What's Growing In The Hoophouse

Wow it has been a really long time since my last post! No worries, I am still here, and hard at work. Here is a quick update on how things are growing in the hoophouse.

Right now in the hoophouse, I have a bunch of different varieties of lettuces, baby swiss chard, and baby beet greens (once they are thinned will eventually grow to full size beets). I do still have a hand full of full size swiss chard plants that were actually planted last spring.

Sadly today I had to pull out all my kale and a few other things, since they were beginning to go to seed. But do not worry within the next couple of days I will be replanting the kale and also planting mustard greens and possibly a few other types of greens.

Tomorrow I plan to take pictures of inside the hoophouse, and will also probably do some picking and thin the beets.

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Now if only it would stop raining it would make it a little bit easier to be able to get things planted outside. It would also help with being able to till everything.

Hoop House Closer to Completion

The hoop house is almost ready for the plastic! If we do not get the plastic on tomorrow then we should be able to get it covered Wednesday, weather permitting of coarse. A really windy day is not the best day to cover a hoop house.


Lettuce planting time is almost here! As soon as we finish the hoop house and get a couple more fence sections in the ground, I will be planting the lettuce. As soon as the hoop house is done I will be filling it with mustard greens, swiss chard, beets, spinach, and some other types of greens. The things that are going in the hoop should have actually be planted already, but have not be able to plant them since the hoop is not finished. I will be so relieved and excited to finally get things in the ground. I am also going to be planting some onion sets, for scallions, once the hoop is done. I have to plant them next to the hoop and have not been able to do so because they would get trampled while we were working.

So as you can see everything getting planted is all dependent on the hoop house getting finished, which luckily it is finally very close to being completed.

Garlic

I am happy to say that our garlic is looking good. I was worried about it for awhile since the area that we planted it in actually had sitting water for a while when they were just beginning to come up this spring. But so far they seem to be looking good and growing on schedule. I am so relieved, that would be a lot of wasted garlic, but they appear to be fine.

How I Start My Seeds

So here is how I start all my seeds. I pretty much start all my seeds the same way. The only exceptions would be things like vines which I start in pots instead of flats, certain types of seeds that do not need to be covered with dirt, and a few other exceptions.
Below is a list of some things you may need:
Seed Starting Dirt
Warm Water
Popsicle Sticks - for marking
Gloves (if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I don't use gloves for anything but that's just me.)
Container to plant in - I use flats, but you can use just about anything, just poke some holes in the bottom for drainage.
Seeds (of coarse!)
Spray bottle
Sphagnum Moss
Cling Wrap
Tiny hair clips (come in handy for keeping the cling wrap from touching the dirt.)

1. First thing I do is wet my dirt, before planting, with warm water. Just be sure not to get too wet.

2. Once dirt is wet I transfer the dirt into the flat I will be planting in, you can use whatever you wish to plant in some people use styrofoam cups, any kind of used food containers, you can use your imagination. I am not a fan of peat pots or pellets, to me they seem to be difficult to keep from getting too wet and too dry. If you do use peat pots or pellets be sure to tear off some of the pot or netting before planting because you could end up with a problem like this.

3. Then I pat down the dirt.

4. I use popsicle sticks to mark my rows and varieties planted.

5. After I place the popsicle sticks where my rows will be, I use another popsicle stick to make my rows. For seeds that do not need to be covered, I sometimes just scatter the seeds in their area without making rows, and mark the section with a popsicle stick in the dirt as a divider.

6. Place the seeds in the rows.

7. Cover the seeds, by pushing extra dirt on sides of rows over seeds. If you are unsure of how much to cover the seeds it is always better to not over cover the seeds. For most of my seeds I either just barely cover (1/4" on package) or do not cover at all (1/8" on package). If the package states to cover with a 1/8" of dirt I do not cover with dirt at all and just cover with sphagnum moss. If it states to not cover at all I do not cover with dirt or sphagnum moss.

8. Pat down the dirt after covering the seeds.

9. Once I have all my seeds planted, I then cover with a layer of sphagnum moss.

10. Spray with a spray bottle to wet sphagnum moss, spray slowly at first the sphagnum moss will fly everywhere if you don't.

