most seed born disease and helps soften the seed hull. An easy way to soak the seed is done by placing the seeds in a small sieve and dipping into a cup or bowl of the mixed solution. Dab the floaters with a finger to brake the surface tension. Any seed that will not sink remove. We have found that floaters generally do not germinate as well and/or produce stunted plants. After rinsing place seeds on several layers of paper towels to absorb the extra moisture (Seeds will not clump together and are easier to handle).

Also, I think this is what happened to the King of the Norths!

A day or two after the seeds germinate, a "hook" emerges from the soil, and soon afterwards the seed leaves unfold. If your seedlings are hull bound (seed leaves can not emerge from the seed hull) it helps to leave the dome on, thereby keeping everything moist. Do not pry or pick the seed hull off until the leaves have fully developed and have extended, otherwise you will damage or kill the seedling. At this point seedlings should have as much light as possible to produce strong stocky plants.

and then I think this was a problem as well (see holocaust):

Do not set a domed flat in direct sun! It can cook the seeds. Remove the dome once to every other day to let fresh air get to the seeds and mist spray soil if needed.

Uncle Steve also recommends using a heating pad which I have and will use this time.

Other problems we've had so far are a fuzzy mold and what appear to be mites on the marigolds. I hate to destroy the young flowers as they've done so well so far, but I can't have them messing up the other seedlings - which would be a most un-beneficial thing for a companion plant to do. Before I head to the garden store today I'm going to look up organic remedies before I take any drastic measures.

I also read that adding match heads to the pepper trays adds the sulfur they need, but it's not mentioned on Uncle Steves. Back to the net for further investigation.

I just have to keep hoping and trying...
XXKHT

“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.” Henry Ward Beecher

After the holocaust, I needed to take a day off and regroup.

In the meantime, I noticed that the alliums closest to the front of the table seemed thinner than the ones behind and that some were pulled up by their roots and fallen over.

I immediately suspected my adult male cat, GIR, who has a notorious appetite for salad bar of the houseplant variety.

I can't always be home and in the room, and I can't kill him, and I already have my female kitty (GIRL) sequestered for other reasons, so I had to come up with a cat proof plan.

I remembered an old mosquito net in storage and although at first, I feared it's flammability near the hot lights, after setting it up, I feel safe enough. The outside of the light isn't that hot, and it's easy enough to keep it pulled back from actually touching the fixture. Most importantly, after an overnight test, it appears to have worked!!

It's kind of romantic really. I pull it aside and work close to the bright light, which as it turns out, is stimulating not only the seedlings, but myself as well.

Today I put some more seeds in to germinate in the seedling tray to replace the ones that didn't make it. Rather than cover it with the germination lid, I lightly placed plastic wrap over the newly seeded compartments and we're going to see what happens.

I had planted five cracked Moon Flower seeds yesterday in a big yogurt container, and added two strong rooted ones into the germination tray under the plastic wrap today. We'll see which does better.

Also today, I realized that keeping the germination mix out on the cold porch probably isn't very practical and brought it in to store next to the radiator under the plant table. I have a big bowl of mix warming up, and later today plan to plant another full germination tray with the new tomato seeds and a few more peppers in order to hedge our bets - neither the Fish Peppers nor the Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying Peps germinated, even with the soaking beforehand. I'm going to be very disappointed if either of them fail. On the other hand, three Chocolate Peppers came up strong and three King of the North are waking up (finally!).

It felt so good to get my hands dirty and stand near that light. It's eighty-two days until summer solstice and counting...and oh boy am I counting...

XXKHT

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato

...or in this case "women who are afraid of the light.."

Today I learned several things...

First, that I most likely planted my tomatoes way too early and that I probably should have started a few weeks from now (screw the two weeks hardening off etc. I was just making excuses to get started).

Be careful what you wish for, because today, in less than two hours, I lost all the sage, and all the Pink Ladies, Striped German and Brandywine, Tommy Toes and one of Joanna's Plum tomato seedlings. They fried like they'd reached the end of the Green Mile (Oh John Coffey, I'm so sorry!)

So much for "can't get the lights close enough." Apparently, seedlings need to harden to the light as well as the cold.

The other thing I learned today was that it's a good idea to plant way more than you need, and be prepared to exterminate the weaklings.

Sound harsh? Well, for some of us, it is; but that's what this boils down to. Survival of the fittest, with a little help from The Goddess in You Form.

Next round, I'll plant six seeds in the hopes of getting two plants, and I will get the light on them as soon as they break ground, and I will not ease them into the light.

