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Transplanting Celery And Lettuces

Posted on April 24, 2010 at 1:54 PM

The celery and some lettuces have been in need of transplanting for more than a week now.   I really had to get this taken care today as the celery plants were getting rather root bound.   They have been completely hardened off and were sitting outside unprotected (morning and night) for more than a week now.          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bed area to be planted was given a broadcasting of all-purpose organic fertilizer, which was then lightly raked in.   I used my six-inch planting jig to establish the plant spacing.                          

                           

    

 

I then planted 12 Utah 52-70 Improved celery, 4 Red celery (seeds given to me by Dan), and 24 Super Gourmet Blend lettuces.                        

   

     

 

 

 

Right next to the newly planted area is the bed of spring broccoli.   They are coming along nicely.                                             

          

    

 

The spinach patch has gotten to the stage where I can start harvesting some baby spinach leaves next week.   I may even pick a few leaves to add to some lettuces for tonight’s dinner salad.                                           

     

   

     

The pea patch and onion/garlic patch have also really taken off in the past week.   The allium bed has two kinds of garlic (Elephant and Inchelium Red) and several types of onions some started from seed and others from sets (Walla Walla, Candy, Yellow Storage, and Sweet Red onions).              

     

    

  

The Elephant Garlic is particularly impressive this year!              

        

   

   

The set grown onions are racing ahead of the onions started from seed.   These are the Yellow Storage onions.                                   

                 

   

 

The blueberries and bush pie cherry plants are loaded with buds and are about to bloom.  The asparagus patch is getting more active in sending up fat shoots.   If the weather would warm up a bit (it’s rather chilly today), everything would explode with new growth and blossoms.   Unfortunately, the weeds and grass in the walkways are also bursting with new growth and I am going to have to pull the weed whacker out of winter hibernation soon and give everything a tidy up.   

Categories: Transplanting, Planting Jig, Plants

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15 Comments

Reply Daphne
06:36 PM on April 24, 2010 
Everything looks just wonderful. My spring spinach is really spotty this year. I tried to sow it in the dark by flashlight and I don't think I did a good job of covering the seed evenly.
Reply Mike
08:45 AM on April 25, 2010 
Everything looks like it is off to a great start. We just planted our celery and celeriac out the other day as well. Did you plant your beautiful elephant garlic in the fall? We did and most of ours rotted, I might have to try an early spring planting of it next season instead. Your broccoli is coming along nicely and really looks healthy. I can't wait to see the nice heads they will produce for you.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
12:06 PM on April 25, 2010 
Daphne - I have one square approximately 1 foot square in the spinach patch that has absolutely NOTHING growing in it. I think I just skipped over this section when I was seeding it! Easy to lose track when you are doing a big area like that.

Mike - The elephant garlic was planted last fall around the first part of October if I remember correctly. Our winters are not as harsh as yours though, so I am sure that makes all the world of difference in their survival and success rate. I am ready for some fresh broccoli (one of my favorite veggies) so I am looking forward to the heads as well.
Reply Debbie
03:33 PM on April 25, 2010 
I was wondering if you could tell me what the spacing is with your broccoli? This is my first year growing it and I planted mine 1 per sq ft. Yours looks like it might be closer. Did I space it right? The plants all look wonderful and healthy. Thanks
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
09:04 PM on April 25, 2010 
Debbie - I plant broccoli one per square foot. When they are mature the plants touch leaves and create a nice living canopy that suppresses weeds and helps hold in moisture.
Reply Thomas
11:00 PM on April 25, 2010 
I love how super-neat and evenly spaced your transplants look. My celery is multi-planted only because I was too lazy to thin them properly. I guess I'll have to do that if I want any of them to size up.

