The Modern "Victory Garden"

The small additional grow light and heat mat that I ordered arrived on Friday.   I assembled it and got it set up in the shop – placing it up on top of the small over flow light set up I already had.   With this all in place, I was ready to get the peppers and basil started.                                

There were several chores to take care of in the outdoor garden area too, which was a good thing because the weather was beautiful today and it was nice to have an excuse to be outside!   I removed the plastic sheeting from the onions and the spinach bed.   Both are hardy crops and the longer-term forecast is not calling for any more really cold conditions.   I also completely reseeded the pea patch this afternoon.   The birds had gotten to the sprouting seeds when I pulled the plastic cover off to stop the rainwater puddling damage from continuing to the support trellis.    As soon as I reseeded the bed, I recovered it with Remay.   Hopefully that will keep the birds out of the bed and away from my sprouting seeds.                 

The rhubarb is just about ready for the first harvest of the year.                   

The final project for the day was to spend time repotting some of the tomato seedlings.   They are four weeks old now and ready for more root room and fresh soil.   I got about 1/3rd of them done before calling it a day.   I have quite a few tomatoes yet to pot up in larger containers.   The plan is to keep working on this over the next several days to get it wrapped up.   The repotted tomatoes went under the lights for now, but the larger ones will soon be taken out to the greenhouse and will do the daily journey into the shop at night and back out to the greenhouse in the day.   The greenhouse is getting good sun exposure now and is warming up nicely in the daytime.                  

Here’s a few of the repotted tomatoes enjoying an evening of artificial lighting and the warmth of a heat mat to help them recuperate from the transplanting.

I tried to take pictures of the bed of spinach today but the newly emerged seedlings are still so small that they are very hard to see in a photo.   I will have to wait until the bed is further along before sharing pictures of it with you.    

The spring garden season is really underway now. The trays of seedlings are occupying every available space under the grow lights and are starting to move into the greenhouse to make room for more.   As I pot up the tomatoes into larger containers, more and more of them will have to shift to the greenhouse too, as they take up much more room with the larger pots. 

How is your seed starting going?

March is a trying month in the gardening year.   The beginnings of the season are underway but the dangers of pushing too close to the “season extending edge” is high.   Even worse, the temptation to do so is fed by the dearth of fresh harvests offered up from a winter weary garden.   After a long dark season of living largely off of preserved and stored items and winter garden harvests composed largely of root crops - the lure of fresh spring greens is strong.                           

I use season extending tricks on both ends of the growing season, early spring and late fall, but I am most aggressive with the spring season.   An old gardening friend of mine (who had tremendous experience to back up his advice) once told me that if I did not lose at least a few plants in the spring and fall that I was not pushing the season extending process nearly hard enough.   This year I feel like I am living close to the season extending edge - but so far have not pushed beyond it.    The question then is…am I really pushing the season extension to the real limits?         

Last weekend, I posted about prepping the garden for a forecasted cold snap (a typical March occurrence).   The forecasts turned out to be quite accurate and the next day we had temperatures drop almost 20 degrees below the highs and lows we had been experiencing for the preceding many weeks.    Much of the garden was already protected but I covered up the freshly planted onions, kale, cabbages, and pac choi.   The Merlot lettuce (seeds from Dan at the Urban Veggie Garden Blog) were also transplanted last weekend, but placed in a container that is currently residing in the unheated greenhouse.   Tonight after work, I did a quick inspection of everything to see how all of the plantings were doing.   I am pleased to report that everything is looking quite sturdy and unaffected by the colder conditions.   The spinach patch has newly emerged seedlings and they are growing and getting substantial enough that they are now clearly visible growing in the garden bed.   The kale, cabbages, and pac choi are clearly recovered from the transplanting and are looking sturdier than the day I set them out and the onion seedlings are similarly looking just fine.   The Merlot lettuces looked a little limp immediately after I transplanted them on Sunday, but they looked quite perky this evening despite the decided chill.           

The super early tomatoes (Siletz) have graduated to the unheated greenhouse during the day and are enjoying a daily trip into the house at night for protection.   The daytime temps the past three days have been quite chill but they seem to be thriving on this regimen despite that.   They continue to put on new growth and are starting to harden up from the constant handling and exposure to colder conditions.   Here’s a picture of them this evening sitting on top of our wood stove (no worries – there is no fire in the stove tonight!).   Sorry the pictures tonight are not as clear as usual but evening indoor shots without a flash tend to be a little more “fuzzy” and lower quality.               

