Planting Calander

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Starts stalled

Lesson learned. My starts, after shooting up and looking great after a couple days, slowed down then turned yellow on the top of the starter leaf and purple on the underside of the leaf. The plants stopped growing.

After adjusting the water. Schedule and adding some compost tea mix to the water to increase the NPK levels, they are off and running again. This has taken a few weeks off of their growth.

I went to my fallback plan and hit the master gardeners sale again.
I put them in the ground last weekend. It has gotten cold again and the plants cold use some cover.

I will post the types in the ground soon.

Tomatoe starts

The digital thermostat hooked up to the heat mat has fully automated this with precise control.
I drilled enough holes in the box to drop the temperature down to lights on 72 degrees. With the mat, I am able to hit germination temp of 80 degrees, day grow temp of 75 and night temp of 65.
Ambient temp outside the box is 45 degrees at night and 50 in the day.

Sprouts are healthy and germination rate is 95%.

With the dome I

Monday, March 4, 2013

Seed starts

I built a small germination box. It is 20 inches deep by 30 inches wide and 18 inches tall.
It fits a single 10x 20 seed tray with a 4 bulb 24" long T5 grow light. Using 6500 temperature buLbs.

The box is made of 3/4" insulating hard foam panels with reflective coating on inside side.
In the garage, where temperatures hit a low of 45 degrees, the box held between 78 and 82 degrees with the seed heat mat.
When I turned on the grow lights, temp hit 113 degrees.
So I made an alternate front that I drilled 12 1/2" holes into. This dropped the temperature to 92 degrees with the mat turned off.

I will need to buy a temperature thermostat controller for the heating pad to turn it off when the lights are on.

Seeds were planted 2 days ago in it.

I also have started sugar anne peas in the greenhouse. They are coming up nice, need to be planted soon.
I plan on putting the around the tomatoe cages.

Tomatoe cages

I have perfected the tomato cage by using Neil's design and painting it. I am makings about 20 of these. Everyone wants at least 3.

Soil test

I received the official results of the soil test. Recommended I add gypsum, 3lbs per 100 SF.
The ph was 7.0. Every other category was optimum to near optimum levels.

Recommendation was to add 6" of compost every year and supplement with added nitrogen.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Seed order

Ordered seed today
Last frost here is February 15, first frost is 11/30.
I will keep the row cover on until may 1 or so.

Lemon Cuke Cucumber CU103
Turkish Orange Eggplant EG134
Arugula - 1 oz OG106-C
Arugula Pronto OG121
Red of Florence Onion ON103
Orange Bell PP137 1 $2.75
Emerald Evergreen Tomato TG102
Stupice Tomato TM199
Black Prince Tomato TP104
Black Mauri (Black Moor) Tomato TP134
Thessaloniki Tomato TM101
Parris Island Cos Lettuce LT101
Little Gem Lettuce - 1 oz LT116-C
Rouge d'Hiver Lettuce LT105
De Morges Braun Lettuce LT145
Crisp Mint LT150
Envy Soya Beans SY101
Sugar Ann Snap Pea 1/2 lb SN107-F
Evening Sun - Sunflower FL733
Red Sun Sunflower FL912
Autumn Beauty - Sunflower FL720
Giant Primrose - Sunflower FL734

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Cover

I built a nice row cover and. The lettuce has been growing terrific. I am going to keep the cover on through April at least, to give the tomatoes a warmer start.

Soil test 1-27-13

Ph 7.3
K high
Phos Med High
Nitrogen High (finally)

I will be getting a prof. Test done soon.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Fall soil change

After I pulled the summer garden out, I put a bag of chicken manure, added azomite and lots of the compost we made. Planted vetch wooly and fave beans and lettuce
It has been in ground for 3 months now. I think I will take a sample and get it analyzed. Been waiting until year 3 to do this, to get the soil built up.
Still not enough worms.

Lettuce ready.

The lettuce I planted after the tomatoes is done

First frost

We had the first frost this past week.
I moved the hothouse from the lettuce bed to cover the pepper tree. It didn't do so well, loosing many of its leaves. Looks like it will come back in spring
I bought another 20 clips and will drill out the wood to install the hoops over the rest of the bed length, using Home Depot 4 mil plastic again. Lasts about 2 years then gets brittle.
Plan on making something more permanent for the pepper tree.
Using electrical conduit.