First Seeds of the Season

      February has started with what one can joyously proclaim as open season on the groundhog.  After what I’m already deeming a long winter, it seems the entire populous is ready for a shorter one.  That was until ole’ Punxsutawney Phil climbed out of his hole, saw his shadow, and adamantly proclaimed six more weeks of winter.  From that moment on, open season on the groundhog has started as yet even snowier weather is planned to blow in on the horizon.  (At least he won’t be eating our seedlings come spring!)  

      With all this snow, it’s hard to believe that the first seeds of spring were planted today.  As you may have seen from the last garden update (Growing Green in case you missed it), our spring seedlings will be started on a seed starter unit that my very handy husband constructed.  And today those handyman genes were certainly coming in handy as his green thumb pushed the first seeds of the season hopefully into the soil, flipped on the timed light, and we start waiting for spring to come.

Seed starter trays can be reused year after year, so long as they don't spring a leak.  Make sure to check for leaks BEFORE you start planting.  It's a lot easier to not use a leaking tray then have to relocate pots to another tray.  I often forget and find out the hard way after the first watering.  (Hint: Another tray or spare lid can be placed underneath the leaking tray to help contain the water.)  

I love seed trays with the foam beneath them to help keep the plants moist and redistribute water evenly throughout the whole season, but coming in at more than $15 a tray, the expense would be devastating.  This year, I'm going to attempt to fold up newspaper and wet it down to act as a foam bottomed tray.  

We used a 1:1 ratio of bagged seed starter mix and container mix, removing any large clumps of debris before putting it into the seed starters.  Place soil into the containers so it is level with the top.  As it gets wet, the soil will shrink.  

Fill the seed starter tray with containers.  Then plant seeds per directions on the reverse of the packet.  We're using these containers for the onion seeds.  Make sure to mark where each variety of seeds is planted before you mix up the trays! 

Water well, put the lid on and place under a grow light.  Then wait...  and wait... and wait...

       It makes me happy to see the first rows of seeds (onions in this case) on our garden layout finally preparing for their debut in the dirt.  As we plant each and every seed inside, it’s really the last chance to truly change our garden layout and what is going to be planted come spring.  Sure we can rearrange crops in the garden, but if you don’t have enough room for all your seedlings, that’s a lot of money you just wasted.  So without further ado, I present to you The Garden Layout (a.k.a. where we think we’ll be planting in the main garden come spring):

      Yes, you heard me right.  I said the main garden (also known as the lower garden).  You see, this is only 2,964 square feet of garden space that you are looking at right now.  We have to have enough food that our grocery bills next winter won’t be screaming at us because I just bought onions for the up-tenth time since I ran out for another year in a row mid-winter.  At least they lasted until December this past year, the year before it was only November… Slow progress I know.  Hopefully this year I can get them to stretch until January at least.  (Keep your fingers crossed, I know mine will be!)    

Weedy Sweet Corn Patch in 2013

      We understand that just because we attempt to grow a certain crop, it doesn’t mean it will always work.  Take for example, sweet corn.  Ah, sweet corn.  A fabulous thing to have on a hot summer day, were it not be for the beetles, caterpillars and deer, who all apparently developed a sweet tooth for it long before we started harvesting the juicy kernels our first year.  Then the red clay soil screamed a few choice things I dare not to repeat the second year, and simply put it was a learning experience.  In two years’ time with over 1,000 corn seeds planted we managed 56 measly corn cobs (some of which had been previously enjoyed by the above-mentioned critters).  The local farmers markets enjoyed our business instead.   

      This year, we hope to counter the nonproductive previous two seasons with a new brand and new variety for us – Rohrer Seed’s Incredible – and that is what we hope it will produce; an incredible yield.  Sweet corn, of course, is not the only thing going into the main garden.  Below are our planned seed varieties:

Main (Lower) Garden – 2,964 square feet
Key: Variety (* = new variety for the year), Brand (** = new brand but same variety)

