Garden Update: Seedlings and Soaker Hose

Happy Mother's day to all the mommas out there. Hope you were spoiled rotten today!

It's been a really long winter here in Manitoba. The weather has finally come around and I was able to get outside for some long overdue gardening. Jay and I put these raised cedar beds in 3 summers ago in the only sunny part of our yard. I like raised bed gardening because:

1. I like clean lines and contained dirt.
2. I don't have to bend over as far to take care of the plants.
3. I have minimal weeds so far. I know this can get worse over the years.
4. I can plant things really close together because I don't need walkways.

Garden Beds with New Soaker Hose

This year I decided to add a soaker hose. Our summers can get pretty hot and dry here and it just makes sense to water more efficiently. I'm also pretty lazy so this can be a huge time saver. Those little white specks in the dirt are actually egg shells. I guess they weren't fully composted when I added it to the garden last Fall.

Basil and Sweet Peppers

The first round of basil and sweet peppers I planted didn't germinate. I had them in peat pots and I think they dried out (I'm a lazy waterer, see reason I got a soaker hose above). This second round was started in plastic pots (I reuse them) and they are all doing great.

Tomatoes

These tomato plants are taking off. I have 3 different varieties of shorter season plants, Carbon and Anna Russian (both heirlooms) and a hybrid cherry tumbler.

I ordered all my new seeds this year from Heritage Harvest Seed. They are a Manitoba mail order business specializing in heirloom vegetables, flowers and herbs. I chose them so that I have the option to save my own seeds to replant next year.

What are you growing this year? Do you have a preference for heirloom, organic or non-GMO seeds? Do you think it's important for kids to know where their food comes from?

Lindsay

Starting Seeds to get my Garden Fix

The view out my kitchen window is unusually white for mid April. A foot or more of snow still covers my raised garden beds. The tops of the compost bins are peaking out, the black plastic trying to melt the snow around them but nowhere near efficient enough to cook compost right now. I imagine it to be one solid block of the winters veggie scraps sitting on top of autumn's leaves. I can't help but check daily, noting how the sun is now high enough for full sun in my beds. My house is a two story on a postage stamp of a lot. In the fall, the angle of the sun turns my whole backyard into "where the sun don't shine", literally. I've toyed with the idea of cold frames only to realize after hours of planning that no cold frame will work if the sun doesn't shine on it. So while I wait for the slow melt, I'm turning to indoor seed starting to get my fix.

First I needed to make sure my handsome assistant was available. His brother Emmett had just gone down for the AM nap so I knew we had a good hour.

I ordered all my seeds in January from Heritage Harvest Seeds, a Manitoba business that only sells open polinated and heirloom varieties. I like that these seeds came from my area and that I could save them for next year if I wanted. I couldn't wait to start gardening so I had already planted some red onions (Tropeana Lunga) back in February.  I then decided to add a heat mat to my collection. I failed at starting my melons last year and had heard that lack of heat could have been the problem. I really really want melons and Jason asked for peppers so I made leap and bought a heat map. Other than the florescent light set up, the heat lamp was the most expensive part of my indoor equipment. It was about $30.

 

 Wyatt and I had another garden morning April 6th and planted basil, lettuce, 3 different tomatoes, sweet peppers, spinach, beets and swiss chard. We used the peat pellets that came with the heat mat kit to plant 2-3 seeds per pellet and put them on the heat to germinate. The difference was awesome, seeds were popping up in 3 days. Unfortunately I made some beginner mistakes. I should have taken out the plants that had germinated and moved them under the lights. Instead, I just popped open the lid and waited for the rest of the seeds. After a week, the tomatoes were already leggy and the chard and beets were hitting the lid. I also think it was too hot for the spinach and lettuce. Only a few plants had bothered to germinate. I know it is still early and hopefully in their new non-heated home, the rest will pop up soon.

  

We transplanted the tomatoes, burying the stem deep so that new roots will grow and hopefully making them hardier. Only 1 of the 3 peppers had sprouted so it stayed on the heat mat for now along with the basil (I read that both will benefit from a little longer with the extra temperature).

  

So under the basement lights they go. Now if only the weather would start co-operating. My official last frost date is the end of May. I was hoping to put out cold weather plants (onions, lettuce, chard, beets) at the end of April. We'll see.

Do you like to garden? Have you ever considered growing backyard vegetables?