There is always a runt or two in every crop of tomatoes and peppers each year.   I call them my Charlie Brown plants because like the pathetic little Christmas tree in the Peanuts Christmas special – all they really seem to need is just a little extra TLC to live up to their potential.   The littlest super early tomato (on the right in the picture) is one of those little characters.   He is lagging behind his brothers but not failing – just not thriving like they are.   All the plants have been exposed to the same conditions, same care, but you can see that there is quite a difference between them in growth.   It’s really a mystery why this regularly occurs.   I suppose it is just a product of that plant’s genetic inheritance?      

I have yet to lose anything this year as a result of pushing the season extension too far.   I shouldn’t really admit that though, because as soon as I do I know something will go sufficiently wrong to prove me quite premature in my declaration!   Gardens and children have a keen ability for keeping us humble on a regular basis.

How are you doing in managing through the usual March madness?

We have been enjoying a rather balmy spring so far, but the weather forecast for the next several days is for a sudden shift to much colder weather.   This is a typical early spring condition - with abrupt changes in weather that can catch the inattentive gardener by surprise.   To extend the spring season successfully, you have to watch the forecasts and take action as needed to protect young plants from dramatic dips in temperature.        

All of the plants in the greenhouse are cold hardy and protected adequately by the greenhouse envelope with the exception of the super early tomatoes (Siletz) that I have recently moved out to the greenhouse.   I have been transporting them indoors at night and taking them back out to the greenhouse in the early morning, so they will be fine with the forecasted weather change.   The super early tomatoes are really growing well and seem to be happy with the extra attention and handling they are getting.   They are on the right in the first picture below.   Next to them is the sugar snap peas (Cascadia) and lettuces (Super Gourmet Blend) that I seeded yesterday – covered with a humidity dome.   The tray to the far left has the broccoli, swiss chard, and celery starts.   These tomatoes were started January 22nd and are being given extra care and protection so that they will (hopefully) produce a very early crop of tomatoes for me.   They will ultimately be planted in my 4 large black containers and will reside in the greenhouse until the weather really warms up and then move outside to continue growing.

For comparison, the majority of my tomato plants were started three weeks later on February 13th and they look like this right now.                   

Today I transplanted kale (Siberian Improved), pac choi (Ching Chiang), and cabbages (Savoy Ace and Tronchuda) into the garden.   They took up one 4 foot by 4 foot section in the garden bed.   They don’t look like much right now, but they will not take long to get established.                                 

Because we have some cold weather forecasted, it was important to get a grow tunnel cover erected over this newly planted bed.   I actually covered another 8 feet of bed in addition because I intend to plant the broccoli there in about two weeks and want the soil warmed up ahead of time for that.   

The last thing I needed to do today in preparation for the coming cold, was to cover the onion starts I planted out yesterday.   They are in a bed that does not work well for the grow tunnel covers, so I improvised using some of my tall tomato ladders, a panel of stiff wire grid (part of my compost bin sides), a few spring clamps, and plastic sheeting.                                         

I will leave these in place until the weather warms back up and is forecasted to stay that way for the foreseeable future.   Those of you who follow my blog regularly are used to seeing me use these tomato towers frequently for many purposes beyond their intended role as a support for tomatoes.   I find them quite useful to have around!

I think everything is buttoned up for the cold front that is moving in and hopefully the warm weather will return shortly thereafter.

It was a beautiful sunny day today.   Took advantage of it and spent a fair amount of time out in the garden and greenhouse.   A quick inspection this morning revealed that the spinach I direct seeded on February 14th are up.   I took the grow tunnel cover off of the bed for most of the day to allow the very small plants to enjoy some unfiltered sunshine.   I put it back on around 2:30 pm so that it had time to warm up inside before the sun went down for the day.                

One of the tasks I wanted to get done this weekend is the planting out of the onions.   I have Walla Walla and Candy onion plants I had started back in January that were ready for transplanting.   In addition, my onion sets (red and yellow onions) arrived last week and I wanted to get them into the ground as well.   I prepped the soil and raked it smooth and then used my 4-inch spaced planting jig to mark the planting area.   I got all the onions planted and still had a section about 3 feet by 4 feet left open in the bed that I then planted with a second sowing of spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy).   Here’s a picture of the Walla Walla onions after I transplanted them.        

