Planting Calander

Saturday, April 16, 2011

SeedHouse Spinach "New Zeland" (Spinacia oleracea)

Spinach Sprouts:
This is a very old Heirloom, said to have been brought to England by Captain Cook's expedition.  It has been grown in North America since the colonial times.

The spinach has sprouted in the seedhouse, seems to be keeping warm inside.
The Spinach is "New Zeland" (Spinacia oleracea) - 60 days to harvest
I bought these seeds from VictorySeeds.com last year.
by it's very nature, it naturally has a low germination rate and is dificult to start.
The federal germination standard is 40%.  I soaked the seeds in warm water for a couple of hours.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Santa Clara County Master Gardener Sale / Tomotoes planted

Annual Master Gardner Sale: On saturday I picked up some tomatoes, lettuce, peppers.
They had a recommendation to plant two like type tomotoes in the same cage.  In their experiece the plants together will yield the same amount as a single plant.  I am going to try this and I planted them today.
Planted:  I put two Classics tomatoes together: Stupice and Glory of Moldova
and I put two Beefsteak together:  Aker's West Virginia and Brandywine from Croatia.
Like all the plants in the Garden, All are Open Pollinated varieties.
Stupice:  Czech origin, very early, cold tolerant, highly productive, small very flavorful fruit. Holds well. Red Indet  52 days
Glory of Moldova:  Gorgeous golden globes grow in clusters of 4-6.  Flesh is a deep golden orange and flavor is fruity & Sweet.  Highly rated in taste tests.  Early and consistently productive throughout the season.  Gold, Semi 80 days.
Aker's West Virginia:  Vigorous plants produce big harvests of delicious 1 lb tomatoes with sweet, rich flavor and very little cracking or other blemishes.  Family heirloom from West Virginia,  Taste test winner.  Red Indet 80 days
Brandywine from Croatia:  Productive, large, meaty pink tomato with delicious, complex flavor.  Very tender skin.  Regular leaf.  Rare, only available from Santa Clara Master Gardeners.  Pink Indet 85 days

I need to get a calender together to track days to Harvest.
Although the Nitrogen tested higher than last year, I am a little reserved about planting the tomotoes in the same place as last year.

all the walls and roof are on the seed house.  I still need to seal the panels in and I am going to tile the bottom to increase the thermal mass of the space.  I need to put in a shelf also.  Seems to working well.  I moved my seeds into it and also put the lettuce, peppers, eggplant and remaining tomatoes I got from the sale that still needs to harden off.