Planning for the Seasons Ahead

For a couple of years now, I’ve been watching Gardener’s World - a fabulous show out of England that first I found on YouTube, and now we watch on Brit Box. It airs Friday night in the UK, and it has become a Saturday morning ritual for me and Tom to grab our coffee and watch it before we begin our weekend. The shots of the flowers and birds, the stray video of one of Monty’s adorable dogs in the garden, virtual tours of famous gardens and smallholders alike, plus a raft of ‘jobs for the weekend’ - we just love it and it sets the mood for the weekend ahead.

A common practice in the UK seems to be the setting out, in the autumn, of the ‘bulb table’ - an old table or plank, filled with interesting old pots that hold numerous spring-flowering bulbs. The table is set by the home’s back doors or windows, so that in the cold and grey spring, one can watch as the bulbs begin to emerge and flower, and therefore be cheered and assured that warmer weather is on the way. I think it is a charming tradition and very much wanted to join in. I don’t have a lot of extra old pots sitting around (I need to shop the sales when they occur and plan ahead for next year!), but I have a few. I ordered a bunch of spring bulbs and then last weekend, I got them planted and set out on an old bench that my dad made. It is, in fact, a bench he made for my brother and I to sit in when we were very small. A few years ago he painted it with boat paint so that I could keep it outside, and the paint has protected it well. I use it for perching and watching the bees fly in and out of the hive, or for watching the chickens. Now it holds my pots of bulbs.

We’ll be able to see this from our dining room windows and the blooms will be cheering in late winter/early spring. I have lots of different bulbs in the ground, of course, but this is a special display meant to be seen from the house. When the bulbs have finished flowering, they are then planted in the garden to fill out the beds in the following years, and new bulbs are purchased for fall planting in the pots.

There are other projects that need to be done now, if the following seasons are to be a success. It is time to plant seeds for winter harvest (or for fall, if you live in colder climes). Last weekend I seeded up trays of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, and beets. They are in the greenhouse, no door on the front, shielded by a thin layer of agribon (mainly to keep away the cabbage white butterflies). They will be planted out into the garden beds October 1 or thereabouts. At that time, I’ll also seed directly all the other veg that we like to grow in the winter time.

This means, of course, that now is the time to order the seeds you will need. If fall is anything like spring, with people continuing to explore home food production, you’re going to want to get right on that before the seed houses sell out.

It’s also a really good time to figure out your garden plan for next season. I have some very remedial blank layouts that I have saved on my computer, which I just print out and use to plan the seasons ahead. I try to allow for some crop rotation (if possible) and think ahead, even, to the season after the coming one. It takes some tweaking and sometimes several iterations before I feel like I’ve got it all just right.

Our daughter Rin, a senior in high school this year, has already started classes online. I begin next week, with three labs in person (though the class is split up into groups of nine) and all of the lectures online. We are still not sure if our son Adam will be able to actually go to his chosen college, and are hoping for news about that soon - it’s getting down to the wire. Meanwhile he is still working full time at the bakery, which continues to sell out of product early every day (comfort food?). Tom is still working at home and it’s a very busy time for him with his college. The logistic challenges of all of this are just enormous, and he really never stops working, trying to make it all fit and ensuring that the students get what they need in this confusing time. All four of us have our own routines for our off times, which keeps us sane and fit. Tom walks in the dark every night around 8:30, and I go hiking early in the morning when it’s cool. I generally spend the rest of the day in food preservation mode. Rin has been very involved with a daily protest in our city (with social distancing) and Adam has been trying to see friends (with social distancing) before they all go their separate ways for college. The four of us meet at the dining room table every night for a feast made with food grown in our garden. Neighborhood kids (the little ones) come by on their daily walks to visit the chickens. One of our chickens has some sort of an eye problem - I don’t know if she got scratched by a stick, or if some dirt got caught in there, or what - she’s been in isolation for five days as it heals, because the other chickens can be very mean to a sick or injured chicken and make things much worse. I’m hoping her eye does heal, because if she loses vision in that eye, everything will be very difficult for her and we’ll have to make some hard decisions.

