Watch your Peas and Cs

In my quest to dominate container gardening I have drawn out a bit of design. I know what I want to grow and what I'm going to grow it in, and where and on which deck. I seldom follow any of these plans verbatim and this project was no exception. The plan was to find a long container and plant two rows of carrots in one and a row of peas and carrots in the other. This is what happened.

First the container. I had a hard time finding a container long and deep enough for what I wanted, (without building one which I may do later.) This is the best I could do. Not very long but pretty deep. This came from Canadian Tire and is actually meant to fit over the railing. I knew that it would not fit over my railing when I purchased the container, but thats okay. The added depth of the trough will be perfect for the carrots.

Next I had to address the growing medium. Soil. I am currently Laid Off during the Olympics and although I have a job to go back to, finances are tight, so we have put ourselves on a very strict No Spending Budgets. Bills and Groceries only. So I could not purchase any soil specific to this project and had to make do with what I had, which was a partial bag of Keefer's West Coast Container Mix, a hodgepodge bucket of reused potting mixes, left over "garden mix," composted soil from the District of North Vancouver, and a bucket of "junk" soil I tried unsuccessfully to us as a patio sandbox material for Cillian.

For the first pot I combined the "Garden Mix," the reused, and the junk soil and mostly filled the container, then topped it off with the Keefer's Container Mix.

The second pot was a comprised of the Keefer's and garden mix with a little of the reused mix.

This is where I first deviated from the original design. My Kale seedling are still young but knowing that I will need to transplant them soon and having nowhere to put them at this point I decided to plant one on either end of the carrot- peas container.

Using a table spoon I carefully removed 4 seedlings from the fullest Kale pots...

and planted one on each end of the new containers.

Then I made a 1/2" trough along the front of the container for the Carrots.

I poured some seeds from the Johnny's Selected Seeds Pouch into the spoon and began planting dropping them into the trough. I left about six inches from the Kale, so the Kale won't shadow the carrots too much.

You can plant the seeds 3/4-1" apart and then thin the seedling to 2" later. Not wanting to have to toss the unwanted seedlings, I spaced them about 2" apart now.

Then I dug another trough along the back and plant the peas about an inch apart.

I'm not as worried about the peas being dominated by the Kale as the peas are a vine and will grow higher then the Kale and they should live in harmony.

I placed on container on the East deck. I will either move this pot back against the railing or build a small trellis for the peas later.

The second container I put on the North Side against the railing so the pea vines can grow up them. I shuffled the other pots and containers around to accommodate.

The last thing is to water. While at the store I found organic fertilizer from Rubicon made from concentrated seaweed. As per the directions I added 1/2 teaspoon to my watering can which is about one liter.

I watered the contain enough to penetrate the soil and repeated a couple days later. The idea is to keep the soil moist but not swampy or over saturated.

It's Twins!

Twin leaves that is. Three days ago I planted Marigold seeds (among others) into a seeding kit using fiber pellets and we already have several seedlings emerging.

The pellets are still damp and haven't needed any further watering.

I'm sure that the extra sunning days and the addition heat created by have the clear cover over the seeds has been a contributing factor to this early success.

Of the 50 pellets 16 were planted marigolds and of the 16 there are 8 seedlings 1" or taller and I can see 4 more breaking ground. That is about 75% success rate so far! I will leave the seedlings and their pellets in the tray until they are getting close to touching the lid, then I will transplant.

I have also had some success with the Kale I planted a month ago. There will be some pictures and further mention in my next blog which could be out as early as tomorrow or Friday. I'm laid off during the Olympics so I have some time on my hands.

biodegradable Pellets

Today was my day to plant some seeds. I have been looking for a seeding kit for some time, and came across a product from Planters' Pride. They are these little thin pallets with a seeding mix inside a fiber membrane. Instead of making biodegradable pots out of Peat moss, Planters' Pride uses fibers like coconut coir.

Peat moss is a great growing medium and widely used, but for the most part it is mined. This rich soil takes generation to create and we are using it faster then it is being made. Peat bogs are disappearing, find out more here.

I found this particular kit, reasonably priced, at Canadian Tire, I'm sure that other retailer also carry this or something similar.

The first step is to add water....

The pellet will expand to 3 - 4 cms tall.

Next is the seeds. Today I planted Marigolds, Cherry Tomatoes, Cockscomb Celosia Bombay Wine and Lavender all from my last Johnny's Selected Seeds and Lupins that I had left over from Pacific Northwest Seeds in Vernon BC. They don't have a website that I can find, but their seeds are available at David Hunter Garden Centres.