Herbs Basil, Summerlong Burpee Chives, Common Burpee Cilantro Burpee Dill Burpee Oregano, Mediterranean Burpee Parsley, Big Italy Burpee Purple Basil Rohrer** Thyme, Common Burpee Flowers Calendula, Pink Surprise* Lake Valley -- Helps to repel nematodes, tomato hornworms; can be used for cuttings Cosmos, Sensation Mixed Colors* Rohrer -- Helps to repel corn earworm; can be used for cuttings Dahlia, Unwin’s Mixed Colors* Rohrer -- Can be used for cuttings Marigold, Burpee’s Best Mix* Burpee -- Helps to repel aphids, cabbage maggot, Colorado potato beetle, corn earworm, cucumber beetle, Mexican bean beetle, nematodes, rabbit s, tomato hornworms, whitefly Marigold, Petite Mix Baker Creek -- Helps to repel aphids, cabbage maggot, Colorado potato beetle, corn earworm, cucumber beetle, Mexican bean beetle, nematodes, rabbits, tomato hornworms, whitefly Nasturtium, Gleam Mix Livingston -- Helps to repel aphids, cabbage looper, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetle, imported cabbageworm, squash bugs, striped pumpkin beetle; also edible Nasturtium, Whirlybird Mix* Rohrer -- Help to repel aphids, cabbage looper, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetle, imported cabbageworm, squash bugs, striped pumpkin beetle; also edible Petunia, Choice Mix* Liberty Garden -- Help to repel aphids, leafhopper, Mexican bean beetle, squash bug, tomato hornworm Petunia, Stellaris* Baker Creek -- Help to repel aphids, leafhopper, Mexican bean beetle, squash bug, tomato hornworm

Vegetables/Fruit Bean, Black Turtle* High Mowing Bean, Hutterite Soup* Seed Savers Bean, Montcalm Dark Red Kidney* Rohrer Bean, Scarlet Runner Rohrer** Broccoli, Green Magic* Rohrer Broccoli, Sun King Hybrid Burpee Broom Corn, Amish Rainbow* Bot. Int. Cabbage, Red Acre* Lake Valley Carrot, St. Valery Baker Creek Cauliflower, Winter Dream Burpee Cucumber, Pickle Barrel Hybrid Burpee Gourd, Small Fancy Burpee Lettuce, Heatwave Blend Burpee Lettuce, Red Romaine Baker Creek Lima Bean, Fordhook No. 242 Rohrer** Luffa, Bathroom Sponge* Rohrer Onion, Candy* Rohrer Onion, Flat of Italy* Botanical Interests  Onion, Yellow (Starting from Onion Sets) Pea, Easy Peasy Burpee Peanut, Jumbo* Rohrer Peanut, Jumbo Virginia Burpee Pepper, Hungarian Wax Lake Valley Pepper, Jalapeno M Burpee Pepper, Sweet Mix Burpee Pepper, Topedo Rosso Baker Creek Potato, Cobbler* (?) Rohrer Potato, Red (Saved Potatoes) Pumpkin, Big Max Burpee Pumpkin, Cushaw (Saved Seeds) Radish, Champion* Rohrer Spinach, Salad Select Burpee Squash, Early Golden Crookneck Burpee** Squash, Vegetable Spaghetti Burpee Squash, White Bush Scallop Baker Creek Sweet Corn, Incredible* Rohrer Tomato, Amish Paste Rohrer** Tomato, Big Mama Burpee Tomato, Fresh Salsa Burpee Tomato, German Strawberry* Landis Valley Tomato, Oxheart (Saved Seeds) Tomato, Tomatoberry (Saved Seeds) Watermelon, Sugar Baby* Rohrer Zucchini, Black Beauty* Rohrer

     

Juliet Tomato in 2014

    Yup, that’s a lot of seeds and hopefully a lot of produce. Could our garden end up overrun with vines and impossible to weed?  Maybe.  Things happen.  Nature takes its own path, which is usually not the same path we plan to take, but it’s always worth the try.  You see, every year I live with the same dream: If we could only eat from our bountiful harvest, and a hopefully lucky hunting season.  It’s as if I can sense a magically shrinking grocery bill.  Alas, until bananas sprout forth from the red clay soil, and oranges thrive in the chilly winters of Pennsylvania, to the market we must go…

      Happy seed starting everyone, and hopefully the next time I check in with you with our garden update, they’ll be seed starter trays aplenty filled with our seeds for the upcoming spring planting season.