So, life continues on no matter the challenges, or perhaps in spite of them. I’d love to know what’s happening in your gardens, what you’re eating and preserving, and how you are managing lives spent mostly at home.

Just a quick reminder

It’s almost seed starting time here in Northern California, so here’s a little reminder to get all your supplies ready for planting!

Buy some high-quality soil for making seed blocks or plugs. It can be any kind, as long as it is fine-textured. You don’t need to buy anything that has fertilizer in it, and in fact that much nutrition will not do the seeds any favors. Better to buy either a sterilized mix that is made for starting seeds, or a good quality organic potting soil. Again, it needs to be fine-textured, so sieve out any large pieces of bark. VERY IMPORTANT - do not buy peat-based mixtures. Peat is being harvested at a very unsustainable rate. We are stripping this ancient soil, which took nature thousands of years to make, at an astounding rate. Let’s do our ecologically-best part by buying coir based seed mixes. The package should say what’s in it, and if it doesn’t, assume it’s made of peat. When in doubt - ask your local garden store which of their mixes is peat free.

Wash your plant trays/cells/plugs/pots! Make a 10% bleach solution and clean those suckers off. We don’t want to spread disease or pathogens. Do the washing on a patio or on a driveway, somewhere away from soil, because bleach will kill off soil life. And dump the used water somewhere away from growing things. Dip your pots in the solution, scrub with a brush to remove any old soil, and then rinse and dry in the sun.

It’s not too late to buy seeds! While many of the most popular varieties will be sold out, there are still plenty of other varieties available. Why not arrange a seed swap with other growers so you get a mix of varieties to try? You could also have a seed-planting party. And always plant extra, so you have seedlings to give away to friends, family, neighbors, and local schools.

Make sure you have plenty of plant labels on hand. I use popsicle sticks so they can be composted afterward, rather than plastic tags. And make sure you have plenty of pots for transplanting seedlings after they’ve grown. I bought a large amount of cow pots this year for this purpose, so that I did not have to buy compostable plastic cups (which is an OK alternative, but I knew I could do better).

This is a great time of year when we look forward to spring and summer and the eventual bounty. Let’s celebrate it! Happy Planting!

Trying Something New

Despite the fact that I have numerous seed packets in cold storage (leftover from last year, and even the year before that), I still ordered a few more because I like to try new stuff every year, along with my tried-and-trues. The new seeds arrived yesterday. I’m excited to try these new varieties, including a tomato that is good for hanging baskets (‘Silvery Fir Tree’)! I don’t start tomato seedlings until March 1, and usually I start my peppers then, too.

But I recently read a book by Monty Don of Gardener’s World fame (a show on the BBC that we absolutely adore), in which he strongly suggests starting peppers in January, to give them plenty of time to germinate and grow, before they go in the ground in May. This requires a little extra fuss because they’ll probably need potting up twice before then, but because peppers are tricky to get started, this allows you earlier harvests when they do eventually get in the ground. To me this seemed sound advice. My peppers always set fruit later than I would like. Why not try it?

So, I got out my trusty seed table, single light set-up, heating mat, and seed blocker, and got to work planting up peppers. I seeded 50; I expect not all will germinate, but it would be lovely if they do. We always grow plenty of both hot and sweet peppers, as well as paprika peppers, in order to have lots for fresh eating and for preserving and making into spice mixes.

A bright sunny day (though chilly) encouraged us to get outside and get a lot done. The highlight was digging up a Douglas Iris clump that was about four feet in diameter (no small feat with our heavy clay!) and chopping it into about six pieces which then got distributed about the garden. You know it’s time to do this when the greenery forms a ring, with nothing in the center, telling you that the bulbs have increased so much that they have crowded out the middle. Winter is a great time to split native Douglas iris, as the roots are growing like mad and will not even notice that you’ve changed their position.

Heading

Growing heirloom winter wheat has been such an interesting experiment. Grains are an excellent rotation for any cropping system, as they build soil and feed microorganisms with their extensive roots. They prevent erosion, cover the earth, and provide a great deal of biomass that can be used as mulch or compost material. There's very little pest pressure.  And, if you're lucky, you get a crop on top of all that.