This same bed has the Elephant garlic and regular garlic (Inchelium Red) growing in it.                                                            

I also wanted to start some more lettuces and the sugar snap peas (Cascadia) this weekend.    However, the bed that the sugar snap peas will go into is still largely in shade much of the day and the soil is quite cool as a result.   Rather than wait, I decided to plant the seeds into cell packs and get them started in the greenhouse.   In a few weeks when they are ready for transplanting, the soil should have warmed up enough in that bed that they will then thrive.   The greenhouse is a great place for plants at the moment as the sun is now high enough on the horizon that it is clearing the tall trees surrounding our property and hitting the greenhouse pretty regularly for a large portion of the day.   The result is a significant increase in temps in the greenhouse.   The plants inside the greenhouse are basking in the sun exposure.   The young pac choi is settling in after transplanting and putting on some growth.         

The mache is almost ready to begin harvesting finally.                              

And, the Chinese cabbages are forming up tall heads.                            

Tomorrow, the weather is not forecasted to be quite as nice but still good.   I am hoping to plant out (under cover) the cabbages (Savoy Ace and Tronchuda), the second round of pac choi (Ching Chiang) and some lettuces (Merlot). 

I hope you are enjoying some time in your garden or among your seedlings this weekend.

It’s Wednesday and time for my customary mid-week blog entry.   Nothing overly exciting to update you on but I do have a few little bits of garden related news to share.

• First, I received an email on Tuesday letting me know that my bare root raspberry plants have shipped and should be here by Friday.
• Second, the lettuces, kale, and pac choi that I planted out in the greenhouse last weekend are all doing fine.
• Third, the horizontal pea trellis support I erected on Sunday suffered some damage earlier this week.   I had placed a plastic cover over the whole structure and we had some heavy rain on Monday night,  which pooled on the flat top of the structure and put a lot of weight on the rather flimsy end supports.   Two of them gave way and broke.   They are easily replaced and I will pick up the wood and take care of it this weekend.   Hoop covers definitely work better in rainy weather as the rounded tops shed the water when we get heavy rains.
• Fourth, the big round of tomato, broccoli, swiss chard, and celery that I started on February 13th is doing really well. Lots of plants have emerged and are growing on.
• Finally, the super early tomatoes (Siletz) that I started on January 22nd and the second round of lettuces (Merlot), kale, cabbages, and pac choi that were started January 30th and February 6th have all moved up to the overflow light area… weaning off of bottom heat. The early tomatoes were repotted last weekend and do not seem to have suffered too much from transplant shock.

Here’s some photos I took tonight of the super early tomatoes, lettuce, kale, cabbages, and pac choi.                                                      

Everything is progressing along.   Hopefully the raspberries will arrive before the weekend, so I can get them planted up in the light of day.   How are things going in your garden and seed starting?

With the exception of a 3-week deep freeze in December, our winter has been very mild this year.   Because of this, the soil temperatures have warmed up much faster this year and I can legitimately give thought to planting early crops extra early – but only with the added insurance of protective covering to hedge against a sudden reversal of weather fortunes.

I prepared the large 4-foot by 12-foot bed that would hold the pea patch yesterday so that I could take advantage of the forecasted beautiful weather for today (Sunday) to do the actual planting process.   Once again, I used my new planting jigs – this time the 2 inch spaced one.                     

Each square foot has 36 seeds with a 2-inch spacing, so the entire 4-foot by 12-foot bed had a total of 1,728 seeds placed in it!    Normally I would block plant a large area like this, but I want to see if the more carefully spaced seeds produce a more productive crop.   It took longer to seed the bed then it would have with a block planting approach - about 30 minutes to seed the entire bed with the assistance of my daughter.   It would have probably taken about an hour if I had done it all by myself.   I think that extra time invested in the planting will produce better results  - but only time will tell.          

Once the planting was completed, I watered everything thoroughly and then added my horizontal trellis support system (last year’s shop project).  

The final step was to top it all off with a protective covering of plastic sheeting. 

In addition to the pea planting, I did a few other garden related chores today.   First, I laid out all the seed potatoes on flattened cardboard boxes near one of the windows in the shop to encourage them to begin sprouting.   

I counted out 176 spuds and I will need 210 pieces for planting, so the larger potatoes will need to be cut.    Luckily there are more than enough large sized tubers in the mix to allow that to easily happen.     

