Escape
Sometimes I forget that nature is pretty good at propagating itself and managed to do fine for the 700 beeelion years leading up to the garden behind cohutt’s fence.
Nature usually takes full advantage of my latent garden slackness AFTER the harvests. We all know that weeds reproduce pretty readily without my help and the only real difference between weeds and “domesticated” plants is that weeds seeds don’t come in little $1.39 packets. So slackness pays.
I present my evidence:
Stomp over the escaped strawberry runners for months and dare them to try and root in the hard clay between the beds. HA! You see how intimidated they were not:
This was actually a convenient thing since the top tier of the strawberry pyramid had collapsed into the core and the plants on those payers fried last summer.
Next, leave lettuce a few weeks past its prime in spring plantings and by late June you’ll have a scraggy dandelion-looking plant sending seed floaters out to seek their fortune. These tough little Amish Deer Tongue lettuce plants didn’t stray far but managed to root in the hard clay next to the bed after a cold winter in the wood chips.
I took the hint and spread lettuce seeds around in a few inhospitable looking spots around the yard to see how they fare. Some are coming up along the edge of the patio brick in the area now exposed due to cutting back the boxwood in that area. Details on the success or failure of the pioneers will be reported in a few weeks.
(That’s all for tonight.)
A spring garden walk with a camera
Yesterday evening I wandered among the beds, stopping to observe a little more than usual; I have to figure out how I’m going to fit everything in when the summer planting cranks up in a few weeks. I added several more beds over the winter but (as usual) am probably more ambitious than I should be with everything I want to get into the ground this year.
Anyway……. I lugged the camera along and this is some of what I found.
A fast growing asparagus forest
Ruby red and Fordhook giant varieties of swiss chard
A peak patch of prolific post-winter lettuce
A border of spinach that was planted last September; this line sprouted but was soon dominated by broccoli plants that robbed it of the last of the autumn sun. I’ve learned spinach is amazingly hardy and extremely patient; given a chance it will rise from the dead.
And a final spring sowing of the same:
In the picture above you can see the sugar snap peas planted under the green wire trellis; if you look closely you’ll notice something with broader leaves that doesn’t belong.
As I rearranged the beds I moved the soil along with the beds. It would appear that along the way a small potato tuber from last summer was missed and has now taken advantage of the opportunity spring is providing. There are a couple in this bed that against my better judgment I will let live to see what comes of them.
The tater invaders:
One of the last clumps of Arugula leftover from fall is going to seed but was sheltering a surprise – a couple of the smaller more delicately flavored variety which I had planted at the same time. If it reminds you of a dandelion it is for good reason; they are of the same family (cousins or something perhaps).
And finally, back in the main “winter covered”, in the middle of what is now a jungle of lettuce, chard and spinach, I discovered that I had missed a couple of the french breakfast radishes. What gave them away were the tall stalks they have developed as they move to seed. The little buggers are usually nice and delicate looking but at this point they appear a little long in the tooth:
And finally, rosemary blooms; they are small and well down the stems in the middle of the plant. Who knew? 😉
Shrek and other asparagus spears
In this 2nd year of the asparagus bed, we could cut a spear or two but have (so far) decided not to cut any. The idea is to let the bed become as firmly established as possible so that we can enjoy the harvest to its fullest extent over the next 15+ years.
We were pleased when the spears started appearing a few days ago; I spread a good 1-2″ of year old composted dairy cow manure over the entire bed earlier so the “ferned out” plants should enjoy plenty of nutrients this year.
When I returned from an overnight business trip this evening I surveyed the garden and was surprised at how much the asparagus had grown over this period. One particularly stout spear had prematurely started flowering out about a foot up (vs 2-3′ normally) and might be the homeliest asparagus spear on record in north Georgia.
“Shrek”:
Does anyone else see the resemblance or is it just another manifestation of a malfunctioning cohutt brain again?
For scale, a view of “Shrek” with my usual standard of perspective, the 32 oz. Nalgene bottle:
(OK, I’ve lost it. So what….)
Thankfully the bed has come alive and so far most of the crowns from last year have presented a spear or two to confirm their survival:
Some of the growth this year is already taller than the tallest of last year and I’m concerned about the footprint that the mature and flopped plants will occupy this year. I’m planning on constructing a para-cord restraining corral of sorts this weekend if I am so motivated you’ll all be the “second to know” after it passes the scrutiny of Mrs cohutt.
