The Modern Victory Garden

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.