I also moved the first planting of pac choi and lettuces out to the unheated greenhouse and planted them up. The lettuce was tucked in between the onion plantings and the pac choi took up the third half barrel container.    

The mache has been really dawdling along but is now getting some growth going.   Hopefully, we will be able to start enjoying some in salads before the end of March.                

The Chinese cabbage and the kale plants that I transplanted last weekend are doing really well in their new home in the greenhouse.   Hopefully the pac choi will settle in as nicely too.                                               

The greenhouse greens fill in a void during the early spring when the garden is starting to be planted up but is far from providing harvests and after all of the overwintered crops are depleted and removed.   Behind these greenhouse crops will come the garden rhubarb and not too long after that - asparagus.   In the meantime, we continue to use up the overwintered carrots and parsnips and the last of the overwintered cabbages to supplement our frozen and canned produce.                            

I hope you were able to do some garden related activities this weekend too.

Today was a full day of garden related activity.   The weather was not particularly good (off and on rain all day) but I managed to catch the short window of time this morning that it was not raining and got some bed prep work completed that needed to be done.   First, I applied rock minerals (greensand and rock phosphate) at the rate of 6 lbs per 100 square feet to all garden beds except for one - which currently has crops planted in it.   I will use up the last of my rock mineral supply to do this bed just before I plant it up with potatoes (about a month from now).   In addition, I broadcasted plain alfalfa pellets over several beds that previously had a green manure crop but did not have an application of compost.   Alfalfa pellets are a good soil conditioner - adding organic matter plus nitrogen and other nutrients too.   A 50 lb bag is quite inexpensive and can be purchased at most livestock feed supply stores.                              

You may recall that about a month ago (January 10th) I attempted a salvage operation on the bed of overwintered spinach.   I had failed to get it covered with a grow tunnel prior to our deep freeze in December and then to add insult to significant injury - the marauding rabbit ate most of what remained of the feeble plants.   My salvage attempt included covering it with a grow tunnel and giving it a drink of fish emulsion tea.   Well, today my assessment was that the few plants that had revived were not worth the effort to keep nursing along.   I pulled all of the plants out and composted them.  The grow tunnel cover has definitely warmed up the soil in that particular section of garden though and I intend to take advantage of that and do a very early sowing of spring spinach.   Today I did the bed prep necessary to get ready for such a direct seeding.   I pulled the grow tunnel cover off long enough to do the re-mineralization (greensand and rock phosphate) and to broadcast the bed area with organic all purpose fertilizer.   I used a hoe to cultivate it all into the top six inches of soil - removing any remaining plants and weeds as I went.   Before putting the grow tunnel cover back on, I raked and watered the bed.   Since it has been covered with a grow tunnel for over a month now, it was getting dried out.   I will check the soil temperature in the bed tomorrow afternoon and if it looks good (at least 45 degrees) I will plant it up with spinach using one of my new planting jigs (the 4 inch spacing one).                

Before I did the bed amendment process, I removed the remaining over wintered kale plants.   They were still producing fairly well but I have new kale plants that went into the greenhouse today that will soon be harvestable and these were in the way.   The plants provided a nice final harvest and combined with a few fresh harvested carrots made a good addition to tonight's dinner menu.             

While I was working in the garden, I noticed that the blueberries and the bush pie cherries have significant bud and bloom swell occurring.   These are a few branches of the bush pie cherries.                                   

By the time I finished up with the outside chores it was starting to rain pretty hard and I was getting quite wet.   Luckily, the remaining items on my to do list were indoor items.   First up, I needed to plant the kale and Chinese cabbages in one of the half-barrel containers in the greenhouse.             

Moving these out of the shop to their permanent location in the greenhouse - made room in the shop to do the seedling shuffle necessary to get ready for the next big round of seed starting scheduled for today.   The tray of pac choi, lettuces, and onions were moved to the overflow light set up (much smaller and no heat pad) where they will stay for about a week before moving out to the greenhouse to start the hardening off process.   With that move, that left only one full tray of other previously started seedlings under the main light setup.   This left enough room to add the three full trays of seedlings I started today. Here's a run down of what went into those trays.

• Six 6-packs tomato - Celebrity
• Two 6-packs tomato - Cherokee Purple
• Four 6-packs tomato - Early Girl
• Three 6-packs tomato - Fantastic
• Two 6-packs tomato - Market Miracle
• Seven 6-packs tomato - Oroma
• Four 6-packs broccoli - Premium Crop
• Two 6-packs celery - Red
• Two 6-packs celery - Utah 52-70 Improved
• Four 6 packs swiss chard - Bright Lights

The areas under the lights are completely full right now.   In about two weeks I will need to start the basil and peppers but by then one of the trays will be ready to rotate out to the overflow light set up and I should be good to go.  

