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Harvest Monday and Winter Seedlings
| Posted on December 11, 2011 at 8:50 PM |
HARVEST MONDAY
Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it. Check it out and join in too!
This past week was very busy. Lots happening at work that kept me hopping and then in the evenings I was working on wrapping up (literally) the holiday gifts and Christmas cards so that I could do mailings on Friday afternoon, and do UPS shipping on Saturday morning. In addition, I was making an all-out effort to finish the last continuing professional education (CPE) course required to complete my CPE hours for the 3 year reporting period ending 12/31/11 for my CPA license. The good news is… I indeed got all of this done! The bad news is… I was taking short cuts on meal prep all week and it was not until this weekend that I did any harvesting or cooking of any real significance.
On Saturday I pulled some nice green onions but there was not enough of them to make my harvest tally weight minimum and I failed to take any pictures of them. I used them to make a large potato salad to go with some grilled chicken and Portobello mushroom sausages for Saturday's dinner. The potato salad used potatoes from storage, the fresh harvest green onions, eggs from our hens, and lots of my home canned dill pickle relish.
On Sunday I harvested some mache and a few young spinach leaves.
This was used to make a nice green salad to go with a pot roast and the leftover potato salad (from Saturday) for the Sunday evening meal.
Harvest totals for the week of December 5th through 11th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).
- Lettuce & Greens 0.25 lbs
- Onions (green) 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)
Total For Week 0.25 lbs
Total Year to Date 365.75 lbs
Eggs collected this week – 10
WINTER SEEDLINGS
On November 27th, I started some dwarf pac choi, onions, and some lettuces in micro soil blocks. A week later (December 4th), some of the dwarf pac choi plants were already big enough that they needed to be potted up to the medium sized soil blocks. About half were ready and the other half were still just emerging and needed to wait another week. Here’s a picture of the first group of dwarf pac choi a week after being potted up. They are growing along nicely.
This Sunday (two weeks after initial seeding) the remaining dwarf pac choi plants and the lettuces all needed to be potted up too. The onions are emerging but will stay where they are for a while longer.
In addition to planting up the pac choi and lettuces, I also wanted to start some more micro soil blocks in red onions (Cabernet). I got all the supplies out and ready to go in the kitchen.
I made myself a micro soil block grabber out of two large wooden plant markers and a rubber band.
It is not too great to look at but it makes handling the mini blocks much easier. I then proceeded to make up a tray of medium sized soil blocks in just the amount needed to plant up the waiting micro block plantings.
I then placed the micro blocks into the waiting preformed medium sized blocks.
And then I tamped it in to ensure the soil was in contact on the bottom and four sides.
I got all the plants taken care of and put back under the grow lights. I also planted up 80 micro blocks of Cabernet red onions as well, which went under the lights and on a heat mat.
The onions will eventually be planted out in the regular garden beds in early spring. The lettuces and the dwarf pac choi are replacement plants that will be transplanted into the large containers in the greenhouse as other items are harvested and come out, or alternatively will be planted under the grow tunnel cover in areas that are opened up.
I am still trying to get the knack of making the soil blocks. This was my third effort at making soil blocks and both the medium and the micro blocks turned out pretty good – definitely better than my first efforts. I still have room for improvement though. Hopefully by the end of the big spring seed starting process I will be an old pro at it.
Laura
kitsapfreedomgardener
Categories: Harvesting, Seed Starting
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21 Comments
The great thing about soil block soil mix is it is very forgiving. I almost never end up with the same mix twice and the plants don't seem to mind as long as you watch them for their watering needs and supplement nutrients when they look a little stressed (diluted Fish Emulsion works really well for a quick boost). I did find that Coconut Coir in the mix does NOT work well. The blocks dry out much faster and get pretty crumbly even when damp.
Diana - The mache makes a great winter salad and I am always appreciative of this sturdy little green.
Robin - I decided not to mix my own soil for the blocks for the first period of using them. There is enough to learn with making them, keeping them watered properly etc, without adding the issue of learning to mix my own soil from components. I opted to buy a couple large bags of Johnny's Select Seeds soil block mixture and use it to start out with. I do intend to make my own soil mix eventually but first things first... got to learn how to use them well first.
GrafixMuse - Thanks for the useful feedback. As noted above in my reply to Robin, I have opted to wait a bit to start making my own soil mix but I will remember your advise when I do tackle that next phase of the learning continuum.
I've decided to grow onions from slips this year. I just can't seem to get the seedlings big enough, and with the price of onions at the store I figure I can justify buying plants.
Mary Hysong - I definitely am okay using my fingers for the medium sized blocks but the micro (mini) blocks are just too little to handle and separate using my fingers. If I were adept at using chop sticks, they would be an excellent option too but sadly I have never mastered handling them.
Barbie - I think my spinach is way ahead of yours because the fall patch is starting to wind down pretty significantly. It has been heavily harvested from September through November and is looking pretty tired as of mid December.
mac - With the exception of the onions, this is not part of my regular garden planting transplants. The onions will be potted up to a medium soil block and then nursed along (including time being hardened off in the greenhouse) until mid March when they will go into the regular garden beds (our last average frost is early to mid March). I am going for bigger onions so I am starting them a month earlier than I usually do and I have a bed of direct seeded onions that are overwintering out in the garden as well. On the lettuces and pac choi, those will be planted up in containers in my greenhouse - replacing items I have growing there now after they are harvested. I try to keep items growing in the greenhouse (which holds more passive solar than the grow tunnels) particularly in the months of January through March to provide fresh harvest options during the dark days of winter when the garden bed crops from fall/early winter are starting to be depleted from harvesting. The greenhouse has a prior generation of pac choi growing in it and some more lettuces. If all goes well they will be ready for harvest in late January/early February which opens the planting areas up for these new youngsters. I usually wait to start this particular succession planting until right before Christmas so I am a few weeks early this year, but the medium soil blocks provide a bigger root growing area so I felt safe doing that. Sometimes I lose a succession along the way, but I try to keep things in the pipeline year round to ensure we have fresh harvests as well as preserved items to eat.
Dave - I hear ya on the onion starts. I am starting these extra early and doing some overwintered onions to see if I can improve my size/output. I have had mixed success with my own transplants - with the past two years being the two worst production years. I think much of that was the gloomy cool summer we had but it cannot account for all of it.
Norma Chang - I am not so sure about the "patient" part, but I definitely am a detail person. There is a real rhythm to my garden year and I love the process of it all. Because I four season garden, it really never quits entirely... just quieter and less maintenance chores to do during this time of year.
leduesorelle - Actually I have not ordered my 2012 seeds yet either! This is mostly just a continuation of my 2011 season that will spill over into early 2012. The exception is the onions but they are 2011 seed as well.
I've had good success with it so far.
Lynn
My Urban Gardens - Soil blocks are an old technique actually and many gardeners use them to grow seedlings. I have resisted making the switch from using seedling trays for starting seeds to the soil blocks because they do require a little more time and can be a bit of a mess when making them - but they produce really healthy seedlings and do not rely on purchased materials that do not recycle well.
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What's Available For Harvest?
The following items are currently available for harvest in our Modern Victory Garden:
(Last Update - May 4, 2012)
- Chives
- Green Onions
- Kale
- Lettuces
- Spinach
- Tatsoi
- Rhubarb
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