Always happy to end on a high note, I have two:

At least now, I get a do-over without having to intentionally destroy viable plant matter.

And... the new tomato seeds arrived today with a bonus packet of Lemon Cucumbers.

We grew them last year and they did well early on but got powdery mildew about mid summer, so we pulled them out because they were an ugly spot in the front of our otherwise pristine oasis of community garden space.

Somewhere along the intensive self study course of the past few weeks, I read about a homemade mixture of baking soda and water...now that I have them anyway... I guess that'll be another fun learning experience to look forward to.

Stay tuned!
XXKHT

Moths and Moonflowers

Last week, my beloved B sent to me some seeds from her collection. She not only added greatly to our tomato selection, but also a variety of marigolds and an edible flower/bean called Scarlet Bees.

She also enclosed Moon Flower seeds that she'd gathered from her own gorgeous vines that she grows over the brick and iron wall of her city garden in downtown Baltimore.

Moon Flowers might be my favorite flower of all. A member of the nightshade family*, they have an enormous, pungent white blossom that unfurls after dark like a virgin on her wedding night - one time only - then closes back into a beautiful fractal spiral within which a fat pistachio shaped, hard-shelled seed will grow inside a sexy coffee colored pod.

The seeds are so hard, that in order for them to germinate, the cultivator must nick them - or as I like to think of it, give them a love bite.

What flower is more sensuous than this? I can't think of any.

Velvety, ghostly, voluptuous petals reek of desire. They require particularly well endowed moths like the Carolina Sphynx - one of the hummingbird species - noted not only for resembling the bird in size and shape, but also for it's extra long proboscis, the better to reach into the deep wells of their sweet nectar.

Oh my. Moon Flowers and Moths have it all over The Birds and the Bees. I move to change it.

XXKHT

A nice poem about Moon Flowers is here: Cold Tea Blues Moonflowers

The picture at left is jacked and edited from here:
Moon Flowers and Carolina Sphynx Moths

*Same as tomatoes, peppers, egglplant etc. but a different genus.

What is black, white and green all over?

Newspaper pots, that's what!

Helpful Hint #2:

editor's note:  I made two, but the straight sided glasses I had in my kitchen were tiny juice and flower vase sized, respectively. Mine had trouble staying together, but I could imagine a little bit of masking tape wouldn't hurt and also if they are all tucked into a nice plastic tray they should work marvy.

After spending over $100 on planting systems, not including  germination mix or potting soil and still not having enough space to plant everything I want to, the time has come to get more creative.

When and if I use these, I promise to link back to this post so we can compare the pros and cons as they arise.

Meanwhile, thanks EHow and YouTube!

XXKHT

p.s. yes, the sound is out of sync.

"Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action." ~ Anna Lappe

Finally! Actual Directions for Starting Seeds...

This afternoon, I took a deep breath and we began by sterilizing the materials before setting up to begin germination. Sterilizing the planting containers is very simple, but crucial to avoid contamination by molds etc.

To begin, we filled our dish tub with a 1/10 solution of bleach to warm water, and dipped each implement into it before setting them out to dry. Rather than do this several times and wasting bleach etc., we decided to do them all at once, and put them into a large, clean, plastic garbage bag to store until we need the larger containers.*

I probably don't need to say this, but just in case: since you're using bleach, be careful it and or the water solution doesn't get on anything other than the sink and containers; and it's advisable to wear clothes you don't care about ruining, because no matter how deliberate you are with it, bleach has a way of getting on you anyway.

Ok, with that out of the way we're ready to begin germination.

After all this talk of onions, I failed to notice that the onions were plain late and that it's really the right day to start peppers, certain herbs and kale and strawberries. We're going to wait on tomatoes until next week as planned, because if you start them too early, you'll end up with leggy, scrawny plants and there's no need for that!

With the onions, I decided to scatter them in long germination trays separated by tape markers directly into the germination mix. I figure if one or two get mixed in with the others, it's not really a big deal and anyway, I was careful to keep them in their little areas - three types to a tray.

The germination mix we chose to use is the Intervale Compost Germination Mix which is pre-formulated and needs nothing but water.

First, Rob measured the amount of mix we'd need for the containers and dumped it into a sterilized tub (the dish tub we used to sterilize the other things, as it happens). Then he added some water, very little at first, and mixed it up until it was just damp.

Here's where that vague garden writing description aspect comes into play. The best I can describe - actually, Rob's description is: add a little bit of filtered water to the germination mix until it feels damp and sticks together in your hand when squeezed gently. It should be lightly damp, and definitely NOT MUDDY and you shouldn't be able to squeeze water out of it by pressing hard.

