Parsnips and Onions for the future

The sweet smell of the V. carlesii
The onion seedlings planted out in their rows

The onion transplants and lettuce ( parsnips on the far right)
The onion sets and lettuce
Making the holes

Sand in the holes
Potting soil in the holes

Parsnip seed
The finished parsnips
The lettuce in between the parsnips


Planning ahead means that next winter's onions and the parsnips need to be planted now that the Viburnum carlesii is blooming. I have special techniques for each of these plants.

I did have some onions sets, the onions that were too small to eat from last years crop that I stored in the crawl space in my basement, and planted them a few weeks ago for the lettuce video. My other onions were seeded and grown in community flats until planting time. As the pictures show, I plant them thickly in the flats and then plant them in bunches in the garden. This allows me to harvest clumps of onions as a thinning process. As the videos shows, I rinse off the seedlings and plant them in soft ground about 2-3 inches apart. Later I came back and planted some lettuce in the space between the rows. I planted five rows of four onions and one seed shallot - Trailblazer, Derby, Red Marble Cippolini, and Olympus Shallot. I also planted Ailsa Craig exhibition onion. This variety is labeled as very large, so these transplants were planted in between the main rows and I still have a few more to plant out when the main garden gets tilled in the next week. I will harvest green onions from these rows all season long. I like this "water rinse " planting method because it is easy to tease the seedlings apart , they go into the soil with nice roots and seem to keep right on growing even though they have been transplanted.

Parsnips need more work. In my heavy ground I need to do some preparation to get nice big parsnips. I use a old barbell pole and punch cones in the ground. This year I made fourteen holes eighteen inches deep. Into the very bottom I put some play sand I had from last winter and then I filled the hole with potting soil as it holds moisture and is easy for parsnip seed to grow in. I plant the seed, which I buy fresh every year, into the center liberally as shown, and then to mark the parsnips, I plant radish seeds. The parsnips take over 20 days to sprout but the radish are up in 5 so I use them to mark the spots. I will later thin the parsnips to one plant for each space, the radishes will have been harvested by thinning time. I also mark the row with lettuce in the spaces between the parsnips and they will also be harvested before the parsnips get real big and fill the space with their long leaves. The parsnips will stay in this space till harvested in December or later in the winter and spring of 2010. Always planning for the next harvest.

Susan and I were part of two plant sales this year. The combined NEW Master Gardeners/Green Bay Gardeners Club sale and the UWGB tomato and pepper sale. Both events were well attended and we saw many happy people with their plant treasures. I made 85 divisions of perennial plants for one sale and helped with the planting and labeling of many tomatoes and peppers for the other. My peppers and tomatoes are in the cold frames for the next few weeks to acclimatize themselves to the cool nights and bright days waiting for their transplant into the garden. I always have something to do in the garden, seeds to plant, transplants to pot, planning to do so our harvest will continue for as long as possible in the growing season. Planning and planting are part of the fun that is growing a vegetable garden.

Happy Gardening

Onion Seedling Planting

Apple Blossoms and Orioles

The first apple flowers of the season
Short rows planted in a cold frame of spinach and arugula and the cold frame was removed
This is the main spinach crop planted last November.
French sorrel plants from seed last season - a great perennial green



This is French sorrel that is four years old and still doing real well.

Burr Oak catkins so we will have a acorns this year for sure....



The Baltimore Orioles are back this week just as the apples are starting to bloom. That means the grape jelly will go even faster than it has. I have seen more than orioles at the feeder. House sparrows, Black Grackles, and even my Cardinal has stopped by for some. Our Mothers Day meal was a very nice Sorrel quiche made from both of the sorrel leaves above. Sorrel is a really nice garden green. Make sure that as you grow it you do not let it go to seed. Remove the seed heads all summer and the plant will reward you with vigorous growth for repeat seasons.

