Differences between revisions 16 and 34 (spanning 18 versions)

Contents

Seed Propagation
Garden

Seed Propagation

Current status is: germinating for the first time. Anything related to keeping seedlings alive (light) is completely untested, but, assuming pieces of random advice from scattered forum postings across the Internet can be trusted, might even work.

Process

Staring mixture: 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite, 1 part spaghum peat moss
- 3 Tbsp lime (antifungal properties?) when 1 part = 1 gallon
Fill peat trays 1/2-3/4 full with mixture
Put 2-3ish seeds per pot to maximize chances of success (ClintonEbadi is perhaps a too-cautious person at times)
Cover to the recommended planting depth
Fill drainage tray with 3 quarts water (overfilled the first with a gallon, underfilled the second with two quarts, three seems to be enough to keep everything properly moist)
Insert and mark seedling trays with business cards (variety + planting date + # of seeds/cell + expected germination date)
Wrap the whole thing up in plastic wrap and wait

Equipment

7 drainage trays capable of holding 5x10 cell paper/peat starter cell pots (I'm going for easy transplantation here) (GT_n = Germination Tray N, ST_n = Seedling Tray N)
Storage rack for seedlings and germination trays
10inx5ft duct cut into 10-11" wide pieces as makeshift reflector hoods (hack! not sure if it's even worth it ...)
Lots of 5000K / 1500 lumen CFLs + extension cords + pluggable light sockets (because I'm not confindent in my ability to wire things that have to be left on for 16 hours at a time without causing a fire) = 2 CFLs per tray, attached to a cheap square plug, ziptied to the copper wire supporting the reflector.

Seeds to Acquire

Marigolds, yarrow, potatoes?

Available Seed

Not Germinated Yet

German Chamomile (pending indoor germination)
Dill (pending indoor germination)
Yellow Summer Crookneck Squash
White Lisbon Bunching Onions
Longstanding Cilantro
Early Scarlet Globe Radish
Yellow of Parma Onion
Borettana Yellow Onion
Romanesco Broccoli
Parade Cucumber
Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard
Christmas Lima Bean
SSE Lettuce Mixture
Waltham Butternut Squash
Early Hanover Melon
Amish Melon
Aurora Pepper
Anise
Cumin
Sunflower Mixture
Spider Flower Mix

Germinated

Herbs

"True" Lavender
Sweet Basil
Oriental Basil
Flat Leaf Parsley
Chicory

Peppers

Cayenne Pepper
Habanero Pepper
California Wonder Pepper
Sweet Banana Pepper

Currently Germinating

Organized by the tray they are in. Details on start dates &c coming once ClintonEbadi is unlazy enough to double check the labels on the germination trays. I seed everything in increments of ten cell peat pots.

nicht!

GT₀ GT₁ GT₂ : unallocated

Seedlings

First waterings are noted here, but subsequent are not (I was under the impression that it'd have to be done less often than basically daily ...)

ST₁: 2x Sweet Banana Pepper, 2x Orange Habanero, 1x Cayenne Pepper
- 2012-03-03: Watered
- 2012-03-03: Fertlized lightly
- 2012-03-05: Watered
- 2012-03-21: Thinned seedlings
  - Fertilized lightly
- 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
- 2012-04-20: Fertilized heavily, moved to main hood (turns out I've been underfertilizing!)
ST₂: ... CHAOS (repotted, numbers are inaccurate). Sweet Basil, Oriental Basil
- 2012-03-05: Watered
- 2012-03-09: Thinned all basil
- 2012-03-09: Fertilized lightly
- 2012-03-20: Fertilized lightly (and thinned Oriental Basil more)
- 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
- 2012-04-20: Repotted
  - Culled weak plants, repotted 8x Sweet Basil, 7x Oriental Basil
  - Kept ~20 semi-strong seedlings (ten of each)
  - Fertilized heavily
  - Moved to unhooded rack, beginning hardening off process

ST,,0,, and ST,,3,,

Actual situation is messy. It's late, I needed to record what I did, will reorganize &c later -- ClintonEbadi 2012-04-20 08:16:38

