5 posts tagged “potager”

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Seed starting

I finally planted the seeds for my warm weather veggies. If all goes well, I should have three kinds of heirloom tomatoes, three types of bell peppers, and mini-eggplant. I present my photo essay on starting seeds:


I used the Gardener's Supply Company's APS (which I finally figured out stands for Advanced Propagating System). To the far right is the water tray. You turn the pegboard upside down over the tray, then fill the water reservoir. That flat grey thing is the water mat. You soak the mat, then lay it over the upside-down peg tray. By sticking part of the mat into the water, you create a wicking system that keeps the mat wet. The plant cells (at far left) have holes in the bottom. They sit on the mat, thereby soaking up water.

Ingenious, no?



The APS comes with a seed starting mix, that, like most, is largely peat moss. The directions say to wet the peat moss until its slightly moist. Have you ever tried to wet down peat moss? It absorbs a huge amount of water, and it's difficult to get it consistently wet.

Also, peat moss is extremely fine and prone to flying about until it's dampened. Don't use your sprayer attachment on the faucet unless you want to be cleaning peat moss off every surface in the kitchen. Not that I've done that.





So here's the assembled system; the big bowl of seed starting mix; my pretty, pretty seed packets; tags; and the doohickey that you stick in the water reservoir to tell you how high the water level is. It has an actual name, but I can't remember it. 

I used an old measuring cup to put the mix into the bottomless seed tray cells. Peat moss is light, so I had to keep packing it down, making an even bigger mess of the kitchen counters in the meantime. Once each cell was full, it was time for the actual planting.

I put one or two seeds in each cell, covered them with about 1/4" of seed starting mix, and squished it all down. Squishing is important, because you need good contact between the seed and the soil for germination.

Next comes labeling. All seedlings look the same, so you have to mark what you've planted. My labels are on little wooden tags that look like popsicle sticks. I had some trouble fitting the plastic cover on the tray until I figured out the labels needed to sit at an angle to accommodate the cover.

Here you see the completed tray with watering doohickey sticking out. You water through that little notch there.

Seeds need heat to germinate, but the APS recommends that you not use a heat mat with it. I'm still stumped by this one. I know some people use warm spots like the top of the fridge, but the top of my fridge is 1. not really warm, and 2. filled with stuff like margarita mix and fruit juice (when you have a small house, you have to make the most of your storage). So for now, they're sitting under the lights until I figure out something else.

By the way, here's my indoor potting shed. It used to be a breakfast nook, but it's really too small for a table and chairs. The bookcase I use as a seed starting station, shop light, and rocking chair fit nicely, though. You can't see from the picture the haze of cat hair on the chair; the rocker is one of Miss Kitty's favorite lounging spots. Note the corner cabinets filled with gardening books (on the right). The left cabinet holds my cookbooks, tea pots, and tea cups. Isn't it cozy?

Updates as they occur!

Post a comment Tags: tomatoes, potager, seeds

Finally! The first daffodil!

First daffodil of spring
First daffodil of spring
I was starting to think I'd never see it. The bulbs in my garden are telling me that we're about three weeks behind. Normally I'd have had at least a few daffodils in mid-March. Anyway, for all my friends who scored "daffodil" on the flower quiz, here you go. We snapdragons will have to wait until summer.

In other news, I spent last Friday planting the peas, lettuce, radish, and carrots in the potager. One of the nice things about raised beds is that the soil warms up more quickly than in the ground. I was able to plant with minimum mess (as those who know me well can testify, I can't do anything without making a mess). Big Lou sat by my side and supervised, occasionally trying to sashay into the raised bed to get a closer look. 

Next up, plant those tomato seeds I've been talking about for several weeks. 
Post a comment Tags: spring, potager, bulbs

The Planning Season

I am so done with winter. Unfortunately, winter is not done with me, not by a long shot. My conservative estimate is at least another five weeks of winter, likely followed by several weeks of mud. Mud's OK. I can live with mud. I have a pretty pair of sky blue wellies that allow me to clomp around in the mud. Snow and ice, on the other hand, I'm ready to be done with.


Winter is, of course, the long stretch known to gardeners as "the planning season." And all the books talk about how you can really see the bones of the garden in winter, which is kind of helpful when planning. It's also why it's so important to have shrubs and evergreens and hardscaping. At least you have something to look at when all the perennials have died back to the ground.

Well, you can see the bones of my garden in the attached photos. I wasn't willing to tromp in the snow, so I opened my back window and leaned out. My cat came out to investigate, walked out the window to the outer window sill, sniffed the cold air, and immediately headed back in. She's a Siberian; you'd think she'd be dying to romp in the snow.

Anyway, wintery bones. Here you go.

It's kind of nice you can see the round lawn underneath the dusting of snow. What you don't see in this photo is the circular brick patio next to it. 

The grow poles in front of the garage are covered with clematis in summer. Well, the one on the right is; the ones on the left should be in the "leap" stage this year, since I planted them three years ago.

The little shrubs along the path are lavender bushes. I love lavender, and I plant more every year. 


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P1010001


And here we have the potager in winter. I know, a real potager would have a charming little fence around it, but I've only got so much room for vegetables. This spring, I'm going to add another set of two trellises to the right of this picture and another long bed at their base. I'll have to uproot a lavender to do it, and I'm pretty sure it won't survive the transplant process. 

Anyone who thinks gardening is a hobby for little old ladies has never 1. murdered plants in order to rearrange a garden for aesthetic purposes, 2. pruned a rosebush, or 3. built her own raised beds and trellises. Let me tell you, it's a lot of work. But the pumpkins and melons went wild last year, and I'd like more space for them. When your garden is small, you have to go up instead of out. Hence, trellises. 

