Inside of the hoop house
Collards, Kale, and (I believe) Kohlrabi
Some baby arugula in the hoop house
Baby mustard greens in a row
Some of my plants under lights in the basement
Some just transplanted curly parsley
Parsley waiting to be transplanted
Some tomatoes outside in the small hoop house
A flat of Catnip
Pepper plants
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.
Garlic
The beginning of the new hoophouse before all the hoops were up.
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.
Looking at the front gardens, lots of water and some snow still remaining
At least there is some sign of life, bulbs popping up from under the leaves
Picture of what use to be collards and kale, surrounded by snow and water
The creek full from all the melting snow
Although it may look like a creek, this water is just draining into the creek
The pond beginning to thaw
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts Seedlings
Celery
~Zwolsche Krul (Stem Celery) (Thinner that regular celery, with a stronger taste, will be sold in bunches)
~Red Stem Celery (Common celery with red stems)
~Also a common green variety
