Category: Vegetables

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General Update Spring Vegetables

General Update – Busy week

I’ve been pretty busy this week and didn’t get to post as much as usual, but I did take some photos. Temperatures have warmed up to consistently above 10 degrees Celsius and have had some very sunny days, as well as some very rainy days! Ah springtime in Vancouver! But we also had several days where the wind was blowing in from the west and there was a salty sea air that is so refreshing! That’s one of my favourite things about living on the coast!

It’s about 5 1/2 weeks into Spring and since I started working on my outdoor vegetable garden. I have seedlings galore and can’t wait to start harvesting!

Toy Choy – At 5 1/2 weeks, my baby bok choy is about 2 inches tall. I’ll wait until they get a little bigger before I harvest them, as I really like them in stir fry! I initially spread seeds all over the container, then 2 weeks later added more to the right-hand side of the planter, then 2 weeks after that I reseeded the left-hand side. Next year, I will seed one side, then seed the other, and alternate… that makes more sense.

Buckwheat – At 5 1/2 weeks the buckwheat seems to be suffering. We’ve had a pretty cold spring and quite a bit of rain, so I think that’s why the buckwheat is still so small and yellow. It does tell me that I need to add some more sand to the container to improve drainage, though, before I plant my squash in the same soil. However, I have a rogue mesclun lettuce seed that grew from last year (the purply plant). This is what the mesclun in my small patio table container will eventually look like.

Mesclun – About 11 days after planting the mesclun seed mix, I have a lot of tiny seedlings. They benefited from being covered for two days under a plastic produce bag to create a greenhouse effect. The planter was uncovered for several days after sowing with no movement, then I covered it over and within a day they sprouted. Just providing the extra few degrees of warmth really seems to make a difference. I will have to thin these out soon, but when they are a little bigger.

Peas – Both the Little Marvel and Oregon Sugar Pod are doing well after their second sowing. The Oregon Sugar Pod seems to have done well even with the cool Spring, though it is placed much closer to the building and likely got more ambient warmth to help with germination. The Little Marvel has been less successful and I think I may need to re-sow a third time to fill in some gaps. However, that planter was further from the building and was exposed to more cold, wind and rain. It’s very possible that, even though I didn’t soak the seeds prior to sowing, they could have gotten water-logged with all the rain we’ve had. I also didn’t plant them very deep, so that could have also exposed the seedlings a bit too early. In any case, the Little Marvel seems to be doing better and I still think they’ll flourish soon.

 

Swiss chard – About 6 days after I transplanted the Swiss chard outside, I seem to have had a planter mis-hap… or more accurately, a planter misplacement. I inadvertently had placed the planter under the corner of the balcony above my patio. We had some heavy rainfalls this week and the rain gathered at the point right above my chard planter and continuously dripped on my poor fragile seedlings (and made a big splashy mess on the patio floor!). So I’ve moved the planter and planted some backup seeds in case my seedlings don’t make it. I also went over to a friend’s house (she is the one who gave me the chard seeds) and found that she has over 10 plants growing really well in a much shallower container! Even if all of my transplants survive and the new seeds sprout, I think I’m safe to keep them all!

 

Beets & Radishes – The beets and radishes have also already sprouted and they’re not kidding that radishes grow fast! These seeds were sown about 14 days ago. The bigger seedlings with heart-shaped leaves are radishes, while the seedlings with the thin red stems are beets. They look similar to the Swiss chard seedlings because they are closely related.

Columbine – Aside from the Skimmia, the first of my flowers to bloom will be the columbine. It has had foliage most of the year, but it did die back in the winter. It has about 5 flowering stalks this year with multiple buds on each. Can’t wait for it to open!

 

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Spring Vegetables

Drooping Swiss chard seedlings

As I had mentioned in previous posts, I am starting Swiss chard seedlings indoors before I transplant them into a container outside. Two days ago, my chard seedlings went from bright and healthy to pale and droopy.

I think the Aerogarden may have created too ideal light conditions for them and they grew too tall and the leaves too heavy for their slender stems to hold up. The only other mention I could find on the internet about droopy Swiss chard seedlings was in this post. The picture is almost exactly the same as my picture. Some of the comments suggested that this means the chard is screaming to be moved to its permanent home outside, so this is what I did this afternoon.

Although I swore I would not add another container to my patio this year… I have… added two. My Swiss chard container is one of them. It is 24″ diameter by about 26″ tall.

I mixed together Sea Soil, some small aquarium gravel and eggshells for increased drainage, and bone meal and organic fertilizer. All five peat pots with chard seedlings were planted with only their leaves popping up above the soil. This means the pots were about one inch below the soil surface.

Usually, you would let the transplants get used to ‘living’ outside over the course of a week by gradually increasing the amount of time the plants are set outside. This way they can slowly get used to the wind, direct sunlight, and changing temperatures. I had set out the larger seedlings yesterday and today, but didn’t feel I could really wait much longer because they were so floppy.

