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I am loving the new photos, Cambium! They give me hope for my own garden someday ... although I say that every year ...
Thanks! I hope one day you decide to jump into it.
I started new flower seeds. I'm in a flowery mood this year. lol. But instead of starting them inside I am keeping them outside during the day and back inside at night. This way I wont have to harden them off. They'll be used to the outdoor environment.
I kept the dome on and within 30 minutes of being in the sun check out the temperature inside there.
100°F+. So I have to make sure I keep dome lifted up when its sunny but put it back on before sundown to keep warmth inside. A little pain but will save me time down the road.
I like the 'in process' photos, the easy to understand instructions, good natured advice & tips, & sharing results of experiments.
Many thanks & much respect! ‼️
As always everyone, thanks! I recommend everyone to do it. It's like having a garden journal to look back on with pictures and a bonus of interacting with people.
While most stuff is repetitive year after year, its fun to see the progress and thoughts as season goes on.
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April 7, 2020:
Sowed Lettuce, Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Arugula seeds to the new raised beds.
Planted the String beans. I like to do them on mounds because there's a slight slope near the foundation and I don't want water sitting there. This way they drain better.
I planted Italian style and Canadian style string beans. Not sure the names.
Soil temp at 53.6° this morning. Here's how it compares to past 2 yrs. In 2018 we were still near 40F! Fava Beans started popping up yesterday.
So I decided not to wait... My gut is telling me there is not enough fertilizer to help these transplants grow ...so.... I have this MG solution which is 20-20-20 but that would be too strong for the seedlings. So I used half of that. It called for 1 Tablespoon per gallon of water. I used 1/2 tablespoon for a gallon.
So I'll be feeding them 10-10-10 fert.
I mixed it into my pump sprayer
Then I poured the contents into my spray bottle...
Then I fed the pepper plants. I just did what's in this box here. Let me wait 3 days to see if there's any stress from it. If there isn't I will finish the rest of the plants.
Oh, I did the Four O Clocks and Bachelor Button flowers too. Cold morning and day outside in the 40s with clouds and rain coming
My these weeks fly by! Pattern turned into a cooler one this past week but had 2 nice sunny days where the temps reached into the 50s.
Sunday April 12, 2020 Update:
My soil temps went the wrong way. Back to end of March levels in the low 40s this morning. (Green line). In fact, its colder on todays date than the past 2 yrs. Last week was warmer than past couple yrs.
So............ Remember I tested the MG fertilizer at half rate on those peppers?? Within 2 days I started noticing a difference. Leaves were changing texture and growth spurt was happening. A couple of abrasions on the leaves healed up.
Check it out! HUGE difference. Picture might not show it well but the leaves are much bigger and healthier. Amazes me all the time.
Now compare it to the peppers that DIDN'T get the fert. They are smaller! So I added the MG fert half rate to these as well now. I have to be careful because its still 4 weeks until they can get planted outside. I don't want them outgrowing the shelves.
I forgot if I showed my indoor setup. Nothing fancy guys. Just in my living room near the wood stove we use to heat the home.
I keep that circulating fan rotating on them 6-8 hrs a day. The lights on for 10-12hrs. (6am-6pm)
Sweet Bell and Eggplant in there somewhere. lol
Tomatoes... No MG fert on them. I wanted them to root more. I will be adding MG Fert on the next watering in 2 days
I am excited about this! I never grew herbs indoors before. I always thought they need to be started outside in warm weather. I been picking fresh basil and more importantly...PEPPERMINT is sprouting! After 1 month! I never had luck with Peppermint or Spearmint so I am excited to see this and man those leaves smell amazing!! The Lemon Balm too which I'm familiar with
Tomorrow there is a Lake Cutter Powerful Storm that's going from the South towards the Great Lakes. Snowstorm for Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. We're on the other side of the storm (The east side)...So we're getting Extreme Winds, warmth and Heavy Rainfall Tomorrow.
With that said...... I have to protect the lettuce seeds from the heavy rains so I put a tarp over the raised bed. I was going to protect the little onion sets too and string bean seeds. We'll see.
Shed covered. Actually should turn it into a greenhouse. Hmmmm.
Wow, Cam, you have been one busy bee this season. Holy smokes! I am envious!! Admittedly, I have cleaned up the majority of my yards in preparation for spring including "refreshing" my 12 Earthboxes, cleaning out the strawberry patch and flower beds, raking leaves, mowing, etc. We had a good stretch of gorgeous weather in the 70s for a few days last week into the weekend, but now we're sitting under 10" of snow and record lows around 10F this morning. Today is sunny and supposed to reach around 40F, tomorrow mid-50s, then another possible 6-12" of snow tomorrow night through Friday with lows back in the teens. We finally get out of it on Sunday and next week looks mostly in the 60s, nights above freezing and lots of sunshine. To have cold and snow in April is normal around here, but an entire week of much-below-freezing temps and what may turn out to be 20" or more of snow is rather unusual.
I did plant radish, turnip, rutabaga, Swiss chard, lettuce and carrot seeds over the past few weeks. Anything that germinated I brought into the garage. Anything that hadn't I left outside. As you know, several inches of snow is a wonderful insulator, so I think most of that which was left outside will be fine since we got several inches of snow before temps ever fell below about 27F. I feel I'm about 3 weeks behind last season at this point, though last May was one of our coldest and snowiest on record, so hopefully this year won't repeat and I'll catch back up.
I started 17 varieties of tomatoes on 04/12/20 - nothing germinating yet, but I did a viability test a few weeks ago and had almost 100% germination on seeds that are mostly more than 6 years old. I have 9 varieties of peppers (44 plants in total), some of which I topped on 04/12/20 and some I moved into 3" seedling pots.
See below for seedlings and before/after of the recent snow. I'll start my own thread once we get into some warmer weather..
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