Speedling Seedling Barges
I mentioned earlier that I’m experimenting with a couple of 128 cell Speedling transplant trays from Peaceful Valley.
The plants that survived my overzealous aphid eradication effort were established enough to start hardening off a bit outside in preparation for transplanting this week. I had been putting them on the back steps for a few hours now and then; by Sunday they were ready for some decent exposure to sun and wind. The only concern was that it is so dry outside and the open bottom design might dry the soil out too much if I misjudged timing or forgot about them.
Then I remembered reading that these polystyrene trays were used in hydroponic systems as free floating island plant hosts.
I checked a tray out in the old bell that serves as a listing birdbath in the center of the boxwood area of the garden. It floated fine with about 1/4 inch below the surface, possibly enough to wick up all the moisture needed by the seedlings on a sunny windy day.
The second tray wouldn’t fit until I added water then both fit just fine:
(You can tell the rows that got wiped out in the aphid hunt.)
The plants floated all afternoon and the surface of the starting mix remained dark and moist even in the relatively brisk wind.
This is all that is to this post; I just thought it was pretty cool, but then again I’m easily amused sometimes.
Green day massacre
The turnips were racing to seed faster than we could consume them; with temperatures warming up ahead of schedule I figured it was time to make a final harvest and turn the bed.
Last before shot:
Step 1 remove the major seed stalks:
Step 2 pick over the spreading lower greens
(I skipped the picture of the turned bed- too graphic for a family oriented garden blog).
Step 3, pile them up in the morning shade of Lizzie’s steps and trick Mrs C to coming out to help.
Step 4, leave the bones of the picked over greens on the steps and go blanch / freeze the two large pots full of the season’s last harvest.
Seed starts, seed finishes
Some of my seed starts are about finished and ready for transfer out to the real world.
But first, a public service announcement:
Some are actually completely finished, ie crispy, fried, dead, deceased, etc. I have been fighting fungus gnat/ whitefly / aphid infestation on my peppers all winter and not surprisingly, the little bastidges found some of the fresh young seedlings to be of a superior grazing quality. One evening, while briefly overcome by a wave of impatient insect hatred, I mixed up a water/dish soap mixture that was over the tolerance threshold for some young plants. The bugs suffered heavy casualties to be certain, but the (temporary) victory came at a cost. For the record, arugula, pak choi, and radishes are extremely sensitive to homemade potions of insecticidal soap sprays. (I feel better for getting this burden of baby plant killing guilt off of my chest).
OK, back to the point of this post…..
The radicchio is ready to move outside but the peppers it shares a tray with are still at least a month away. As I separated the radicchio cubes, I was reminded why I decided to try the soil cube route in the first place.
Traditional “walled” seedling pots (and to a lesser extent “peat” pots) provide a barrier for growing roots that deflects or redirects them to continue growing until they are spiraling around the pot. We’ve all seen the nursery plants that appear to be wrapped in a balls of fine white thread when popped out of the flimsy 4 or 6 pack. Supposedly, this condition at best creates a delay in the plant taking hold in the garden; at worst it creates a condition where the plant is stunted and less productive that it would have been otherwise.
Since the soil cubes don’t have an outside edge to deflect roots, the roots don’t grow into long inter-wrapped spirals surrounding the plant. Instead, they reach the cube edge and emerge slightly; then at this point they just stop growing (usually). When they hit air, they naturally stop and hence the term “air pruning”. As one stops growing, energy is diverted into other roots until you have a profusion of healthy roots all “timed out” at the edge of the cube. Once transplanted, these roots are well positioned to take off again and this should shorten the period where the plant is transitioning after transplanting. I believe the term for what cubes minimize or avoid completely is “transplant shock”.
Here is the “finished product” ready to move to the garden:
From another angle your can see that when the cubes are close together in the tray, roots sometimes don’t hit enough “air” to stop and continue to grow and get a little shaggy. The interesting thing is they only continue to grow down the space between the cubes and never invaded to neighboring cube. The pepper plant in the back sent roots out under the radicchio cube but not into it.
Ideally the seedling cubes would be held in a humidity controlled environment where space can be kept between the cubes and the base would be some sort of grid to allow air to circulate underneath as well. I can’t provide those conditions so I opted to keep them snugged together in order to keep moisture more consistent. The resulting shaggy roots are a byproduct of this; it didn’t seem to matter with the lettuce I put out last fall.
It may all be bunk; my own experience so far would suggest there is something to it though, so that’s my story and I’m sticking to it….
