Early planting, possibly to early.

Over the last few weeks we have been busy planting all the plants that we had sprouted inside under our early planting scheme.  We really took the opportunity to try and time it with the full moon, among other things, but in the end we feel it was all to early.  

The reasons we think that it has proven too early is because many of the plants have been really struggling - particularly for some of the types of tomatoes. Not all of them though - will have to confirm which ones once they start growing.


We tried to ensure the transition from inside to outside was gentle by staging the move.  We first spent a week with the plants outside during the day and then back in at night, then outside over night on warm nights, and then tried to time the plan with the full moon.
We encountered a couple of problems.

• Firstly, altough the idea to introduce the plants outside gently was probably correct, we put them on the deck in front of the house where they were expossed to wind which frankly smashed them.  The wind was hardly noticeable but because the plants had been so protected inside they had no hardiness whatsoever.  I think we lost all our cucumbers and took a lot of damage to the tomatoes
  
• Secondly, although we planted some with the full moon, the wind was too strong and again damaged the plants
• Although nights are generally about 4 or 5 + one of two nights of close to 0 we think have really had a big impact on the tomatoes.  Many of the plants that were planted ages ago with the full moon have made no progress, and are not showing any improvement after almost 2 weeks.

It's not been all nightmares.  The peas and taken well, although they don't seem to have really grown at all over the last 2 weeks.  But they do seem happy to just sit there - hopefully they'll therefore be well settled by the time it warms up.

What we've learnt:

• That we probably needed to hold on for planting for another month to the next full moon.  Aim for about end of March / April time
• Plants liked it when planted just after rain as the soil was soaked through.
• The pyrimid of needs for planting pre-seeded plants in order of priority is: No wind, just after rain days, full moon, sunny days.  Wind is really a killer for early
• Tomatoes in particular needed another month (although there is an early variety)

Pumpkin Planting Tips

We're also looking to plant a few pumpkins this year, so here's an aggregated list of tips for pumpkins:

• Pumpkins love sunny spots - the more the better
• Plant in mounds:  Pumpkins seeds typically are planted in the middle of small hills or mounds that are about three feet in diameter. Surround each hill with a moat (about 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep) to help contain water around the roots. Plant 4 to 5 seeds in a circle in the middle of the hill, and space the seeds about 6 to 8 inches apart.
• Pumpkin plants are vigorous vines and love to sprawl
• The vine can be pruned, trained, and redirected to live harmoniously with other plants
•  The huge leaves of the pumpkin plant serve as a floating mulch that holds down weeds and keeps the soil moist.
• Pumpkins are considered "heavy feeders" and do well with a little extra nourishment. One nutrient source that works well and is reasonably priced has the dismaying name "fish emulsion"
• If pumpkins could speak, their first words would probably be: "Gimme a drink." Between 80 to 90% of every pumpkin is water; and water is an essential medium for bringing nourishment to the entire plant.
• Pumpkin vines withstand pruning quite well. Properly done, it strengthens the plant and helps it thrive. In most cases, the plants require some cutting if only to keep them from growing into your kitchen. Every pumpkin plant has a main and a secondary vine that usually grow in opposite directions. Each of these two vines produce shoots (or tertiary vines) which can be selectively pruned as the plant develops. It is best to clip when these new side shoots begin to develop. The plant will leak or bleed a little when it is clipped, but it seals over quickly. The amount of pruning usually depends on how much garden space is available. Trimming the plant is definitely necessary to train the vine to run in a long narrow line along the edge of a garden and to keep the plants from crawling over each other and their neighbors. 

Source:
http://www.informeddemocracy.com/pumpkin/growing.html

Phase 2 Seeding (Feb 17th)

I planted some more today.  I don't really have much of a plan except that the snow is starting to go and so I wanted to seed some more plants with perhaps the aim of bedding the first phase by early March.

Phase 1 - 1st Feb, 2012	Phase	qty	sprouted	notes
Cucumber	2	2
Pumpkin	2	2
Pois Nain Provencal	2	6
Red Salad	2	12
Tomates - Pépite Hyb F1	2	3		seeded 2 in each pot JIC

I decided to plant a couple more of the ones that seemed to be working - pumpkin and cucumber - and figured that I'd wait another week to see how the tomatoes seedlings progress over the next week.

I planted some new types of tomatoes which if they all sprout will bring our total to 10.  I think we could probably still do with another 6 plants as contingency.

The peas have gone in and another type of salad just to see how that one goes.