Rob refilled the containers leaving some damp mix in the dish tub for covering the seeds after I scattered them into their designated (tape marked) areas. I did try to spread them as much across their areas as possible, but I wasn't deliberate about it; as in I didn't make any tapes or gel solutions as I've read in many helpful hints, although I would consider any or all of those methods for sowing carrots, beets and radishes directly into the soil. It's much more crucial in those cases to be able to identify the difference between sprouts and weeds and a nice straight line is an excellent guide and looks nicer as the plants grow in.

After the seeds were in place, I sprinkled a thin layer of the remaining dampened germination mix, placed the lids on the containers (to retain moisture) and set them in the warm area near our south facing window set up to be our makeshift greenhouse.

With the other peppers and herbs and berries, I followed the directions in 1,001 Ingenious Gardening Ideas to crack the seeds on wet paper towels first, and must be careful not to let the roots settle in to the paper.

1,001IGI recommends scattering the seeds on damp paper towels and placing them inside small plastic bags which are then set on top of the refrigerator.  A survey of our fridge top however made me think better of it, as the seal on the freezer is weak and it's actually quite cold up there, in addition to being next to the main door we use to come and go from the outdoors.

  Long story short: I improvised (big surprise!). I took the elongated lid of an old enamel bin that I store kitchen gadgets in, washed it and made damp paper towel beds for a few seeds of each kind, then placed the packets on top of masking tape labels lined up in rows on the lid. Then I used two large ziplock bags to cover the lid end to end, leaving the zips open and meeting in the middle.

The pepper seeds can take weeks to germinate as well as the onions so it's going to be a nail biter between now and then. I'm not sure about the berries and herbs - I'm hoping they'll be quick because I'm such an instant gratification type, it's going to drive me nuts until something green comes to prove this hasn't been an exercise in futility.

I'm a little worried that my "greenhouse" area is too hot; I got downright sweaty while I was working over there today, but it could have been my nerves as much as anything. The consensus on heat for seed starting seems to be that the germination likes it hot but that the transplants like it on the cool side. We may have to turn the heat way down when that time comes and put some sweaters on. Small sacrifice for the possibility of home grown heirloom vegetables.

For now, I'm content with the warm glow of anticipation...
XXKHT

"Wishing and wanting to see you, I step on thin ice." ~ Madoka Mayuzumi

We're not quite ready to begin germination, but I am antsy with anticipation and so we went down to the Gardener's Supply today to buy some name stakes (or markers or whatever they're officially called).

I couldn't believe the price at 10 cents a piece. Doesn't seem like much until you have a small stack of flat molded plastic that rings up at close to $7.00! I know that they're not worth more than a quarter in materials all together. What a racket!

I'm beginning to feel the guilt of not being more creative in my efforts to recycle and reuse. Robert is what is known as a Gear Head - someone who always wants the newest and the best.

If we're planning to re-use something over and over, I suppose I don't object (much) to buying quality, newly manufactured things. But if we could find a reusable alternative, why not?

I can't count how many yogurt containers we've thrown out this winter... I did save many of those clear plastic egg cartons that my old neighbor mentioned were great for seed starting, and am thinking of using them for last minute starts, just to give a few things a tiny jump and as a kind of experiment.

The reason we have the APS seed starting system is because my aunt swears by them and also bought the first round as a gift. They make perfect sense with their wicking systems and covers; and clearly they're the product of years of logical evolution. Of course, I want the babies to have a solid start.

But now, Robert is looking at light meters and talking about heating pads and I so want this done as holistically as possible. People were starting seeds in cold frames and on window sills for centuries before we had all this gear!

It's not that I don't love technology, but it's not infallible. Speaking of which: perhaps it's my poor searching skills, but with all the ten gazillion gardening sites and blogs out there, there don't seem to be any that have step by step photos of the seed starting process. Bad news for Kimberley, but good news for TLoAG because this is going to be the place.

In the meantime, I'll keep studying and hoping for the best. I'm so eager to get started that this blog is saving me from going stir crazy - also, while we were down getting the name stakes, we couldn't help but to drive a little further to see the garden at rest in her winter whites.

The Intervale Compost looked downright majestic with her rich, black mountains, steaming like mini-volcanos as great flocks of crows flew overhead.

I can't believe they're going to close it down and redirect all that natural goodness to landfills. It won't be the same, and I keep hoping that a miracle will occur and everyone will put aside their differences for the good of one and all.