Our wheat crop, which was 'lodging' (or falling over) has righted itself and is now 'heading.' The plants generally go through an aggressive growing process in early spring, then form a type of leaf called a 'flag,' which is easily seen in the above photo. The flag leaf produces a shaft wherein the grain begins reproduction. Those flowers you see are self-pollinating, and after the pollination process, seeds will form.

I grew up near farming communities on the east coast, but I don't ever remember seeing grain. I know very little about it. I imagine if you grow up in the mid-west, you're very used to seeing these crops. I have had a good time researching how wheat grows; I've needed to consult the experts at every stage. It's evident that my crop is heading quite a bit earlier than wheat usually does in our state, early April being the common time. We had very warm temperatures for about two weeks in early February, which I think triggered the plants to begin reproduction. February 15 is our last frost date, so I'm hoping that it won't get too cold now (temperatures have dropped!), and that the seeds can withstand that chill. If they do withstand it, this early heading is a great thing, because I might just get a small crop in before I plant out tomatoes in May. Normally wheat isn't ready to harvest until late May or early June here.

When the plant has set seed, it will start to brown and dry up. Then I will know it is time to harvest, sheave, and then thresh. Of course, the right amount of water is very important now, so I'm glad we have an irrigation system, as it hasn't rained here for the entire month of February, and actually I don't remember getting any significant moisture in January either. 

Meanwhile, I'm in the process of potting up over 200 sunflower seedlings. I may have overdid, just a little.

I often wonder....

 "Yes, officer, thanks for coming; you see, I just moved in to the house across the street, sir. And I went over to meet my new neighbor, just a friendly little gesture, you know, just to introduce myself and let them know we are here. And right off the bat, I felt like something was really strange. I mean, they call their house a name, sir, now what was it... poopy? oh yes, something to do with poppies, and that sort of raised a red flag for me right away, sir, if you know what I mean. And then, the woman that lives there took me around to show me what all the houses on our block looked like before they were all renovated, and honestly sir, I was truly frightened. There's this table all set up right by the front window for anyone walking by to see, and it looks like grow lights are going in. Listen, I'm all for legalizing marijuana, but I have young children, sir. Impressionable, you see. Oh she said it was for tomatoes, but you and I know the truth, don't we? And that growing table was just the beginning of the tour of horror. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the laundry room, the laundry room, sir - and saw raw meat hanging from the ceiling. Disgusting, right? I didn't care that it was covered with some sort of mesh cloth, I was freaked out, I mean, who has raw meat just hanging there? And (I have to whisper this, sir, I'm just that concerned), the meat was in the shape of a thigh. God's honest truth, officer. But it didn't stop there, oh no. Beans. Yes, beans. No, I'm not pulling your leg. All kinds of weird beans with creepy names like 'domingo rojo' and 'rio zape.' Who eats this stuff? You don't suppose they eat the beans with that thigh-shaped thing, do you? Heavens. No, I'm not done, you just keep that pad of paper out now. Write this down. Because in the garage? Let me tell you what I found in the garage. They have a refrigerator out there, and swear on my life, there were more hanging limbs in that fridge. Little hanging limbs, like baby arms? Oh, she said it was duck something or other... Prosecco? No that's not it, I know what THAT is and I could use a glass right now, I don't mind saying. Prosciutto, that's it, thanks officer. What in the world is that??? And the really upsetting thing, I mean my heart just about stopped I'm telling you, there was one huge swinging thing that looked just like a head! Something about a Tennessee Country Head! Oh officer, please, you must go and investigate. I'm ever so nervous just thinking about it. We have to live next to these people!!! God help us."

(Though I often wonder what the neighbors think of US - I know what I think of THEM! We're so lucky to have understanding (and long-suffering; please, let's be honest, I know I'm weird) folks nearby! Including our new neighbors who I know would never say any of this. :) We'll let you know when everything will be done and you can join us for pancetta (it'll be ready in two weeks!), duck prosciutto (a few months yet) or country ham (not for a year yet) - and I'll provide the beans too!)