I got lots accomplished today and am ready to relax and enjoy an evening of watching the winter Olympics.

Popped out to the shop this evening after dinner and checked in on the Chinese cabbages and kale plants I repotted last Saturday morning, and the seed trays I started Sunday of pac choi, lettuces, and onions.   I took the humidity dome cover off of the seedling trays and raised up the bank of lights, so that I could take this picture of the first seedlings to emerge for 2010.  The pac choi and lettuces are sprouting fast.                                    

There are a few onions germinated as well, but they are just barely getting started with emergence.   I popped the cover back on and will leave it there through tomorrow - probably remove it on Friday if enough seedlings have emerged.   Leaving the plastic tray covers on too long is a common and often fatal mistake.   The high humidity and heat retention created by the dome really helps with speedy germination, but is a breeding ground for fungus and disease.   I try to remove the cover as soon as the majority of the seedlings are emerged to get them into good air circulation quickly.         

The seedlings I started in mid December of kale and Chinese cabbages were four weeks old this past weekend and really needed to be repotted into larger containers.   When I popped them out of the starter cell pots to repot them, the roots were definitely looking crowded.   Typically when you repot seedlings they will suffer a little from transplant shock and languish a few days before getting on with their growing process.  But not these plants!   I was pleasantly surprised at how much they had grown in just the past few days - despite the indignities of having their roots messed with.   The kale looks quite happy…          

 …and the Chinese cabbage is down right giddy with new growth already! 

They obviously needed the fresh soil and additional root room.   These should be ready about mid February for planting up in the containers in the greenhouse.  

Healthy young plants and emerging seedlings always lift my spirits up.   There is nothing quite like a splash of verdant new growth to brighten up a dark winter evening.

It’s a cool and wet weekend so the outside options are pretty limited, however it is a great time to do some shop projects.   One of the tasks I had on my list for this weekend was to repot the Chinese cabbage and kale starts.   They are a month old now and have totally outgrown their starter cell packs.   I want to keep them under lights for another month before permanently planting them up in containers in the greenhouse.   Saturday morning I popped them into sturdy 4 inch pots using organic potting soil I have on hand in the shop.                 

This morning (Sunday), I also planted up 2 six packs of Super Gourmet Salad Blend lettuce, 2 six packs of Ching-Chiang pac choi, 2 large flat packs of Walla Walla onions, and 2 large flat packs of Candy onions.   These were then covered with a plastic dome and placed on the heat mat under the grow lights.   As soon as the seedlings emerge, I will remove the plastic dome and lower the lights down to just a few inches above the plants.                                    

The bigger project I had on my list for this weekend was to construct the first prototype of an idea I have had for a planting jig.   As of this morning, I have completed the first one, which is a 2-inch spaced planting jig.   I intend to make 3 more of these – one with 3-inch spacing, one with 4-inch spacing, and one with 6-inch spacing.   These are the most common within row (in all directions) spacing needed to intensively plant garden beds.   I made the jig a 2 foot by 2 foot size because I rarely plant single squares of any one item, but rather do multiple blocks of a crop and often work my way down a large section of bed.  

This is the list of materials that I used for this project:

• One sheet of pegboard - 2-foot by 4-foot dimension (you will use half of this for one jig)
• One sheet of good quality plywood – 2-foot by 2-foot dimension
• Two packages of Fluted Dowel Pins – ¼ inch diameter, 1 ¼ inch length – 72 count per package (need 144 for a 2'x2' board with 2 inch spacing)
• Package of #8 X ¾ inch wood screws – (get self tapping, I did not and regretted it)
• Carpenters wood glue
• Two 5 ¾ inch door pulls (comes with short screws)

Here is the list of tools I used for this project:

• A power jigsaw (you could use a table saw as well) to rip the 2’X4’ sheet of pegboard in half to make two 2’X2’ pegboard sections
• A power drill with a screwdriver bit attachment
• A rubber headed or plastic headed hammer (you could gently use a regular hammer instead)
• Measuring tape
• Straight edge Carpenters Square
• Pencil
• 2 pieces of scrap wood to use as blocking

Here’s a picture of the plywood and several of the materials and tools used (not all).   You can purchase 2-foot by 2-foot squares of plywood (and 2-foot by 4-foot panels of pegboard) at places like Home Depot or Lowes.                         