But I promised myself to keep this blog upbeat and uncontroversial; that's what my other blog is for.

And so it shall remain, at least for today,
XXKHT

notes on pics: I took several photos of the compost but for whatever reasons I don't like them well enough to share. I'll try again later and add them here if something better comes out.

"Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket!" ~ Mark Twain

Almost every seasoned seed starting gardener I've queried has complained that they can't wait to get started and that it's tough to resist starting too early, even though they know giving in to the impulse can result in a failed effort.

Plants will get leggy. They'll wilt. Seedlings kept too wet can grow mold, and left to dry out can shrivel up and die. The longer you attempt to keep them indoors, the less chance they have of survival. Careful planning and attention are the best insurance for all successful plant ventures. And wouldn't it be a damn shame to spend all that time and money only to have to start over with boring nursery starts?

There are distinct formulas for starting seeds based on the average frost dates in each zone. The seed packets will let you know the number of weeks before transplant and it's up to the gardener to figure out how that applies to their zone

In Vermont, we're in Zone Four or the light blue zone on the Old Farmer's Almanac. Unfortunately, along with the other info on seed packets, whether they will or will not thrive in your zone is not included. This I believe is left up to experience - if you're not sure if something grows in your zone, it doesn't hurt to ask a more experienced gardener or better yet your local nursery before you invest (or the old standby of instant gratification, my friend Google)

This is an excellent time to note that getting properly started in gardening is not cheap. However if you endeavor to stick with it through successes and failures, most of your investment can pay off richly in the future. That's what gardening distills down to - investing in the future.

For instance, if you plan to save your seeds, that's that many seeds you don't have to order from a seed catalog the following season. A grow light can last many years if it's cared for and the bulbs are delicately handled (or not handled, as it were). Similarly, seed starting trays can be stored and sterilized for reuse over and over. In fact, after these initial investments, the costs can be reduced drastically each year to include only the non-renewables like electricity, germinating mix, soil, site rent etc..and if you compost, even better yet.

Now let's figure out some frost dates. Jacked from a very handy article at Thrifty Fun called: 4 Steps to Figuring Out When to Start Seeds is this handy table:

The next thing the novice seed germinator needs to study is Hardening Off. It is recommended to allow an extra week for this process which conditions the nursery babies to the harsh realities of variable weather.

The week before you plan to transplant is not the week to plan a pre-summer vacation because you're going to need to be there to run the plants in and out of doors; at first for hours and then for entire days, always bringing them in at night so that the seedlings can chemically adjust for changes in atmosphere.

We'll go into this in more detail when the time comes, but at this point all we need to know is to add two weeks to the transplant estimates (it could be a week, or a week and a half depending on how cooperative the weather is - you just won't know until the time comes.)

According to my Hillbilly Potato Leaf Seed Packet (above), we should expect to transplant after six weeks. Our frost range is the month of May and so I think we should split the difference and put our two weeks hardening toward the latter two weeks, or sometime in the week of May 19th - 24th.

For sh*ts and giggles I've decided to consult the above mentioned Old Farmer's Almanac (TOFA) that encourages planting by the lunar cycles. Heck, it's the oldest continuously published periodical dating all the way back to 1792, so they must be doing something right...

TOFA uses mysterious criteria and offers detailed advice as to which crops to plant or not to plant which days are good for planting, and which days to avoid planting all together. I think that's cute and all but I'll stick with the lunar cycles because that makes some sense to me.

Here is a clip from their lunar planting guide for tomatoes in our region.

The light blue area represents Zone 4 and the dates in the first blue column represent the open window for transplant while the second represents the optimum lunar planting dates.

Counting back roughly 8 weeks, it looks like the week of March 23rd is our planting window for tomatoes. Their guides suggest this for that week: 

(March) "19-22 A most barren period, best for killing plant pests or doing chores around the farm."
23-25 Favorable days for planting root crops. Fine for sowing hay, fodder crops and grains. Plant flowers."

 

Looks like we'll be avoiding the end of next week and sticking to the early middle meaning that we'll try to plant on or around Sunday, March 23rd, and hope that the weather cooperates for early hardening followed by transplanting between May 15th - 19th.

Because I'm documenting this process, I plan to create a data base of what we planted, when and with notes about our successes and failures which I intend to publish at the end of the process and probably with excerpts along the way.

Meanwhile it's back to the drawing board to sketch out the right planting dates for everyone. Only after that will I treat myself to a trip to Gardener's Supply for the rest of what we need, so I can take this offline and out of the cerebral to officially get my first dirt manicure of Season 2008!