I'm growing Marigolds and Lavender for specific reasons. Marigolds help to keep small animals, (like squirrels) and some non beneficial insects away from the garden and Lavender will attract Ladybugs that are a beneficial insect to the garden, they eat aphids.

The Bombay Wine is a bit of an experiment. This is not the environment they were intended for. I think it will be warm enough during the summer that they will do fine and probably be Ok threw the winter, but will unlikely survive the winter so I am growing them as an annual.

I proceeded to place 1 or 2 seeds per pellet, gently pushing each one in. I planted them in rows. The Lupins, Lavender, and Cherry Tomatoes each got one row, the Bombay Cockscomb got three rows, and four rows or Marigolds.

Some seeds are very small and difficult to handle. I used a common butter knife to move the seeds into the pallets.

Last step was to place the clear cover over the top and sit the "greenhouse," in the front window. Are apartment stays pretty warm and lots of light comes through this front window. Now I will let the seeds do their thing. Once the plants start to grow to big for the green house I will put the whole plug into a container and the roots will simply penetrate the membrane.

Soon I will be planting carrots and peas directly into their pots. I will likely also be doing some gardening for my building as we haven't yet hired anyone to do anything. This is part of my plan to create our own community garden. I think that if I start doing the work then it gives me the opportunity to meet some of the people in the building who are interested in helping out with the garden. Step one!

Spring Kale

I managed to use my surprise day off to get some gardening done. Months ago I purchased seeds from Johnny's Seed Company, and put them into a drawer until last week when after eating my found treat and flipping through the new Johnny Catalog I decided it was time to pull out these packets of new life and make a plan for this years exploration of container gardening. Among the paper envelopes I found Winter Kale, something I bought with the intent of planting in the fall, but forgot about and now I am faced with a decision. Do I risk planting now in January and harvest before it get it gets to warm, potentially not harvesting a decent crop and wasting the seeds? Or do I save the seeds until next fall, potentially not having any of them sprout from being too old thereby wasting the seeds? I feel there is really only one thing to do at this stage, and that is to do both options. In the name of Garden Sciences I will attempt both and document the out come.

The first step I need was to find something to plant the Kale into and to give some organization to the East deck. Believe it or not this is an improvement. Two boxes went down into storage and some cardboard trays left over from berry picking last fall finally made the voyage to the recycling.

I decided to use the old Blender Pots to start with. These blender have burnt out motors. Instead of spending more money then they are worth to fix or throw them away, I have recycled them. Loosing the cord I made them into pots. The soil in them had dried out and compacted so much that I need to dump it into a pail, then mix some other soils from smaller pots to loosen up and improve soil quality. This will allow water to penetrate the soil, and for the soil to hold on to the water molecules better. This will ensure in part that enough water is available for the seeds in germinate and later for the roots to soak up to feed the plants.

This mixture was put back into the the Blender Pot and topped it off with Keefer's West Coast Planter Box/Container Soil Mix. I have used a lot of Keefer products in the past because they are local. Keefer Farm and Greenhouses has been family owned and operated in Richmond BC for more than 50 years. That means that these soils are extracted and treated right here in the lower mainland. Why is that important? The environmental impact of buying soil shipped from the other end of the country or from the US, or even overseas is enormous. I try to consider local products whenever possible. I even choose local over organic. Once the point of organic if it has travel 1500 Kms to get here right. I suggest finding a local source for all your soil needs. If you are in the lower mainland Keefer's products are available at Garden Works, David Hunter, and Maple Leaf Garden Centres.

With the new and improved soil in the pot I placed 3- 5

seeds on the top, then pushed them about 1/2 inch into the soil. After 4 weeks I will thin out the plants if necessary as they will crowd each other too much this close together. If this happens none will do very well and will likely be sick, which will attract unwanted insects like aphids. Health plants will not attract unwanted pests and act as a natural insect repellant. When I thin them I will transplant the unwanted Kale into other pots.

I repeated this process with two other Blender Pots and two other unused pots.

Cillian was eager to help out as much as possible. At my last home we had a portion of garden that he could play in. That is something we will have to work out in this unique gardening situation.

Once all five pots where plants with Kale seeds we water them using my new watering can from my father and mother in-law. Thank you very much!

Once these start to sprout I may plant a couple more pots, this way they can be harvested at different times.