Flower people ?
Flower people please help me:
Last summer I sprinkled out a “sun/shade mix” packet of perennial flower seeds in a small patch of ground between my fence and patio. Some managed to germinate (along with a steady supply of weeds) and remarkably, I managed to leave a few in the ground while weeding.
They are doing pretty well now in this sheltered spot but I now have no idea what they are. I searched my garden “bin” for the seed packet but apparently it is long gone.
So, flower people, can any of you help me out? There are 3 types of survivors
Laura? Mother? Peg? …..Bueller? ….Bueller? …..Anyone?
Any input will be greatly appreciated…..
An humble plate of turnip greens
Back in September, Mrs cohutt declared she didn’t really like turnip greens. About 6 seconds earlier I had entered to declare what new seeds I had just plnated in a little spot between the fence and a garden bed.
In her defense I wasn’t really a fan of most of the turnip greens I had consumed up to that point either. Neither of us had ever cooked any ourselves and certainly hadn’t grown any, so these greens were going to be an experiment based solely on the faith we might be able to make them edible.
So how’d it go?
A few months and a dozen or so turnip green based meals later, we have changed our opinion.
Growing them is easier that growing crabgrass. I used some or other mix (Seven Greens?) that produces nice tops and no root; I dumped out a single seed pack (too densely) in 3 or4 short rows (that were too close to each other) in the small spot that had Bush Limas during the summer. After what seemed to be 10 or 15 minutes later they were ALL sprouted and I never bothered to thin them. (Actually I think they sprouted within 48 hours.)
Hardy? Resilient? Sure, this is what they looked like after being covered with 6 inches of snow for about 5 days back in late January:
And now after having a couple huge batches cut from the center a week ago, this is what the little patch is looking like this spring:
Our standard greens meal is now occurs about once a week on “grits and greens” night. It is pretty simple:
Cut greens, pick and strip large stems form them.
Boil water
Chop greens
Dump chopped greens in boiling water
5 minutes later, dump greens in a colander, rinse with cold water and let drain
While all the green boiling is going on, saute one or two slices of bacon in a large frying pan, remove and crumble.
Once the greens have drained a bit, put them in the “well lubed” frying pan with the bacon crumbles.
Roll them around some, saute them until the greens and bacon crisps “have become one”
Mix up some grits, add some cheese at the end, we prefer sharp cheddar
Make a Christmas wreath of greens on a plate, overfill the center with hot cheezie grits
Enjoy
A sample from the archives:
More seeds! (less clutter!)
Last year was the first year I started my own seeds and I was moderately successful with it. I used what ever I could scavenge and managed to completely trash the sunroom in the process.
With much encouragement from Mrs cohutt, my goals this year are to double or triple the production while causing only 1/2 to 1/3 of the clutter. Actually, the production goal was more mine and the clutter goal was more (ok, was completely) Mrs cohutt’s.
Upgrades vs last spring:
A borrowed wire shelving unit, two new grow lights, a large seed starting mat, a soil cube maker and two speedling trays.
The foot print is definitely smaller but the production “capacity” is greatly improved.
The current view from across the room:
And..er.. uhhh…disregard the pepper dolly in the right side of the picture- this doesn’t count, it isn’t technically in the “seed starting” category.
My game plan with the soil cubes is to start some seeds in the cubes and to start some in loose vermiculite and then transplant them into the cubes. I have had mixed success with the seeds started directly in the cubes- I need to work out the temperature/moisture combo…
In the right tray, the jalapeno “gigante” occupy the back two rows after being moved from the heated starter tray. The front leafy plants are radicchio, also started in the cubes on the heated tray. The odd little plant in the front right is tai basil…
The tupperware is full of Roma VF sprouts a day or two away from being ready to transplant into soil cubes. The tray on the left has tomatoes transplanted over from vermiculite last night and tonight.
The large polystyrene trays are the “seedling” brand trays. The cavities are open bottomed inverted pyramid shaped- the idea is to air prune roots to keep them from circling back up and wrapping around like occurs in plastic pots. This is actually similar to the way soil cubes are supposed to work too-
These two are full of rainbow& fordhook giant chard, french breakfast radishes, about 10 types of lettuce, two arugulas, a row of radicchio, and finally a couple rows of pak choi. I’m direct seeding some of the same in the garden now as well and plan on comparing vs the speedling started plants.
(This is a pretty small footprint for 256 plants, eh mrs cohutt?)
Behind cohutt's fence 