Can't wait, but I will....
XXKHT

“The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in public” ~ Samuel Johnson

Day one of Life of a Garden:

Although it's not yet mid-March, it is late to begin our garden journal, in that there have been several events passed this winter, relevant to our theme.

The first, is the wonderful day last month when my partner Robert, and I (Kimberley) gathered with our garden friends Joanna & Daniel and Tim & Hillary to co-op our seeds and seed orders.

We gathered at J & D's house, armed with our seed catalogs as well as our collective dreams of "dirt manicures" and luscious tomatoes still warm from the sun that produced them.

Joanna made gorgeous chocolate treats and a big pot of tea, and we set about trying to organize our desires into schemes with potential.

Joanna, a seasoned gardener, is a veritable expert on tomatoes. Additionally, she had a lot to say on companion plantings, when to start seedlings and what not to bother planting at all. Her seed vendor of choice is Johnnys Selected Seeds from Maine. She also had a good number of seeds saved from previous seasons (one packet was from 1992!).

Last year being my first garden ever, I had what I hope was not just beginners luck in that we had a beautiful, bountiful harvest, from a veritably weed free plot - that is, because I spent literally hours there every morning making sure that no weed saw the light of more than a single day.

Robert was master of watering and tomato maintenance, because not unlike Joanna, the rest of the garden is basically decoration around the tomato plants.

Seed saving hadn't really occurred to me until I started to run out of things to do around late August. As we picked the last of our prized Pink Lady tomatoes, I thought to myself, "Holy crap! I should be saving seeds so we can have these same babies again next season! Then I wondered why the thought hadn't occurred earlier. I figure you can't expect too much your first run - I mean everything last season was a learning experience for me.

The idea of seed saving sent me to the internet looking for the how-tos and ultimately to Seed Saver's Exchange.  SSE is my vendor of choice both for their beautiful presentations, and their righteous mission  - to preserve our seed heritage, and to protect heirloom varieties from extinction through education, on site preservation and dispersed cultivation via their seed sales.

The group traded their saved seeds, ordered from Johnny's and SSE and got back together to parse out the booty a couple of weeks ago.

The next step is planning out what needs to be started indoors and when.

We already have our light system and a sufficient supply of materials to use the APS seed starting system, which is a wick watering device and which I am planning to go into great detail about in later posts after we actually get started.

We still need to research and purchase our seed germinating mixes and potting soils in addition to fertilizers (if any) and we want to invest in a light meter, and possibly soil testing kit.

This year is going to be the most expensive investment year because it's all new. In past, Robert always purchased starts from the nursery, which is fine if you'll be content with the standard varieties a nursery offers.

As a chef for over 20 years, once I got my hands dirty, I immediately began to long for colorful heirloom varieties like Dragon Carrots, and Rainbow Chards, and Bull's Blood Beets - but let's not go there quite yet - there's plenty more where that came from.

The seeds we plan to start immediately are onions because they go in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked, which around here I believe is around late April, but we'll have to wait until the community gardens are actually open for biz in the tilled areas which is sometime in early May (I should know this, since my partner is a coordinator!) After a harder search than I thought should be necessary, I found a wonderful web article at The Kitchen Gardener called The Humble Onion. It's chock full of what you need to know about planting onions, and I'm grateful to the producers for clarifying the process and assuring us that it's not so hard after all.

The Tommy Thompson area offers both deep tilled and no till plots, of which we plan to work one of each. I'm not fully sure of the advantages and disadvantages of each, but that is part of what we intend to learn this season.

I know that with the tilled plots one disadvantage is being on the BACGs schedule meaning that you must have the plot cleaned up by a certain date (generally in mid November). This eliminates the possibility of fall plantings such as garlic, and also of late harvest crops like leeks and cole crops that can survive or even thrive through some frost.

The tilled plots are particularly nice for gardeners who are very active, in that the deep aeration is wonderful for the annual plants to dig down some nice roots without much resistance. Deep tilling pulls up a lot of weed seeds however, and this is a source of debate amongst gardeners as to the advantages v disadvantages etc.

I think they both have merit, and it all depends on your plans and your style and I for one am grateful to have both as an option. I'm looking forward to learning from the experience of each mode as well.

So that's our start for now. I am going to try my best to journal this season as thoroughly as possible with many photos, and tips, and challenges, and prose, and recipes and ideas as I can cram in here so we can all learn from our successes and failures.

As the fairy in my kitchen proclaims, "If you're not killing plants, you're not stretching yourself as a gardener." Let's hope this turns out to be more the exception than the rule.

XXKHT