You may be looking around the gardening web right about now thinking to yourself, “Oh, shit. Was I supposed to start a bunch of seeds last month? Is it time to be transplanting my seedlings out?” Well, if you live in the Pacific Northwest, as I do, congratulations! Your procrastination has totally paid off. Our…
Growing Vegetables
What Am I Going To Do With These Tomato Seedlings?
Despite my limited success with tomatoes, I have yet again found myself with a whole gaggle of seedlings. I’ve got three flats of tomatoes and peppers; I think there’s 26 individual tomato plants. Goodness knows where I’m going to put them all this year. I’m thinking of trying grow bags placed up on my black asphalt-shingled roof. There’s…
Bags Aren’t Just For Chips: The Potato Sack Experiment
Every year I run out of room. So this year I am moving my biggest space-hogs out of the raised beds and into containers I can stash around paths and patios. I’m starting with potatoes, which I am attempting to grow in huge bags. I received my seed potatoes from Territorial several weeks ago and have been…
Seed Starter’s Roll Call
Late March is the busiest time of year under my seed-starting lights. I’ve got assorted tomatoes and peppers up and growing right now. The tomatoes are nearing pot-up time but the peppers are slower to get up and go. I’ve also got brassicas which are pouring out and over their small 72-count cell-packs. It is…
What We Look Forward To
Well, last week didn’t really feel like it in the Pacific Northwest, what with the intermittent hail and occasional snow flurry, but spring is fighting the good fight. President’s Day weekend was the traditional time to put your peas in the ground, though in my area the soil was still a bit cold. Did you sow peas outside? Did…
Heat Lovers in A Cool Clime: Tomato Dreams and Tomato Delusions
Forget sugarplums – at this time of year it’s visions of big, juicy, vine-ripe tomatoes that dance in the gardener’s head. Tomatoes are the quintessential garden edible. The tomato is so culturally ubiquitous – so representative of summer itself – that people not in possession of gardening gloves, a shovel, or the slightest desire to…
Seed Starting 101: Up-Potting
If you are new to growing seedlings, you might want the entire Seed Starting 101 series: Seed Starting 101: Key Components To Healthy Seedlings Seed Starting 101: A Step-By-Step Visual Guide To Growing Seedlings At Home Seed Starting 101: Up-Potting (this post) Occasionally your seedlings will outgrow their containers before you are ready to move…
Seed Starting 101: A Step-By-Step Visual Guide To Growing Seedlings At Home
If you are new to growing seedlings, you might want the entire Seed Starting 101 series: Seed Starting 101: Key Components To Healthy Seedlings Seed Starting 101: A Step-By-Step Visual Guide To Growing Seedlings At Home (this post) Seed Starting 101: Up-Potting New to starting seeds? You might want to start by reading yesterday’s post, Seed…
Seed Starting 101: Key Components For Healthy Seedlings
If you are new to growing seedlings, you might want the entire Seed Starting 101 series: Seed Starting 101: Key Components To Healthy Seedlings (this post) Seed Starting 101: A Step-By-Step Visual Guide To Growing Seedlings At Home Seed Starting 101: Up-Potting Seeds don’t ask much: give them some moisture and the right temperature and if…
Garden Inventory: February 2011
Here’s how the garden is sitting as of early February. Root Crops Beets We are down to just a few beets now. Carrots & Parsnips Down to a small patch of each. I started with about ⅓ bed of each, and last month more than half of that remained. We harvested a lot of carrots…
Audrey the Rhubarb Monster
Did you know Washington State is the leading commercial producer of rhubarb in the United States? It grows really well here. Sometimes it grows so well that it’s a little intimidating. Such was the case with Audrey the Giant Rhubarb of Ballard. Our best friends moved into a great 1950s house near Ballard a few…
Garden Inventory: January 2011
It’s early January and after that list of harvest-ables what am I actually harvesting? Root Crops Beets Still a row of Bulls Blood standing. The tops are all sad and little, but the roots have put on a bit of size. Most are around golf ball size, with some a fair bit larger. I got…