All Plants Start Now

Today marks 8 weeks until the end of frost, so for people in my gardening zone you can plant any seed you have.  There's pretty much nothing that will overgrow the planting cells in that amount of time.

Except sunflower.  Those you may wish to start in cups as they grow very quickly and dislike being transplanted.

As of today, the first of the Magellan zinnia started.  Post this, I'll be planting marigolds, which fortunately don't require the full eight weeks (but do benefit from as much time as you can give them, so I'll shoot for six weeks or more).

Right now, there are six flats under the lights, two in my office sprouting, and four to go.  At some point, probably early next week, I'll add a third to my office sprouting and perhaps a fourth.

Seeds that required longer periods should already be well-sprouted and into the four leaf stage.  At that point, you can (very gently) feed them if you wish to.  I fed very, very lightly today, 1/2 tsp of Miracle Gro in 2 gallons of water.

The First Zinnia

Technically, the first of the smaller zinnia.  I'd started the Park's Deep Red and Envy zinnia at the beginning of the month.  Both are now under the lights downstairs and the third rack of lights is now on.

As of today, I started the Persian Carpet zinnia as well as the Profusion zinnia (yellow, orange, and fire).  While it's still a bit early and these will be extremely well-developed by the time they're ready to plant out, I don't have much choice.

Since I start 12 flats of plants, I have a limited time period to get everything started.  This is now the sixth flat complete and either already sprouted and growing or on the heater and working on sprouting.  That leaves six more flats to plant, sprout, and grow before early May.

So while I'm forced to start my smaller plants early, you still have some time.  Short zinnia and marigold will do fine with four to six weeks before planting date.  Eight to nine weeks simply gives them time to get very, very large (but conversely more difficult to adjust to life outside).

Next up, the Janie marigolds.

Most Plants Start Now

Plants that only take a very short time to grow, such as shorter zinnia and marigold, can be held and started as late as April first, but there's no disadvantage if you start these now as well.

Taller zinnia, marigolds, and most other plants benefit from eight weeks to grow until planting out, which means starting right about now is the correct time.

As of now, the cleome and Easter eggplant are growing downstairs under the lights.  I recently added the Salvia farinacea "Rhea" and Salvia splendens (various red parents) to the growing rack as well.  While small, they'll grow!

The taller zinnia are starting now, along with the Melampodium and celosia, which like a little more time than you might imagine (but are tolerant of not having it).  I only bought 100 celosia seeds for a 72-cell flat, so I'm most likely going to have to find something else for the cells that inevitably don't sprout (this also involves pricking out baby plants and moving them into groups of cells to avoid mixing species inside a single 6-pack).

Next up, the shorter zinnia start, followed by the marigolds which are last on the list.  The majority of my marigolds are Janie as they perform beautifully in heat and blossom well from May to frost (usually late October).  They are, however, French marigold and rather short.

In other news, I think I'm a full flat short this year as I didn't plan for it correctly in early winter.  No matter, it's an excuse to haunt places in the area that sell seed and pick up several new friends or revisit old ones!

I'll take photos of the lawn and gardens once the snow finishes melting.  At the current rate, mid-March should be the starting point of the early spring season, but the first garden photos will be delayed by the weather this year.  I don't expect the first flowers until late March.

Salvia, Cleome, and Others Start Now

This is about the correct time to start any plant that takes a long time to flower or fruit if you wish it to be in full bloom (or full fruit) by the middle of the season.

For me, the cleome are already sprouted and under the lights in the cellar, as are the Easter eggplant.  The Salvia farinacea and Salvia splendens are planted and spending a half day each on the heating mat.  Once those are complete, the Melampodium (butter daisy) will begin.

Those cover the flowers I grow that benefit from longer growing periods. 

Once those are complete, we'll be moving into early March and there will be 8 to 10 weeks left before planting.  At that point, the tallest of the fast growers will be started, which this year includes the Envy zinnia, a tall and very chartreuse flower.

First Sprout

It was actually two days ago, but I wanted to make certain it wasn't a weed.  It's difficult to tell the difference when the plant, like the cleome, is very small when it first sprouts.

It's definitely cleome, and most of the cells (I planted 24) have sprouts in them at this point.  The ones that don't are at the edge of the flat, don't receive quite so much heat from the seed sprouting mat, and will be along shortly.

The Easter eggplant began to sprout today as well, much faster and much more reliably than last season.  However, all the current seeds are descended off of plants that sprouted under my care and successfully grew in the garden, so that tends to be typical.