Today was transplant day for second seeding tomatoes and peppers. I had 144 plants that needed to go into bigger post so that was done today. Most of last weeks herbs are up and moving along - mostly basil and thyme. I think its time for another seeding of lettuce as the two flats in the cold frames are ready for planting in the garden. Most of the seed potatoes are here and I still am working on a cage method. I would like to salvage materials instead of shelling out $$$ so we will see. I will review what is still left in the seed box and decide what needs to be planted. I think most of what is left is for direct seeding in the garden.

I made a presentation Wednesday at my local YMCA to their AOA (Active Older Adults). I gave them a PowerPoint on basic gardening and from the feedback I felt that people got some good hints and I hope if they have questions they use the blog as a way to get them answered - then everybody can learn.

This week pictures show some progress in the garden. Today's salad was made with lettuce planted last fall and wintered in a cold frame so now is a great time to get those season extenders built and then you can use them this season and all next winter.

Happy Gardening

Grafting 2009 - Four New Apples

Since 2002 I have obtained scion wood and grafted different variates of apples on my one semi-dwarf and two dwarf trees. When our apple harvest begins in August through October we are harvesting many different kinds of apples from our trees not just three kinds of fruit. Grafting is not a difficult task and some years my success is better than others. This year I was interested in taking a main branch of the tree and making a complete "red fleshed" apple bearing branch. I obtained four new scion varieties from Maple Valley Orchards and Nursery in Gillett, Wisconsin (920-842-2904, Plant and Fruit sales seasonally). The process of cleft grafting is relatively simple and I will use the above pictures set to show what I did.

I selected four branches about one to two inches. I sawed the branch to leave a three to four inch stub. I used a clean knife and split the branch. Then using a screwdriver I opened the split to receive the scions. I bevel cut the scions and inserted them into the split making as much contact with the cambium layer (the living tissue of the plant) as possible. I then seal the graft with a stretchy electrical tape and coat the graft with a safe tree sealer (TREEKOTE - grafting compound). I will check for the first week to make sure that the grafting compound does not shrink and allow air into the graft. With luck both of the grafted scions will sprout and then I will cut off one of them - but I always do two. My hope is that the top graft to be the one to keep as I feel this makes for a stronger branch.

Grafting is not difficult. All our fruit trees and most of our deciduous landscape and street trees are grafted stock so the process is relatively simple and done in mass production. So read up, take a class, and do some experimenting with grafting.

Happy Gardening

The Harvest for a Great Salad

Dinner for Two
Mixed greens planted in the trays over a month ago
Chives
French Sorrel ( Rumex acetosa)
Spinich planted last November
Mixed Arugula
Cherry Bell radish
Winter Density lettuce
Blanched Dandelion
The final product
Trench for pea seeds

Soaked pea seed in trench
Cover and tamp soil frimly



This was a busy week with much to do. Transplanting in the greenhouse of peppers and tomatoes took several days. I grafted four new apple varieties onto the big tree and re-staked the small apple tree in the garden. The apple flower buds are quite visible and will bloom soon and unfortunately the House Finches have found them too - they eat the buds!!! Not a good thing for future apples. I planted radishes and leafy greens - Arugula, Broccoli Raab seeds and lettuce transplants this week to keep the future harvest coming. The garden will need to be tilled soon as the winter rye planted last fall as green manure is now tall enough to turn under. Yard cleanup is mostly done and unfortunately I have to empty the rain barrels to get some work done in their area. The next rain that is over an inch will fill them back up. I like to use the rain water on the seedlings in the cold frames until they are planted out.

This week we feature our first of what may be many great recipes -a wonderful salad we are making this spring. With the leafy greens in abundance, we eat large salads each day. Both Susan, my wife, and I have made a concerted effort to manage our weight and with the garden produce now available, this will make our goal of healthily eating more convenient. Just a side note, between the two of us we have lost the weight of one 140 lb person, in two years, through exercise and diet changes.

With all that has been done this week, I think I will make a post mid week to show the apple grafting that I did Saturday. I have over the past eight to ten years grafted over 30 different apples onto my three trees in the back yard. So all of that really needs one post by itself.