11. I then cover with cling wrap, and use tiny hair clips to keep the cling wrap form touching the dirt. Check every day some seeds will come up within a couple of days. When the seedlings begin to pop up I remove the cling wrap. If some varieties come up and others have not I will sometimes put a plastic dome on the flat for a couple of days to give the unsprouted seeds some more time with extra warmth. You do not want the seedlings to be touching the plastic, so remove once they get to tall.

I place my flats under lights right away. Most seeds do not need light to sprout but the lights give them extra warmth that can greatly speed up the germination process. If the instructions on the package say do not cover the seeds chances are those seeds need light to germinate.

The seeds that I planted in the above flat were cherry tomato seeds. I will be sure to post a picture once they have sprouted and as they grow.


There are so many different methods to start seeds. Everyone has there own way that works best for them. You are going to be starting seeds of your own, happy seed starting!
Now back to work, planting more seeds.

Seed Starting

I just thought that I would post an seed starting update, since I have been spending so much time lately working on the website and I do not want to neglect my blog.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts Seedlings

I have lots and lots of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts started. I may have over did it a little, oh well nothing new. I have moved these two flats outside my greenhouse (that is in the basement) where it is cooler (around 60 degrees at the highest). They grow better there than in the greenhouse where it is much warmer (around 70 degrees at the lowest). I do start them in the greenhouse though, I think all seeds start better when the temperature is higher, no matter what kind.

I will be starting my eggplant, some peppers along with some other things today or tomorrow. They all will be started in the greenhouse in the basement and the eggplant will be started on the heat mat since they like it warm.

Soil Mixes Experimenting (Part 1)

Ok, so I have finally came up with my soil mixes that I will be experimenting with. I have also bought the seeds that I will be using in the experiments. I will be using Tomato Costoluto Genovese by Thompson & Morgan. I got them from Gales Garden Center, and choose these particular tomatoes mainly because they had a lot of seeds in the package (450 seeds), they were also pretty cheap ($2.69 -20% discount). This tomato is a beefsteak with a cool ribbed look to it. 450 seeds should hopefully be enough for me to experiment with, hopefully :) For each soil mix I will be planting 10 seeds in each, that should be enough for me to get some accurate results.

So now you know what the seeds are, and here are the seeds starting mixes. Most of the mixes I got from a good site with Potting Mixes for Certified Organic Production (site by ATTRA) on this page not only do they have many, many organic soil mixes but they also describe the ingredients used in all of them, good info.

Seed Starting Mix #1 This mix is a very simple mix that I have wanted to try myself for a while

2 parts Peat moss
1 part Vermiculite

Seed Starting Mix (+Fertilizer) #2
This mix will actually be the same as mix #1 except I would like to experiment with fertilizing these seedlings soon after they have sprouted. Normally I do not fertilize seedlings till after they have been transplanted if I am going to do so. But since I am experimenting I will be trying things that I don't normally do, why not, right? I am not exactly sure what I will be fertilizing with yet, but will figure it out soon.

2 part Peat moss
1 part Vermiculite
Fertilize after sprouting

Seed Starting Mix #3
This one I found on the ATTRA site linked above (Titled- Sowing Mix).

5 parts compost
4 parts soil
1-2 parts sand
1-2 parts leaf mold
1 part peat moss

Above is the exact mix recipe from the website, I may end up altering it when I mix it, will see.

Seed Starting Mix (+Fertilizer) #4
The next recipe will also be for the ATTRA site (Titled- Tipi Produce Recipe).

2 parts Sphagnum peat moss
1 part coarse vermiculite
1 part coarse perlite

+fertilizing mixture of:
3 parts steamed bone meal
2 parts kelp meal
2 parts blood meal
1-2 parts dolomitic limestone

The original recipe called for larger portions but I cut them down since I will not need to mix such large quantities for experimenting.

Seed Starting Mix #5
Not sure what this mix is going to be yet, most likely I will just use one of the above mixes (maybe mix #1 or #4) and try fertilizing the seedlings with another fertilizer mix that I come up with.


I almost forgot I will be starting some in the normal store bought mix that I normally start my seeds in, so that will be Seed Starting Mix #6.

