No doubt about it, rabbit manure is some good stuff! It has 12% nitrogen - two to three times the level of other animal manures - and can be used fresh. It won’t burn your plants. Turn it into manure tea and use regularly and you’ll have pepper plants the size of Christmas trees.
Get The Rabbit Habit
April 20th, 2010 .Starting Seeds
April 14th, 2010 .
Most seeds can be direct-sown into the garden when the time is right. But many folks like to get a jump on the season by growing vegetable starts. These are usually warm weather plants - tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, melons, cucumbers, etc. While you can grow them in a container with drainage - i.e. a Dixie cup with a whole hole in the bottom - most folks use seed trays and cell packs.
There are two trays, one with performations in the bottom and one without - you’ll want one of each. Cell packs are sheets of small cells that nestle snugly inside the seed trays. You’ll want one sheet of cells for each tray you intend to plant.
Clear plastic covers are also a good idea. You’ll need at least one, which can be rotated to other trays as the seedlings sprout.
For most seeds you don’t need starting mix - any good quality potting soil will work as well.
Put your unperforated tray on the bottom, insert the performated tray into it, followed by the cell pack. Dump an appropriate amount of potting soil into the center of the cell packs and spread it equally into the cells. Use your thumb to lightly tamp down the soil in each cell.
Put two seeds in each cell, cover with additional potting soil (1/4″ for tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, 1/2 inch for melons and cucumbers) and firm the soil lightly.
Lift the perforated tray and cell pack together out of the bottom tray. Fill that tray with an inch of warm water and float the perforated tray with the cell pack on it. Watering from the bottom up will give you even watering and minimize seed displacement, something that can happen when you top-water.
When the cells are dark and evenly moist, put the perforated tray with the cell pack over the sink to drain, dump the excess water out of the bottom tray and then place them back in the bottom tray. Snap on the plastic cover.
Put the assembled trays in a sunny, warm spot during the day and the warmest place possible at night. Most warm-weather seeds germinate best from 70 to 85 degrees, going slightly cooler once they develop leaves. If you’re growing different kinds of seeds in one flat, try to keep the estimated germination times as close as possible.
Seedling heat mats can be pricey, but are a good long-term investment, espeically for tomato and pepper starts. Another good, warm place to put your trays at night is on top of the your refrigerator, toward the back. Since the tray is higher in the room it will stay warmer and get additional warmth from the coils releasing heat in the back of fridge.
Once you’ve achieved 50% germination, take the plastic cover off for good. Keep the first seed to germinate in each cell and pluck out the other.
If your seedlings are tall and pale they aren’t getting enough light. Use a flourescent light to boost light levels and length of day (see below).
If they rot at the base - called “damping off” - they’re too wet and too cold. Toss the contents, sterilize your fresh potting soil by putting it into a 250-degree oven for an hour and start again.
Seedlings that seem spindly can be toughened up by putting them in the path of an oscilliating table fan set on low. The movement of the air will make them more robust, but also more likely to dry out.
Keep the cell packs evenly moist. With the cover on, they won’t need much water.
You can use fluorescent light to start your seeds or extend the length of the growing day. If hung by a fine chain, they can be precisely raised and kept 2″ to 4″ above your seedlings. You don’t have to use more expensive daylight spectrum bulbs. For most purposes a regular white bulb works just fine. Sow your seeds 6 to 8 weeks before you intend to plant them. which in our case will be around Memorial Day.
Organic Seeds
April 13th, 2010 .While you’ll pay a premium for oranic seeds, what’s more important than how organic a seed is, is how organically it’s grown. Being smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, there’s not much room for any potential contamination of a lettuce seed. But there’s a big difference in how it will be grown. The truth is that while some seed companies pride themselves on strictly organic seeds, most commercial seed companies buy their seeds from seed producers in bulk, provenance unknown.
So rather than concentrate on expensive seeds, concentrate on growing them the right way.
Put Your Garden on Wheels
March 15th, 2010 .One of our customers had a dilemma - he wanted to grow tomatoes but he had only four hours of sun on one side of his house and four on the other. Tomatoes need at least six hours of direct sun to produce. So we took an old shopping cart, set two five gallon buckets (with drainage holes drilled in the bottom) inside it, hung two from each side and one from the front. Filled with good quality potting soil and planted with tomato starts, he could now grow seven tomato plants by moving the cart from one side in the morning to the other side in the afternoon.