Now that we've finalized some kind of decisions on how many potagers we want to plant, we could perhaps start giving some thought to how many plants in total we want to have in the ground for spring (and where they're going to go)

TOTAL	P1	P2	TOTAL
Cucumber	3	2	5
Pumpkin	3	2	5
Batavia Lettuce	12		12
Poivron	2		2
Chilli	2		2
Tomates Noire de Cremée	4		4
Tomates Saint Piere	6		6
Pois Nain Provencal		6	6
Red Salad		12	12
Tomates - Pépite Hyb F1		3	3

Phase 1 Seeding (1st Feb) Results

The results of the first seeding are below.  It started off pretty slow  but definitely picked up fairly well.  We've got some decent seedlings, particularly the pumpkin, and the cucumber.

Important to note that over this period it was bloody freezing outside, -10 over night and we had little water.

Seedings indoors
Phase 1 - 1st Feb, 2012	Phase	qty	sprouted	notes
Soya	1	2	all	discarded due to mold - got too wet
Cucumber	1	4	3	re-potted Feb 17
Pumpkin	1	3	2	re-potted Feb 17
Batavia Lettuce	1	12	all	didn't seem like they needed re-potting
Poivron	1	2	2	just came through
Chilli	1	2	2	just came through
Tomates Noire de Cremée	1	8	4	re-potted 1 to test
Tomates Saint Piere	1	8	6	waiting for second leaves to re-pot

The tomates Saint Piere.  Still small but coming along


The lettuce.  definitely looking rather feeble.  But checked and they didn't seem like they needed re-potting


The two pumpkins going really strong


The 3 cucumbers coming along ok

Germination tests

The plants that we have got to sprout so far don't seem to be in great condition. A little thin.

- I've also noticed that within the same varieties the ones that get the most sun are looking a bit better.
- in addition I feel we may have overwatered some.

So am Going to run a couple experiments.

1. Am going to put the unsprouted pots under a lamp that should at least provide more heat
2. I'll start trying some bottom watering with a control group.

UPDATE: We were without water for over a week so this test kind of got a little ignored.  However things have grown fairly well.  The light definitely makes a difference and in fact it seems that perhaps we were over watering them.  We ditched the soybeans.

Germination indoors tips

Some tips for early seed germination indoors from http://ourohio.org/home-gardens/gardening-basics/winter/sowing-seeds-indoors/.


I was beginning to think that perhaps we sowed seeds in doors too early as some of them, having sprouted don't seem to be going too well.  So, I figured i'd do some research.  Below are the tips:

• germination rate of most seeds drops dramatically after the first year
• Seed-starting media are usually low in fertility. This means that a regular fertilization program is very important once seedlings emerge.
• The correct timing of seed sowing is an important factor in successful indoor seed starting. In winter months, overanxious gardeners may sow seeds too soon. Seedlings that are held indoors too long perform poorly once transplanted into the garden. Most seeds should be sown 4 to 12 weeks prior to transplanting into the garden. The time it takes for seedlings to be ready for transplanting outdoors will vary.
• An acclimation period before placing seedlings directly into the permanent growing site must be included.
• Once the seeds have germinated, you will see two seed leaves or cotyledons. Eventually, these seed leaves will wither. Next, true leaves will form. These true leaves look like the plant's typical leaves. Transplant the seedlings to individual containers once the first set of true leaves appear.
• Watering can be a cause of seedling failure. Keep soil moist but not wet. Small, tender seedlings dry out rapidly and can die. Remember that roots always must have oxygen, as well as water; therefore, do not keep the soil soaked. Water when the surface of the soil begins to dry out.
• Bottom watering helps prevent damage to the seedlings caused by a hard stream of water. Bottom watering also encourages deep root development and ensures that the entire depth of soil receives moisture. Do not let the pot or flat sit in water longer than it takes for all of the soil to become moist.

Bottom watering struck me as interesting.  This apparently helps grow longer stronger roots.  Shall experiment with this

Early seeding indoors - January 2012

As part of a little experiment to see if the seeds still worked and to see what would sprout we seeded some plants in doors.

 

Phase 1 - 1st Feb, 2012	qty	sprouted
Soya	2	all
Cucumber	4	3
Pumpkin	3
Batavia Lettuce	12	all
Poivron	1
Chilli	1
Tomates Noire de Cremée	8	3
Tomates Saint Piere	8	1

Theaim for this year is to focus on growing some volume on vegetables that we've had success with and then to continue to experiment with other vegies and soil types to see what we can get to prosper.

We've chosen to focus on Letucces, Tomatoes, Radishes and Potatoes.  We'll focus on these and concentrate on learning about how we can use different varieties to extend the harvest season to provide more.  We'll obviously experiment with other vegies on smaller scale to and see what we learn.

Now, we need to get another phase of seeding started

soya sprouts.  Added these for fun in the knowledge at least something would sprout.

cucumbers are sprouting

Lettuce sprouted first.

Both species of tomato have sprouted.