So those are my mixes. I will be starting the seeds probably some time this week or next weekend. I have to get my regular seeds started first and I also must get the mixes ready and I also plan to do soil tests on all the mixes first before planting.

I can not wait to actually get started with the planting and start to see some results, it should be interesting.

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Just thought I would give a little info on the different ingredients that my mixes will consist of.

Peat Moss
Description- comes from (bet you couldn't guess) the sphagnum moss plant
pH- Acid
Nutrients- does not contain any itself, but will absorb them very well
Benefit- light weight, can hold water well if not allowed to completely dry out
Other Info- Some love peat moss and others hate it, I am kind of in between. If allowed to completely dry out it can be extremely hard to get wet again evenly. On the other hand if it is kept wet it can be better for a potted plant than regular soil (texture wise).

Vermiculite
Description- A mineral similar in appearance to mica
pH- near neutral
Nutrients- contains calcium, magnesium and potassium
Benefit- aids in air circulation
Other Info- It is very light weight, if the soil you are planting in is heavy or more compact adding vermiculite can allow the soil to breathe. All plants need some are circulation, and if you have a problem with that, vermiculite may be just what you need to help.

Compost
Description- Decomposed leaves, grass, plants, vegetables, the list goes on and on
pH-
Nutrients- A very nutrient rich source
Benefit- A lot depends on what is in your mixture, but compost is one of the best nutrient providing substances that you can add to a soil mixture.
Other Info-

Soil
Description- Regular topsoil
pH-
Nutrients- May also be a nutrient rich source (a lot depends on the quality of the top soil)
Benefit-
Other Info- Some say and believe that regular soil is not good for potting mixes because it tends to become to compact and not allow optimal air circulation, of coarse I am determined to find out how true that is. I myself want to believe that regular soil can be a good part of a potting mix if mixed correctly along with other ingredients, we will see. I could be wrong or I could be right.

Sand
Description- coarse sand is best, fine sand can become to compact for plant to grow
pH- neutral
Nutrients- Does not hold water very well, thus nutrients tend to drain through along with the water
Benefit- Drains very easily, also warms up very quickly (just think of how hot a sandy beach can be on you bare feet)
Other Info- Sand can be good and have benefits, just not all by itself

Leaf Mold
Description- Decomposed leaves
pH- on the acid side
Nutrients- calcium and magnesium
Benefit- Increases moisture in the soil
Other Info-

Perlite
Description- A volcanic rock
pH- neutral
Nutrients- Potassium
Benefit- aids in air circulation and improve water drainage, also will hold 3 to 4 times its weight in water without causing potting mix to become overly wet
Other Info- When heated perlite expands to as much as twenty times is original size, and becomes very light and kind of puffy, much different from its original rock form

For Fertilizers:

Bone Meal
Description- crushed and ground bones
pH- alkaline
Nutrients- phosphorus, calcium
Release Rate- Very slow, coarse grade will last longer than fine grade will
Benefit- Promotes good root growth (which makes them good for root crops such as carrots and onions) and is also good for plants that form tubers and bulbs.

Kelp Meal
Description- Dried and ground seaweed
pH- neutral
Nutrients- potassium, and good source of many micronutrients as well
Release Rate- slow
Benefit- Aids in seed germination, contributes to good plant and root growth, and can aid in control against plant diseases

Blood Meal
Description- dried powdered blood
pH- may raise the acid level in soil
Nutrients- one of the best sources of nitrogen
Release Rate- slow
Benefit- Use to add nitrogen to soil

Limestone
Description-(also known as Lime)
pH- will lower acid level in soil (more alkaline)
Nutrients- calcium and magnesium
Release Rate-
Benefit- (Wood ashes and eggshells could also be used instead of lime)

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In doing research on the above components of my soil mixes I also learned that both vermiculite and perlite can be used alone by themselves to help start root cuttings. Sounds like a good experiment for the future, doesn't it? Starting plants from cuttings using different methods. Ok, sorry, one thing at a time, right? But it is something to keep in mind for the future :)

When I was searching around on the web I also ran across this tread on the Garden Web, What is a substitute for Seaweed or Kelp Meal? I thought it contained some good info and thought it was worth mentioning, and may also provoke some more good experiments in the future.