The pictures above show the garden greens and grilled chicken salad we enjoyed today. The salad is a mix of spinach, arugula, sorrel, lettuce, chives, dandelion, and radishes - all from our garden. The chicken was grilled on the gas grill flavored with apple chips from this spring's pruned branches. The dressing was a classic oil and vinegar made with tarragon vinegar that I made from my tarragon herb harvested last fall. I used two parts olive oil to one part vinegar along with lime juice and grated lime peel, grated fresh ginger, salt, pepper, and a little brown rice syrup. The only thing not from the garden in the salad were the capers and the preserved sushi ginger. We really like capers and the preserved ginger as condiments for most salads, and the ginger is great on sandwiches too. The ginger and the sorrel have an interesting flavor blend, and a touch of lime is always good. A glass of Shiraz wine made for a great spring meal.

I planted garden peas today. The pictures show that I trench the pea seeds. The growing peas will have soil filled in as they grow to keep their roots cool. I have collected branches as my pea trellis. These are easy and when the crop is done, I can just gather the vines and branches and toss the whole lot - easy clean up. I water soaked the seeds for four hours before I planted them to get them started. This is a short row, about 10 feet of snap peas (Sugar Sprint). I seldom plant anything in a longer row. The greens and radish that I planted this week were all in 3 to 4 foot rows. That way I do not have too much produce arriving at one time. I can harvest short rows and then keep planting more to have a constant supply.

This week I also transplanting broccoli raab. I had a video but some how I cant find it so I will have to try again with the second planting that I made this week. However, I planted the seed so that I could transplant a row and see how it did. Regular broccoli is a great transplant but I wanted to see if this cutting type would do the same. So in a month we should know how this experiment works.

Happy Gardening

Making a Planting Board

The Planting Board in Use









Rain, Goldfinches in summer plumage, and Dandelions all mark the advancement of our spring. These April rains will green the grass and trees. The birds are in a nest building flurry taking cotton and twine that I have hung in the apple trees for them. At a Master Gardener program this week I learned that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are already back and now would be a good time to hang out the feeders. The speaker indicated that "cane sugar syrup" is their favorite in a mixture of four to one ( H2O/C6H12O6) Shortly the Baltimore Orioles will be back too, so now is the time to watch for grape jelly on sale at the store and stock up. Its amazing how much the birds will eat and not just Orioles, I have seen Grackles and House Sparrows taking their share too.

The garden is really wet but in advance of the rain I got some much needed clean-up done and some planting as well. Now it will be a while before I can get back as the soil is really drenched and my heavy clay will not tolerate walking on or working in - easy to make bricks that way.
I sorted the small onions that I saved from last years crop and sized them for planting. I had some small seed grown shallots, some Cipollini "Gold Coin", and what look like Red Long Of Tropea type. I set these bulbs out in short rows (see photo) and then inter-planted with lettuce. The transplanting video briefly shows close up the lettuce plants planted in the spaces between the onions. I planted half a flat into this area and the rest of the plants went into the spaces between the developing rhubarb plants that were grown from seed last year. All this is very typical of how we plant. Our space is a premium, so getting the most out of any planting is my goal. The lettuce will be harvested from the space before the onions really need all the room. The onions are also planted close so that I can harvest and thin at the same time.

I inter-planted the onions with four types of lettuce transplants - Simpson's Elite, Derby and Winter Density, along with a few plants of Tom Thumb a nice small bibb type. Most of these transplants look thick but I did not thin them on purpose - plant clumps and you have a measured amount for harvest.

The harvest of spinach continues as well as the first mini-radishes. Spinach has sprouted in another cold frame and that frame has two plantings spaced two weeks apart to stretch that harvest. The sorrel is moving along and so are chives. There are now many goodies to add to morning scrambled eggs. Tarragon is up but not enough to start a harvest.

Seeds are a wonderful thing. I got some "White Star"zinnia seed at a lecture about seed viability two years ago. The seed was dated 2004. Last summer I planted some and it grew so I tried it again this season and it grew again! and still better than 50% germination. So if you have seed from other seasons give it a try. You might be very pleased.