Putting your container garden on wheels - on a wagon or a cart - means that in the mountains you can wheel your plants out during the day and inside at night. The threats of hail or a sudden freeze? Run ‘em inside. Nice spring day? Run ‘em out.
Frankenfoods
March 11th, 2010 .
For all the uproar about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), it’s probably time to sort things out. Since agriculture is at least 4,000 years old, it’s safe to say that we have been tampering with the genetics of our plants and animals for a long time. We’ve selected strains of plants that matured earlier, tasted better and lasted longer through selective breeding — that is, we saved the seeds from the plants that performed better and planted more of them every year.
Was this a form of genetic modification? Absolutely. But it enables us to live better lives and feed more people. We tampered with but didn’t break the rules that were millions of years old. With the advent of modern science we were able to break those rules and inject genes from different species into one another. We were able to inject fish genes into tomatoes and strawberries. We could make corn and wheat herbicide tolerant. But what happens when those genes are set loose in the environment or in our stomachs? The honest answer is … we don’t yet know.
So keep in mind that there is good genetic modification and , well, let’s just call it questionable genetic modification. In the first case we know it’s good and what we’re getting. The jury is still out on the latter.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 14 ~ Gardening Under Plastic
March 9th, 2010 .By using clear plastic and wire wickets you can create a tube that will give you a jump-start on your season. Bend the wire in a semicircle that will give 24 inches of width on the ground and the same height. Plant your row, insert the wires firmly into the ground and cover with plastic. Tape the plastic to the wickets inside of the tube and bury the lengthwise edges of the plastic with an inch or two of soil. Leave a couple of feet of excess plastic on either end, to be tied off on cold days or thrown wide-open on hot ones. Keep in mind that the temperatures inside can soar on sunny days, so it’s usually better to err on the side of more ventilation — both ends open — on a day that may be cloudy but is likely to become sunny later.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 13 ~ Plant Cold Tolerant Seeds
March 1st, 2010 .
Knowing that gardening is always an iffy proposition, understand that some seeds can tolerate frost and grow in the cold–and take a gamble by planting them early in spring or even the fall before. Chard, spinach, kale, broccoli, fava beans and peas can all be direct-sown in March. It it’s cold they’ll wait to germinate, if it warms up you’ve got a great jump on the growing season. Broccoli and fava beans can be sown a little deeper than usual to protect them from a late cold snap.
Sending You Some Spring
February 17th, 2010 .Now that cupid has passed and we are headed in to that short period of time before we begin preparing our gardens for Spring planting , perhaps this page will help get you in the mood.
Click on the snowman.. You will get a black page.
Click your mouse anywhere (& everywhere) on the page & see what happens!
Better yet, click (hold down) & drag your mouse over the black page…
Enjoy!!
The Tomato Plant That Swallowed Boulder - 29 Feet and Growing
February 6th, 2010 .Taking a cue from the gardeners at the Epcot Center in Florida,who grew a single tomato plant that covered a quarter-acre and produced 32,000 fruit, we’re trying our hand at it. In the back of the main greenhouse we’ve got a Sun Gold tomato plant that has currently hit 29 feet and still growing. Stop by and take a gander and pick a tomato in winter, if you can reach them.
FYI: Wedding Invitation Timeline
January 29th, 2010 .
One of the most frequently asked questions regarding planning for a wedding is “What exactly is the time line for ordering and sending my wedding invitations?” Below is a guide to help you with this all import task:
- Engagement announcements - Soon after engagement is announced.
- Solidify the guest list to the wedding prior to making any stationery decisions. Make sure you order at least ten extra invitations for any last minute additions to the guest list.
- Save the Date - At least three months prior to wedding. These are especially important if there are a lot of out-of-town guests or if the wedding is planned during the holiday season or summer.
- Invitations - Sent four to six weeks prior to wedding. So plan on ordering about two to three months prior to the date of the wedding.
- Announcements - These are sent out to announce that a wedding has taken place so they should be sent after the wedding and within a year of the wedding date.
- Thank you notes - Should be sent as soon after the wedding as possible to let the sender know not only that the gift was appreciated, but that it was received.