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Just in case you would like some more useful info on the subject, here are some more good sites with lots of info on fertilizers, soil amendments, and soil mix ingredients:

Contains charts for what to use for what problems
Organic Fertilizer and Soil Amendment Guide

Here is a link to the ATTRA site again, but this page is a list of soil amendments
ATTRA- Alternative Soil Amendments

More soil mix recipes
Potting Soil Recipes from Backyardgardener.com


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Well I think that is enough for now, wow what a long post. Now I have to get to work with planting my seeds. I know, still have not done that yet, really need to get that done. Off to work.

Summer is closer than you may think!

Well, I pretty much have my seed orders all ready to go. I should actually already have them in by now, but I am always behind. I have been spending so much time lately looking through catalogs, searching vegetable varieties online, and adding more and more things to my list of seeds to order. Probably way more time than I should, but oh well. Anyhow I have started planning when everything needs to get started inside and outside. In doing this I suddenly realized how close summer really is. The first things that are going to need be planted are going to be the leeks, which I will probably be starting as soon as 2 weeks from now. The tomatoes and peppers are going to get started in just over a month and a half from now. Then in just over 2 months we will be starting our cool weather crops outside. Can you believe that? Just about 2 1/2 months till we can start planting outside!

I can not believe that everything is going to be getting started in just 2 or 3 weeks. Once I start planting the first seeds then every week after that I will be starting seeds, then before I know it transplanting seedlings begins, then things start moving outside into the hoop house and finally things start getting planted outside. And it will all be beginning very, very soon.

I am so excited for this year. I can hardly wait to try some of the new exciting vegges I plan to grow. There are so many different unusual things we will be trying this year. I am working on a list of what we will be growing this year and hopefully will be posting it soon.

I still plan to experiment with seed starting mixes and potting soil mixes but I think it will be best if I wait until I begin starting my regular seeds for this year. Before I begin my seed starting I am not really consistent with turning on my plant lights and it stays kind of cold in the basement also. Unless I have good growing conditions I do not know how successful the experimenting will be. Anyhow, tonight I am going to work on getting my soil mixing recipes together that I plan to try. Then I will get everything together and ready to go so when I start planting seeds I can start my experimenting also.

Off to do more planning.

Let the Experiments Begin!

Now that Christmas is past and the rush is over, it is time to start some experiments! That is after I get a plan together and clean up my plant area in the basement. It is kind of a big mess down there, what do you expect plants are dirty. But every year before planting begins everything gets cleaned up, and it is that time now. But anyhow, now for my experimenting plans.

The first thing I plan to do is mix up a good seed starting dirt mix. I have not got any recipes together yet but I will soon. The seed starting dirt should be fairly easy to come up with since most seed starting mixes do not have very much in them and they are pretty simple. Seeds do not need much in the soil to actually get started, the most important thing for starting seeds is the temperature. I plan to try at least 4-6 different mixes. I will start somewhere around 6-8 seeds per mix. Next I will take the plants from the mix that works the best and try a bunch of different potting soil mixes. I will probably use the seedlings from the mixes that are not a good to experiment with some different homemade fertilizers. I love experiments. So much fun! I am not 100% sure what kind of plant I am going to use for my experiment, but I am thinking my best choice would be tomatoes. I do not want to use something that grows too fast or too easily, because it may be happy in any kind of dirt. I also do not want to use something that grows too slowly since I do not have forever. Tomatoes are good because they are pretty easy to read if they are not happy, they usually let you know if something is wrong.

Tomorrow I will clean up the basement and get everything ready for my experiments, and also hope to get some plans together as far as what my soil mixes will be.

So those are my plans. But this is just the beginning of my experimenting, I plan to try a lot more soil mixes in the future. I also plan to do some experiments with different kinds of plants and what kinds of soil mixes each like. Experiment with fertilizers. I have all kinds of plans, and things I want to try. The list goes on and on. Well, anyhow hopefully tomorrow I will have some more plans to share.

Oh, I also realized that I need to get a new header picture taken. I think fall is over now, time for a winter picture. I need to get that done tomorrow also. (Looking out the window, snowing) Yeah it is definitely not fall anymore.