Also, here you see the circular patio I mentioned. 


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P1010003
This bit is my perennially difficult shade border. I'm not planning to change much of the planting in the back garden, but I'm going to rework this border. 

Just to the left of photo in my neighbor's yard is a huge maple tree with roots that go to China. Between that and the honeysuckle bush (also on the neighbor's side of the fence), there are so many roots and suckers I literally have to take an axe to the soil to plant anything bigger than a daylily. The viburnum I planted there died a slow and painful death, so I'm looking for a nice shrub to give this some structure. Maybe an oakleaf hydrangea. They're good in shade and pretty tough. There are three Anabelle hydrangeas there already; they're the little brown sticks standing up. The rest is daylily, geranium (I love geranium), and lady's mantle. Last year I planted spiderwort, but I'm not sure it will be back this year. 

When it's not so cold, I'll take a photo of hosta alley, which runs along the side of the house (to the right of the potager in the photo above.) Hosta alley is also my work area, where I keep the garbage cans and whatnot. Also the spigot is there. 

There's a massive old workbench in my basement that's been here since I moved in eight years ago. The BF thinks we can haul it outside, hopefully without taking it apart, or at least without serious injury to either of us. I'm going to stick that puppy in hosta alley, right next to the spigot, where it will become the most spacious free potting bench you've ever seen. Homely, maybe, but I did mention it's free, right? If I get particularly ambitious, I will cut out a square on one end so soil can fall through, and add an outdoor sink on the end next to the spigot. If I'm lazy (likely), I'll just use it as it is. Given how much we charge for potting benches and potting sinks at the store, I will feel gloriously smug either way. 

Post a comment Tags: planning, potager

Gardening with Family and Friends

My friends and family are usually the recipients of the potager's largesse. A girl can only eat so many tomatoes, you know? When I worked on a CSA last year, I wound up giving my parents some of my veggies, too. I think maybe it spoiled them.

My mother informed me today that she purchased a very nice pair of garden gloves for me, and a pair for the BF, too! While it was certainly a thoughtful gesture, she wanted to be sure I told him they weren’t free. She expects a tithe from the garden. However, if we're going to make salsa at the farm anyway, she'll just take her share in finished product. She was laughing the whole time she said this, but don’t make the mistake of thinking this was a joke. She wants those tomatoes.

Of course, we are talking about the woman who asked if I had a pregardenuptual agreement about the farm garden. I told her possession is 9/10ths of the law, but since I'm planning on keeping the BF, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Lest you think I love him only for his land and access to horse manure, let me tell you when I knew the BF was a no-question about it keeper. He gave me a gift bag with three wrapped gifts in it, and a card that said he wanted me to be adequately prepared and defended from the veggies, even if he wasn’t there to protect me. The first gift said “Knowledge,” and it was a copy of Organic Gardening magazine. The second said “Self-Defense,” and it was the best Farmer’s Weeder I’ve ever seen. I mean, you could disembowl a deer with this thing, let alone take on weeds. The final gift said “Know Your Enemy.” It was a copy of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

That’s when I knew. I knew the way you know about a good melon.

Post a comment Tags: potager, tools and gear

Magic Box

It's 11 degrees outside, with a nasty wind whipping through the trees. I've mostly recovered from my cold, worked a few hours, and am feeling restless. I ordered the APS system from Gardener's Supply, as I'm going to try starting from seed indoors for the first time this year. I installed a shop light in the kitchen and everything. (It actually looks much nicer than it sounds. Frankly, I'm getting way more use out of my indoor potting shed than I ever did when it was a breakfast nook.)


If the seed starting experiment is a success this year, I should have enough seedlings for the potager and the farm garden, as well as some for CAS. She's planning to construct grow boxes on her driveway. Or maybe she's planning for us to construct grow boxes on her driveway. Either way, I'm hopeful I'll be able to pass on tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. 

Seems like a good time to go through my magic box o' seeds. I'm partial to organic seeds and packages with pretty hand-drawn illustrations. I do have some leftover Burpee seeds, though, so I'll plant those out this year and see how they do. 

Burpee
Bush Blue Lake Bean
Scarlet Runner Bean
Kaleidoscope Carrot Mix
Heatwave Blend Lettuce Mix
Super Sugar Snap Pea
Mesclun Sweet Salad Mix
Big Tasty Hybrid Watermelon
Bush Sugar Baby Watermelon

Ferry Morse 
(Picked these up at Lowes last year in a fit of optimism. I mean, it's not like the potager has room for corn. But by golly, the farm garden does!)
Morning Star Hybrid Sweet Corn

Renee's Garden 
(Gorgeous packets! Plus the seeds in mixes are color coded so you know exactly what you're planting. I think her seeds are particularly nice for the small-scale potager gardener.)
Romeo Round Baby Carrots
Babette French Baby Carrots
Heirloom Cutting Mix Baby Leaf Lettuce
Crimson Crunch Round Red Radish
Catalina Baby Leaf Spinach

And new this year to the potager!
Little Prince Container Eggplant
Jewel-Toned Bell Peppers
  • Vidi (red)
  • Admiral (yellow)
  • Valencia (orange)
Summer Feast Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Black Krim
  • Sweet Persimmon
  • Costoluto 
Tricolor Patty Pan Squash Summer Scallop Trio
  • Sunburst 
  • Starship
  • Peter Pan
Plus about six varieties of nasturtiums and some marigolds for the potager. I also picked up Renee's Perfume Delight Sweet Pea mix and Purple Flowering Hyacinth Bean for elsewhere in the garden. I cannot WAIT for spring.

Post a comment Tags: potager, seeds