Now I wait and see how they do. If they all survive the transplanting, I will eventually have to thin each clump to the strongest plant.

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Garden Stuff Vegetables

Light reflection for lower light areas

I was looking through the West Coast Seeds catalogue at the books they carry, and one caught my eye because it mentioned techniques to reflect light for small gardens. Although you should first and foremost make sure you can meet the light requirements of the plants you are growing and not rely on reflected light, reflecting additional light to your plants can help boost the intensity of the light that is available. A quick web search turned up a number of suggestions:

  • Use light coloured mulch (including white river rocks, pine shavings, white plastic) or large white pavers or stones around the base of plants to reflect light upwards.
  • Place white coloured garden decorations or pots throughout your garden, strategically positioned to reflect light to the plant (be careful not to create more shade).
  • Paint surrounding areas white, such as walls and fences, if possible. Because I live in a condo, I do not have control over the colour of our building exterior. However, I do wonder if the sunlight reflected from the windows on the other side of our courtyard make a difference in my garden.
  • Try mirrors or foil to reflect light, but be careful as these can focus sunlight too much and burn your plants. I am using the flat side of tin foil behind my peas to try to reflect light and warmth to them
  • Plant white, yellow or light green flowers and foliage around your garden which can also help to reflect light to other plants.

I have lined the outside of a long, dark green planter with the matte side of tin foil and a white pot surrounding my container of Little Marvel peas.

 

 

I also have a number of larger, light coloured stones that I collected from a river and that were once decoration in my fish tank. I have scrubbed the algae off and will use these around the base of my butternut squash plant. I know that I marginally have the minimum light requirements to grow a butternut squash plant, so I went into this with the mindset that this would be a bit of an experiment.

 

Some resources to check out:
.
Fresh Food from Small Places book

How can I reflect more light onto my outdoor garden?

Vegetable gardening (see section on Container Gardening)

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General Update Vegetables

General Update – I’m addicted!

I’m officially addicted and can’t seem to stop planting things. This weekend I even went over to my dad’s garden (dragging my accommodating hubby along with me) to weed, till, and plant some side beds. Now he’ll have some buckwheat and a blend of wildflowers that will attract bees to pollinate his garden.

Below is an updated shot of the seedlings in my Aerogarden. The butternut squash (at the back) and Swiss chard (in the middle) were planted on Easter Monday night (9 days ago). I need to get larger peat pots because the butternut squash seedlings are quickly outgrowing these small ones. I already see roots poking out the side walls! About 2 days ago, I planted two more pots of swiss chard (1 ‘Bright Lights’ and 1 rhubarb chard) and two pots of baby blue hubbard squash (which will go to my dad’s garden). Those are the pots with the little domes over top to help keep the soil moist. In the close up shot you can see the different colours of the Swiss chard stalks.

The Toy Choy sprouts continue to grow. You can see some smaller seedlings coming up from when I had thrown more seeds into the right-hand side of the planter 2 weeks ago. Yesterday I added some more seeds to the left-hand side of the planter. This is so that I hopefully have some good successive crops because I really do love baby bok choy stirfry!

My peas are really starting to do well. The Oregon Sugar Pod in my hanging basket is doing great! I think I may pop in a couple more seeds to fill in the gaps. It will be a good time to top up the soil too! I also found this great swivel connector that will allow me to spin my hanging planter around to share the sunshine evenly.

I posted a few days ago that I replanted my Little Marvel peas because only one out of about twelve seeds sprouted. That was a little disappointing and I still don’t know what happened. However, just a few days later and I can already see some sprouts beginning to pop out (the white things in the foreground below) in front of the lone seedling from the first round of planting.

I wasn’t supposed to add another container to the patio – this is what I said last week after I bought a 24″ pot for the Swiss chard – but I’ve added another one. But in my defense it is small (8″) and is meant to be a decorative but edible feature that will sit on our patio table. And I had the seeds already from last year, so I couldn’t let them go to waste, could I? I’ve planted a mesclun mix of mustard greens with a few spinach seeds thrown in for good measure. These will be ‘cut-and-come-again’ salad greens for when I have a hankering for fresh salad.

Below are photos of the buckwheat (29 days) and beet & radish (4 days) progress.

 

Categories
Spring Vegetables

Update – Container Peas

There have been some positives and negatives with the container peas.

The Oregon Sugar Pod that I planted in the hanging basket has done well. This photo was taken a few days ago and the seedlings are already over an inch tall and have started to develop another set of leaves. There are about 10 seedlings so far. I will have to add some soil when they are a little bigger because I forgot that the soil compacts after watering.