Looks like I am behind once again

I just realized that I am once again behind on my planting. What I am worried about is it always seems like once I get behind it is very very hard to catch up.

There are only 60 days till the first market, and this past weekend I should have planted beets, kohlrabi, and Diakon Radishes outside, and I believe there where some other things too. Inside I should have planted zinnias, a bunch of herbs and some other flowers. I am not really behind on planting the things inside but I would have liked to have planted them already. I also have tomatoes and some other things inside that I should have transplanted already.

Boy do I feel behind. How will I catch up?

I am not sure how I am going to get more stuff planted outside unless it stops raining, warms up and the ground drys up enough to get it tilled an prepared for planting. I was able to get some things planted outside when the weather was nice for a week or so. Under row cover I planted about 2 weeks ago kale, collards, some lettuce, dwarf pak choi, and ishikura scallions (long scallions). I peeked under the row cover today and it looks like the scallions, lettuce and pak choi are coming up. I did not look at the kale and collards. It was raining and muddy outside and did not feel like pulling up another row cover, and was satisfied to know that something was coming up. I will have to check those some other day, maybe when it is drier outside and not raining.

I am hoping to start my seeds inside tomorrow and hopefully get at least some of my tomatoes transplanted. I am going to have to check the weather report and see if I might be able to get some things planted outside soon. Hopefully I will. I am hoping to have a nice big selection available for the first market. So I looks like I am going to need to get to work, so I can catch up, and have everything ready in time or atleast almost everything.

Seedling update

Well, my greenhouse in the basement is almost full. Things have been pretty nice here outside lately, and as long as the weather permits I should be planting some seeds outside this week! How exciting is that? My basement temperature right now is about 62 degrees, and my greenhouse in the basement is about 80 degrees! It is really really warm in there, which is helping all the seeds that I just planted come up very quickly. This week I will also have to begin transplanting my first group of seedlings (Sweet Basil and Carnations).

Here are some pictures that I just took today of my seedlings and my light setups:

Picture of the "greenhouse" in the basement and the new shelf that I just added which will soon be filled with plants and lights.


Shelf of tomato and pepper flats, the peppers have not started coming up yet but the all the tomatoes have sprouted (both the tomatoes and peppers were planted almost 1 week ago).


Some of my eggplant seedlings (they are getting nice and big!)


Some of my little Sweet Basil seedlings that really need to be transplanted.
Hopefully I will be doing that tomorrow.

Carnation Seedlings that also need to be transplanted.

That is my update for today. Tomorrow I have transplanting to do, and since the weather is not suppose to be real good, it does not look like I will be able to plant anything outside tomorrow. Hopefully after the bad weather passes everything will not be too wet, and I will be able to do some planting, the beginning of this coming week. Outside within the next week I am going to have to plant head lettuce, romaine hearts, scallion seeds, possible swiss chard (depending on the temps.), some kale and a possibly some other things that I am unable to think of right now.

It is so nice to be able to finally watch things grow and know that warm weather and summer is finally on it's way here.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday April 1st for the post about our first vegetable of the month- Beets!

New BA Farm Logo

I have finally got around to making a logo. I did it last night at like midnight. It was the quickest thing that I have done yet on the computer. Usually whenever I design something on the computer it takes me days, but since it was so late and I was so tired I did not spend as much time trying to get every detail perfect and debating on what would look best. Maybe I should do more that late at night, I may not waste as much time trying to get every detail perfect, since I am a perfectionist. It isn't anything too fancy, but it works, now I can start working on labels and such for this years market, and can put BA Farm logo on them! Maybe one day I will come up with something better, but for now it will do.

Well, I better get to planting seeds I have a bunch of things that I must get planted sometime this weekend. These are the things that I already have started, and have sprouted already: eggplant, hot peppers, celery, head lettuce, mint, viola, carnations, some basil, and strawberries. Next weekend will be my big planting weekend, it exhausts me just thinking of it. Some of the things that will need to be planted next weekend include: about 6 kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, 3 kinds of basil, some flowers and some other things that I can not think of off the top of my head. I better be going so I can get back to work, I need to replace the hoophouse plastic now so that I can start using it for some of the cool weather crops, since it did not survive the winter.