I started the Salvia farinacea "Rhea" yesterday.  They also benefit from a longer growing season before being planted outside.

I'll start the Melampodium (butter daisy) this weekend, followed closely by the red salvia.  While that ends the series that enjoys a longer growing period, the date at that point is late enough that even the short-growth plants can start.

Garden Planting Begins

Yes, we did get nearly twenty inches of snow yesterday, with more on the way tonight.  Yes, I'd have to dig through that to even find the gardens at the moment.  No, I'm not going to do that.

However, it's time to start the plants for spring!  Traditionally, in this household, the cleome begins on Valentine's Day as it benefits from three full months to grow.  I've also begun the Easter eggplant as it would benefit from an extra week more than I gave it last year.

As of right now, both have been pulled in from the garage (where the seeds were vernalizing in near-freezing temperatures) and set on the heating mat, which will raise the soil temperature to eighty in just a few hours.

Cleome benefits from temperature oscillation as well, so I'll turn off the heater tomorrow morning and start it again on Saturday evening.  That process will continue until the seeds sprout, which doesn't take terribly long if they were vernalized.  The cleome should be fully sprouted by mid-week, at which point I'll begin the Salvia farinacea, which also requires a longer growing time before planting in May.

Snow on the Lawn

Since there's currently two feet of snow out there atop the lawn and it's still coming down fast, this comes to mind.  We're certainly not going to be leaving the house tomorrow.

There's very little you can do to prepare your lawn for a heavy snowfall as it will already be dormant by the time snowfalls of that depth occur.  The best preparation is in fall, and to winterize the lawn with about 1 pound of nitrogen per thousand to make certain it has the stored carbohydrates to get through the season.

Similarly, there is no effective treatment.  Shoveling would take a very long time and runs the risk of damaging root systems if you accidentally shovel too deeply.  The problem also arises of where to put the snow.

The only thing you can do is wait out Mother Nature and hold on for spring.  Once it melts and the soil warms, the grass will return and probably be no worse for the experience!

Happy Solar Spring!

February 5th marks the beginning of Solar Spring, the 12 weeks of the year when the daylight period increases the fastest in the northern hemisphere.  Roughly, the period starts with Groundhog's Day and ends with May Day (for historical and calendar reasons, the periods are slightly out of synch).

Although the weather here is definitely still winter, and contains the possibility of significant snow over the next week, at least it's nice to notice the lengthening days!

Vernalization

Vernalization is adjusting seeds to a winter environment, which can be useful for seeds that require a cold period before sprouting.  With the seeds I have, only the cleome benefits significantly from it, while the Easter eggplant finds it mildly helpful but not necessary.  However, since I have to vernalize the cleome, the Easter eggplant goes along for the ride.

The process is very simple.  Place the seeds in their starter trays and moisten them just as you would when sprouting any other seed.  The place the starter tray in a cool to cold environment, by preference one that doesn't regularly freeze.  I use the garage and keep the trays toward the interior wall.  Temperatures may occasionally drop below freezing, but generally stay around 32.

The refrigerator can be another good place to vernalize seeds if a garage isn't handy, and you can put them in a damp, covered glass.

Vernalization generally requires about six weeks in the colder environment.  Post that period, remove whenever you like and grow normally.

Any seed from any tropical or sub-tropical plant will never require vernalization and at best won't benefit from it.  Marigolds, zinnia, salvia, celosia, and most other common summer garden plants don't require vernalization and may not survive in low temperatures.

Lawn and Garden: Early February

Normally I would have posted several shots of the very green grass as compared to the rest of the neighborhood.  This year, that's not going to happen.

When it isn't snowing, it's incredibly cold.  When it's not incredibly cold, it's snowing.  The grass is still amazingly green, but buried under (currently) six inches of snow, with more to come yet this week.

At the very least, I've vernalized the cleome and Easter eggplant seeds.  From Christmas night to now they've been in the garage on the face nearest the interior of the house, experiencing winter.   I'll bring them in around Valentine's Day and begin sprouting both, then start other plants as there's room on my seed sprouting heater.

Here's the current grass and garden photo.  As always, click to embiggen.

2013 Lawn Additions

Lawn additions dropped this year, as I mentioned in the gardening post from yesterday.  At this point, I'm reaching maintenance mode on the soil and no longer need to apply the level of organics that I used to.

A total of six pounds per thousand square feet of nitrogen isn't exactly anything to sneeze at, however.  It's more than enough to assure that the lawn grew perfectly, spread to repair problems, and was a very nice green all year long.