This week's garden project was to make a new Planting Board. This is, like my cold frames, something I constantly use in the garden. You will need a 1inch by 6inch by 6 foot pine board.
I round one edge ( see pictures) to act as a furrow maker. I use a small hand plane to do the job. If you are good with a saw you could work the edge that way too. I sand my results and then mark off one foot and six inch spaces for my planting notches on the opposite side. I do not make these real deep as that weakens the space in between and might cause that part of the board to break off. Measure the large notches 2 inches long by 1 1/2 inches deep; measure the small notches 1 inch long by 1 inch deep. Saw out your notched and you are done. Use the photo set for a reference. I use a 6 foot board because I seldom make a row longer than twice that dimension. I prefer short rows and multi repeat plantings to get the longest harvest of a crop. The board helps to plant row crops like beets and carrots along with other plantings like tomatoes and peppers. A planting board is a great garden tool and you can make one for less than $5. I don't treat the board, I just let it age with use. The one in the photo is probably four or five years old. To borrow a phrase - it's a very good thing.
Happy Gardening

Transplanting lettuce seedlings

To Thin or Not

February Gold Daffodils
Parsley un-thinned
Parsley Thinned
Micro-greens
Visions of Boiled New Potatoes


After a long dry spell some April showers have come and we certainly need the rain. The blooming daffodils mean the Ramps ( Wild Leek - Allium tricoccum) are up in the woods and it's time for a wild harvest. Always remember to ask to harvest on private land and never over harvest. Besides a good handful of Ramps will probably be enough if you are the only one that eats them - they are strong and make one a bit odoriferous, rather like good garlic.

The warm sunny days have really caused seedlings to grow and now is thinning time. I like to do thinning before the first set of true leaves appear. That way I can transplant later if I run into problems. That has happened to several packs of parsley. The parsley was thinned at two plants per cell. Yesterday a couple of nine packs suffered from drying out past the point of revival so I will transplant from other packs that still have two plants per cell. This is really a backup system. Leaving two plants per cell and thinning early allows for transplanting as the first set of true leaves appear. Expect some problems with seedlings during the growing season and think ahead as to solutions. Sometimes that comes down to re-seeding.

The video this week shows thinning. I am thinning lettuce at one or two plants per cell. Some lettuce transplants are not thinned as I plant them into the garden that way to allow for clump harvest of lettuce. Bibb and Romain and other head varieties are best thinned but leaf and varieties like Simpson Elite I like in clumps because they are harvested as young leaf bunches.
The tray of lettuce seedlings will be thinned and then moved outside into the cold frame as lettuce is much happier in a cool environment.

The peppers and tomatoes are at the same point of thinning. Some have been thinned to two plants per cell and as the first true leaves appear the strongest, most vigorous, and best plant of the two will be kept. Sometimes that plant is not the tallest but a plant with good color and a thick stem. I am not looking for tall pepper or tomatoes; I am looking for sturdy plants that will continue to grow vigorously as they are moved into the next pots before June planting out.

The key to thinning is pick the seedlings that you want to keep then pull the rest. That is why I use a tweezers. Move the keepers aside and pull the others. Early in the process the roots are not developed well and the seedlings even close together will separate and come out easily. It is best not to do this task with dry soil; so water and then thin. Be ruthless, the survivors will be happy and they will grow nicely for you.

I have included pictures of the micro-greens trays that have really appreciated being outside and will soon be ready for harvest. We are close to the point of not needing store-bought leafy vegetables. Spinach, arugula, sorrel, and lettuce and the micro-green trays are all available for cutting and the first seeding of lettuce will soon be sized for transplanting into the garden so we are already on our way.

This summer, potatoes return to the garden space and the first of them have arrived in the mail. They are to be part of a experiment with tower growing. For the last two summers, we have tried sweet potatoes with poor results. Our ground is too heavy, and I feel, too cold. Even in soil bags growing in the shelter of my small greenhouse our success was poor. So, we have returned to regular potatoes and will experiment with growing them again but will try growing potatoes vertically to save on ground space. I will keep you updated on that endeavor.

Happy Gardening

A Thinning Method