Also, I wasn't sure how close to space my broccoli some I planted them 1 and a half feet apart. In your experience, is one foot enough?
Reply KalenaMichele
11:02 PM on April 25, 2010 
I didn't do spinach this spring, I decided to try for fall this year since our fall weather seems to last a lot longer down here than the spring weather. My only concern would be the length of days shortening. Your onions are impressive. Mine that I started from seed are having mixed reactions. I haven't planted them out yet but we've built four new beds so I'm pretty excited and hopeful.
Reply Dan
11:42 PM on April 25, 2010 
Your onions look nice. Do you think, variety selection aside, that there is any point in growing onions from seed? I really like your planting jib, especially the whole stamping technique. I am going to make some similar ones once all my projects are done but for now I am using my lazy cardboard, pencil approach :-) Good luck with the celery. I am hoping it is redder when grown in strong light, the ones I grew last fall only had red near the base.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:52 AM on April 26, 2010 
Thomas - Just before I planted both the celery and the lettuces, I thinned each cell pack down to a single (the best one) plant. I use a small pair of sharp scissors to just cut away the surplus seedlings. I have grown broccoli spaced one foot apart for many years and it is a good spacing, however your one and a half foot spacing will work splendidly too.

KalenaMichele - The shortening days do slow down the spinach growth but that is the key to not having bolting either. People think it is the heat that does it, but the truth is that while heat does have a role, day length has a much bigger role to play in spinach bolting. Getting the spinach planted early enough to grow to maturity before the shorter days slow down the growth to virtually nothing is the trick with fall crops.

Dan - Truthfully no. I think it IS all about variety. Some would argue that the sets tend to bolt to seed more often but I have that happen to some degree with both set and seed grown onions. Sets are faster out of the chute, produce nice sized onions, and are easier to plant and handle. Their only drawback is that you are limited to some very basic varietal selection.
Reply Richard
09:04 AM on April 26, 2010 
Everything looks fantastic! I've always been impressed with your garden and garden space. Very nice! By the way, beware the dreaded aphids...apparently, the parish (county for all you non-Louisianans) I live in is being infested by aphids.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
09:13 AM on April 26, 2010 
Richard - Aphids seem to particularly zero in on my bean crops. Those are yet to be planted so I will stay extra vigilent this year in case the aphid infestation is more widespread than your local area.
Reply Dan
03:00 PM on April 26, 2010 
That has been my idea was well. I think next year will only grow a few seeded onions if I want something in particular. An onion is an onion really.

kitsapfreedomgardener says...
Thomas - Just before I planted both the celery and the lettuces, I thinned each cell pack down to a single (the best one) plant. I use a small pair of sharp scissors to just cut away the surplus seedlings. I have grown broccoli spaced one foot apart for many years and it is a good spacing, however your one and a half foot spacing will work splendidly too.

KalenaMichele - The shortening days do slow down the spinach growth but that is the key to not having bolting either. People think it is the heat that does it, but the truth is that while heat does have a role, day length has a much bigger role to play in spinach bolting. Getting the spinach planted early enough to grow to maturity before the shorter days slow down the growth to virtually nothing is the trick with fall crops.

Dan - Truthfully no. I think it IS all about variety. Some would argue that the sets tend to bolt to seed more often but I have that happen to some degree with both set and seed grown onions. Sets are faster out of the chute, produce nice sized onions, and are easier to plant and handle. Their only drawback is that you are limited to some very basic varietal selection.
Reply stefaneener
02:22 AM on April 27, 2010 
It all looks so wonderful. I forgot -- I have a planting jig! I don't think there are any seeds waiting for me until the beans. But I'll use it then.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:48 AM on April 27, 2010 
Dan - I like a good Walla Walla sweet onion but it was actually hard to find seed for that the past two years. I managed to do it - but it was a puzzler why the availability of onion seeds were so limited for the past several years. Other than growing a big sweet onion like the Walla Walla's - I am a fan of growing onions from sets.

stefaneener - That will be fun to give your new planting jig a whirl. I will use mine again when I plant beans and carrots if I don't use the Annie's Granny tissue paper method for the carrots instead.
Reply Rich
04:45 PM on April 27, 2010 
Everything's looking good. I too should plant my tomatoes, but they've been slow this year. At least they're in 2 quart pots now.

So sorry to hear your father finally passed. So glad his loved ones were there too be with him.