This chart doesn't include sprayed iron, which I only did once this year, earlier in the week.  I also applied calcium lime, once in spring, once in late summer, at a low rate to adjust the soil pH upward a touch.

Date	N	P	K	Iron	Organics	Other Notes
5/15/2013	0.91	0.26	0.13	0.00	13.0	Soybean Meal
7/26/2013	1.05	0.30	0.15	0.00	15.0	Soybean Meal
8/18/13	0.63	0.25	0.00	0.54	12.6	Milorganite
9/9/13	1.05	0.30	0.15	0.00	15.0	Soybean Meal
10/3/2013	1.05	0.30	0.15	0.00	15.0	Soybean Meal
11/6/2013	0.20	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.00	Vigoro 29-0-4
11/21/2013	1.12	0.00	0.16	0.16	0.00	Vigoro Super Green
Total per K ft:	6.01	1.41	0.86	0.70	70.6	706 active organic total

2013 Garden Additions

Garden additions went way down from last year (just as the lawn's did).  I also tapped a very small amount of boron in the form of 20 Mule Team Borax into the gardens in May.

The organic material tests now have the gardens at a very good 9.3%.  I didn't add mulch this year as there was enough left from last year to carry through, so that number might drop a little in 2014.

This table doesn't include synthetic additions.  Once per week, I add 1 pound of 24-8-16 across the entire garden, or about 1/4 the recommended rate.  Adding this to the organics brings the gardens up to stellar performance, but does tend to lower the pH.  I corrected that again this year with the dolomite I added in April, plus a small amount of calcium carbonate-based lime in July.

Date	N	P	K	Iron	Organics	Other Notes
4/20/2013	0	0	0	0	0	Dolomite 40 per K
5/9/2013	1.10	0.00	0.44	0.88	22.0	Milorganite
6/5/2013	0.83	0.23	0.10	0.10	12.5	Milorganite, Soybean Meal
7/8/2013	1.55	0.62	0.00	1.24	31.0	Milorganite
Total per K ft:	3.48	1.29	0.10	2.22	65.5	131 active organic total

That's a Wrap!

This week closed out the gardening and lawn season for the year as temperatures are due to plunge into the thirties (for a high) next week.  Tomorrow is the last day we show a high over fifty for quite some time, although we'll undoubtedly flirt with higher temperatures in December.  We usually do, nowadays.

Yesterday I completed spraying 6 oz per thousand square feet of iron on the lawn.  I'm still drawing off the fifty pound bag of ferrous sulfate monohydrate I bought last spring, but I ran out of ammonium sulfate.  I substituted Miracle Gro 24-8-16, which works perfectly well.  The lawn is now finishing up its color change, from a rather anemic green with a slight yellow overtone to a deep green with blue notes.

This evening I dropped my winterizer.  1.12 pounds of nitrogen, from Vigoro Super Green.  That will help add a bit more iron into the mix, plus some slower release nitrogen for the inevitable warmer periods through winter.

With luck--and temperatures that don't dive under fifteen--the lawn won't go dormant this year at all.

I'll release my charts of feedings for both the lawn and garden for the year shortly.

A Drip of Nitrogen

Although the organics are still feeding the lawn from October, we're starting to spin into the late fall.  Our long-range forecast implies strongly that growth won't stop on the lawn until early December, if even then.

I dropped 0.20 pounds of nitrogen per thousand square feet this evening to wash in during tomorrow's rain.  And this time, it was synthetic as I happen to be out of grains and would rather not make the 30 minute each way trip to get more just for a small feeding.

That should kick in around the weekend and feed the lawn for the next two weeks or so (nitrogen demands are down due to the slowing growth and lower levels of sunlight).

Garden Clean Out

It's that time of year!  We're post first frost, the annuals are dying off, and the perennials are shedding their greenery for the season.

I've cleaned out and composted about two thirds of the garden at this point, and I'm waiting for the compost bin to free up to finish the final third.  I always chop up the plants with the mower and bag the remains, then dump that into the bin.  It decreases the size of the particles, and compresses everything into a much smaller space.

Add some water to the bin and there we go--compost in two weeks (if you turn it a lot).  The current temperature is running at 140° and holding, which means I'm not turning it right now as I'd burn my hands.  In four or five days that will drop to a more skin-friendly level.

The "quick" compost I produce is rough, and not good enough to dig into the soil.  It works beautifully as top dressing, however, and decay continues through fall and into spring, enriching the soil.