Step One - cut the sheet of 2’X4’ pegboard in half to make two sheets of 2’X2’ pegboard.   I held the wood while my husband cut this using a jigsaw.        

Step Two – place some carpenters wood glue over the surface of the 2’X2’ section of plywood.                                     

Step Three – place the 2’X2’ section of pegboard on to the glued surface of the 2’X2’ section of plywood.   The idea is to provide a backing to the pegboard to make it stronger and to put a floor at the base of each pegboard hole opening.                      

Step Four – turn the pegboard and plywood panel over and screw together at each corner using the #8-3/4 inch screws.   This is not the best picture, but it is a close up of one of the screws.   Once completed turn the panel back over so that the pegboard is facing up.                                                            

Step Five – using the spacing you desire for the planting jig, place a big dollop of carpenters wood glue in each pegboard hole and place a ¼ inch fluted dowel pegs, tapping it firmly in using a plastic headed hammer.   I am making a 2-inch spacing planting jig so the pegs are spaced every other hole from one another.   The pegboard holes are spaced 1 inch apart which makes setting up the grid very easy to do.   Once they are all in place, let this sit over night to let the glue set up and dry completely.     

Step Six – the next day, carefully turn the peg board section over and place it on some lengths of scrap lumber (thin enough to fit between the rows of protruding pegs) such that the board is supported without putting pressure directly on the glued in pegs.   The next two pictures show this – including the last picture which shows the clearance maintained between the pegs and the surface of the work table.                   

Step Seven – measure five inches in from each side and make a mark with a pencil.   Do this twice on each side to establish two points from which a straight line can then be drawn.   Similarly, measure nine inches from the top of the panel and make a mark with a pencil – doing it twice to facilitate drawing a straight line from point to point.      

Step Eight – use a carpenter’s straight edge square and line it up with the pencil marks and then draw a straight line using your pencil.   Do this for a vertical line on each side (spaced 5 inches in from the edges), and one horizontal line spaced 9 inches from the top.                              

Step Nine (last one!) – center the door pulls over the vertical lines and abutting the top edge against the horizontal lines and screw them into place.      

That’s all there is to it for the construction.   Here’s how it works. Holding it using the door handles, lower it over a section of prepared garden bed soil and lay it flat on the surface of the soil so that the pegs are facing the soil.   For shallow holes, just set it in place and do not press down – the weight of the board is sufficient for a shallow hole.   For a deeper hole, press down on the board with your hands.      

Works nicely!   Too early to actually plant anything to really try it out, but I think this will make closely spaced planting much quicker and easier to do.   Having a 3 inch, 4 inch, and 6 inch jig as well will give me good options for the coming planting season.  I have all the materials I need to complete the remaining three jigs with the exception that  I need to purchase more dowels.  This is a really fast little project to put together so I should be able to finish them all up very quickly - once I purchase the rest of the dowels that I need.

Three-day weekend coming up for me and I am looking forward to it with more anticipation than normal, because my work schedule has been over full of late.   It also represents a a great opportunity to knock through several garden related tasks and projects that I have on my personal “to do” list.

• Start some onion and lettuce seeds  (Done - started some Pac Choi too)
• Pot up the Chinese cabbage and kale starts into larger containers (Done)
• Purchase materials to make my planting jigs (Done)
• Construct planting jig – attempt to translate the idea in my head into an actual tool  (Done)
• Process the remaining two pumpkins in the storage area into puree (freeze in 2 cup portions)  (Done)
• Do some baking – extra loaves of no knead bread for the freezer for emergency weeks, pumpkin muffins to use up some of my surplus of pumpkin puree
• Weather permitting – turn over the green manure crops of crimson clover and let them start decomposing

The seedlings I started on December 13th are a month old today and are rapidly outgrowing their starter cell pots.                                        

I am going to pot them into some larger containers and keep them under the grow lights for a while longer before eventually transplanting them under the protection of the greenhouse (or a grow tunnel) to grow to maturity.   The weather is still pretty cold and the sun strength and length is still pretty low (albeit increasing!).   I think another month under the lights is probably a good idea but they definitely need to move into more roomy quarters for their roots. 

Hopefully I will have an update soon on how the shop project (planting jigs) worked out to share with you.