 

The Little Marvel on the other hand has not germinated as well, and I have only one seedling in 20 days, so I am reseeding the pot and just adding soil on top. I poked around to see if there were any seedlings on their way that just hadn’t broken through the surface yet, but there was no sign of life. I didn’t add inoculant as I had already put some in during the first sowing, so when the roots reach that level the inoculant should take effect. Let’s hope it works better this time! Perhaps I put too much soil on top… or perhaps the seeds were eaten?

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Vegetables

Companion planting – Radishes & Beets

Companion planting is when different types of plants are grown together for some mutually beneficial reason. For example, yarrow (Achillea) can be planted with other flowers and vegetables to deter aphids. As well, beans can be planted with corn, as corn provides a pole which the beans can climb up.

I’m not sure if this 100% counts as companion planting, but I will plant fast-growing radishes and slower-growing mini beets together in a container. Because I hate the thought of thinning out perfectly fine vegetable seedlings, planting radishes that grow within 28 days amongst beets that grow in 55-60 days will allow me to harvest the radishes while thinning and loosening the soil for the mini beets.

In my 24″ x 4″ x 6″ pot, I planted Amethyst radishes and Baby Ball beets on April 13th. Both should be planted in cooler weather (direct seed throughout April), and if this works well, I can plant for a winter harvest in August.

I added sand to Sea Soil to lighten the growing medium a bit. I like Sea Soil for the organic matter, but it can get heavy once watered.

Also, because of my experience with my container peas where the soil settled after watering and left an extra inch from the top of the pot, I pre-watered the soil and added more compost before sowing the seeds. Since these are root crops, I wanted to provide as much soil depth as possible.

Some tips and tricks (see below for source):

  • For quicker germination, soak beet seeds in warm water prior to planting to break through the tough shell.
  • Cover the seeds with peat moss instead of soil to keep seeds warm and moist, but will be easy for seedlings to break through.

 

 

 

 

For more info on beets and companion planting:

West Coast Seeds – Companion planting article

How to grow beets – good tips and tricks!

 

Categories
General Update Spring Vegetables

General update – More seedlings!

Spring is finally coming, though I wouldn’t call it consistently warm outside. I had a visitor in the garden the other day, this lovely little ladybug. Hopefully it will eat the disgusting spittlebugs that have made a home in my herb pot!

In any case, lots has been happening in the garden!

 

 

There are buckwheat seedlings in the foreground. I think I mistook an errant fall rye seedling left over from past years for buckwheat. That’s ok, fall rye is good for the garden too!

 

 

The Columbine just keeps growing and growing…

 

 

 

… And the Crocosmia too! I hope I’ll have flowers this year. Last year I must have planted them too late and only got foliage. See how these looked on the first day of spring.

 

The herb container is also doing well. The rosemary continues to flower, and the oregano and thyme are filling out.

 

The peas that are growing in the hanging basket are coming up, creating a circular pattern of tiny sprouts! Just how I sowed the seeds.

 

 

Last but not least, my first Little Marvel seedling!

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Garden Stuff General Update Spring Vegetables

General update – Seedlings!

I went away for the Easter weekend, during which we had sunshine and warm temperatures. The weather, and likely just the few extra days, have led to seedlings in the garden!

 

Toy choy

 

 

 

Buckwheat

 

 

 

Oregon Sugar Pod

 

 

Last night I also pulled out my Aerogarden to start seedlings that will go outside in May. The Aerogarden is a counter-top hydroponic system for growing tomatoes, herbs, salad greens and flowers. I’ve tried the tomatoes and herbs, but I find it is better used as a seed starter rather than growing the seed pods they offer. It takes a fair bit of electricity to run this because it has a water pump (24/7) and lighting (17 hrs/day).

I have started ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss Chard (3 pots x 4 seeds) and Early Butternut Squash (2 pots x 2 seeds). I’ll also start my Baby Blue Hubbard Squash that will go in my Dad’s garden too, but have to pick up the seeds first.

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Vegetables

Toy choy!

Yay! I think it’s true! I think some of the Toy Choy is coming up!

 

 

 

 

It seems they are coming up around the edges of the container, so they must need a bit more light to germinate quickly. Next time I will sow these seeds very shallowly. In fact, I will add some more seeds, as it’s good to space out the sowing in order to have successive harvests.

I also saw one sprout coming from the buckwheat!

Categories
Garden Stuff Vegetables

Peat Pots

I thought I would give these peat pots from West Coast Seeds a try this year, instead of peat pellets or small plastic containers. In the past I have found that my peat pellets sometimes go mouldy, so perhaps these will be a bit better. The point of using these is so that you minimize shock when transplanting by not disturbing the seedlings’ roots. I plan on starting my squash seeds in these, so I’ll fill them with Sea Soil and hopefully I’ll have plenty of healthy Butternut and Baby Blue (Hubbard) squash seedlings.

*Just a note: I will try growing a Butternut squash plant on my patio, but not the Baby Blue Hubbard as they can be very big. My Baby Blues will live in my dad’s garden, which has a lot more room and a lot more sunshine!

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