Seedy Little Seedling

Just a quick little update on my sowing adventures.  The last time I wrote of the seeds I had a couple Lupins sprouting.  That quickly turned to six sprouts.  Yesterday I mixed some garden soil with Keefer's Soil Energizer and filled Six small pots I had under the back stairs.

  I used a pen to loosen the soil and remove the sprouts from their original pot and into their new individual ones.

Some of the sprouts where up to two inches tall and the all had much longer roots already.  

Here they are all in row.

Last time I mentioned I started some seeds in re-used cardboard egg cartons, but the cardboard was absorbing all the water from the soil.  I have since place both of them onto a cookie sheet.  I will now pour water into the pan and keep the egg cartons nice and wet so the seeds will get the water that they need as well.

I'm not growing Pimps, its sort form for Pink Impatiens 

Yesterday I made a brief visit to VanDusen for Seedy Saturday.  Lots of local seed gatherers selling their wares, including VanDusen themselves.  I was on my own and had a sleepy two year old in tow, plus we only had a short time before we had to meet with Suzanne.  I rushed around the very crowded Floral Room and managed to get out with only four seed packs from two venders.  In short I pick up some Red Columbine (Aquilegia Formosa), and Chocolate Fritillary (Fritillaria lanceolata) from Twining Vine Gardens and from Crafty Gardener I got Strawberry Foxglove (Digitalis Mertonensis) and Allium Ivory Queen.

Today I planted them in row in a shallow pan 3/4 with straight Keefer's soil energizer, labeling each row on the pan.  The Columbine and Foxglove I pressed into the soil leaving them exposed to the light needed for germination.  The Fritillary I sunk into the soil about a 1/4 inch and the Allium I have put into a dish to soak for 24 hours and will add them to the pan.  The pan sits with the others sprouts in the kitchen window.

Now I am experimenting with rose seeds.  I've been hesitant to move ahead with this project as I understand it can be a lot of work.  I have been following another blogger and she had a blog last week called "The Great Pea Rebellion."  Although hers was a story of adventurous pea planting it inspired me to go ahead with my roses.

Earlier in the week I removed two hips from a rose bush in my backyard.  Today I cut open the hips and removed the seeds.

I planted the seeds in a shallow pan in a grid pattern about 2 inches apart.  I will keep them in a dark place for one month and then move them into the south facing kitchen window.

Seedling

My son Cillian at The Royal Botanical Gardens, Oct 2008

I have very little experience with growing from seeds, so I am trying a couple different things.  I picked up some seeds from the gift store at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton Ontario.(www.rbg.ca)  That collection of seeds is made up of Red Corn Poppy, Shasta Daisy, Lavatera 'Mallow,' and Forget-me-nots, all taller plants of 30" plus.  I randomly scattered those seeds along the back row of my side garden on the weekend of February 8.  I know this is a risky move as another frost could potentially wipe those seeds out, but I couldn't wait any longer to get them going.  If they do tough it through, I look forward to seeing how the mixture comes together.  I'll keep you informed.

That same weekend I made my first ever visit to David Hunter Garden Center in Vancouver at Broadway and Arbutus, www.davidhuntergardencenters.com, where I picked up packages of Lupins, Nemophila and two different types of Impatiens.  These seeds I started indoors and will move outside later.  I used two egg cartons for the first batch, planting two or three seeds in each egg cup.  I used a sharpie to labeled which seeds are in which cup.  I also planted a group of the Lupins in a 4 inch pot in a grid formation of about 3/4 of an inch apart.  I placed all three in the kitchen's south facing window. 

The egg cartons I used where of the cardboard variety which I worried may not withstand the effects of watering, but I didn't intend to overwater so I didn't think it would be a problem.  That turned out not to be a problem at all, the problem is that cardboard is soaking up all the water from the soil then drying out in the sun.  I will give these one more week before either transplanting them, or trying a different watering approach.

Lupin Sprouts Feb 16, 2009

The 4 inch pot is a different story.  In one week there are four Lupins sprouting there little green heads out of the soil and reaching for the sunlight.  These I will let grow until they are around 3 inches high.  I will then transplant them into individual pots where they will continue to wait in the window until they are ready to go outside.

The ultimate goal for all of these seedlings is to collect the seeds they will produce in the fall and start the process all over again.  Yesterday afternoon I also found two seed heads on a rose bush so I will attempt to harvest those seeds and get them growing as well.