ST₀: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 2x Chicory, 3x California Wonder Bell Pepper
- 2012-03-03: Chicory dried out during the day! Bottom watered 3 cups
- 2012-03-03: Transplanted first tray of Bell Peppers with significant germination
- 2012-03-03: Fertilized lightly
- 2012-03-05: Last two Bell Peppers germinated (also fertilized when transferring)
- 2012-03-07: Thinned Chicory
- 2012-03-19: Thinned peppers (note: third pepper tray has really low germination rate, bummer)
  - Fertilized entire tray lightly
- 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
- 2012-04-20: Repotted
  - Killed half of the peppers (weak, didn't germinate)
  - Repotted 6 Cal Bel Peppers
  - Thinned weak Chicory
  - Fertilized heavily
ST₃: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 1x Lavender (1 died), 1x Parsley, repotted parsley
- 2012-03-05: Parsley has germinated! (way, way early)... in the windowsill since I'm out of lights in the main hood after bumping the peppers out
- 2012-03-20: Thinned Parsley
  - Lightly fertilized
  - Lavender not germinating too well
- 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
  - Reasonable success germinating lavender
  - Parsley is looking a wee bit sickly
- 2012-04-20: Repotted
  - Culled almost all parsley, half lavender
  - Thinned lavender
  - Repotted 6 parsleys that looked the least sickly
  - Fertlized heavily

After repotting and thinning, ST₃ and ST₀ were mixed-and-matched. Everything still in a seedling cell went into ST₀ under the main hood, and the repotted seedlings moved to the unhooded shelf in ST₃. These are not ready for hardening off and will remain indoors for the time being.

Garden

Construction

Several small raised beds due to limited areas that receive enough sunlight, root infested soil (well, living in a forest does have its disadvantages), crappy soil, large drip lines, etc.

Cedar or Pine? Cedar may last longer, but this is being used at most 2 seasons... depends on the cost.

Using 2"x12"x10' boards (cheaper!)

Soil

Soil: http://www.areamulchandsoils.com/mulch%20price%20page.htm ($20.50 per yard2)

Strata:

3" (overflowing top of bed) mulch
10" compost/soil/perlite/vermiculite mixture
1" of mulch
tilled earth

Layout

Pending raised bed plans... at first glance, Square Foot Gardening looks like a reasonable framework to sketch things out.

5'x3' raised bed (Two 10' boards)
4 5'x16" beds, around a 6' tall garden trellis cube made of electrical conduit (Five 10' boards)

Main Plot

First step: allocate each square roughly so that we can visualize the garden. Unspecific order (easier to perform plant location optimization after we know how many squares of each will be grown).

	1	2	3	4	5
1	cayenne pepper	cayenne pepper	oriental basil (4)	parsley (4)	marigold (5)
2	dill (2)	bell pepper	cilantro (4)	onion	onion
3	lettuce	lettuce	nil	plum tomato	plum tomato

Garden CUBE

Move butternut squash to main plot + teepee and vine eggplant instead?

	1	2	3	4	5
1	crookneck squash	crookneck squash	butternet squash	butternut squash	this row is actually spaced 18"
2	Amish melon	Amish melons	hanover melon	hanover melon	nil
3	cucumber	cucumber	lima bean	lima bean	nil
4	Slicing Tomato	Slicing Tomato	nil	nil	nil

Squash plants should be a couple feet apart and will need support for the fruit at some point

Containers

Habaneros x 4
Bannana Peppers x 4
Overwintered peppers x 2
New bell peppers x 2
Aurora Peppers x ??
Basil x 6
Rosemary x 3

In the yard somewhere

Chamomile
Chicory
Anise
Cumin
Lavender
Rosemary (good hedge for the front!)

CategoryEvergreen

-  ⇤ ← Revision 16 as of 2012-03-20 04:32:37 → 
  Size: 6229
  Editor: BtTempleton
  Comment: chard
+   ← Revision 34 as of 2012-04-20 08:16:41 → ⇥
  Size: 9626
  Editor: ClintonEbadi
  Comment: chaos rules the garden
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 10:
+    * 3 Tbsp lime (antifungal properties?) when 1 part = 1 gallon
-Line 24:
+Line 25:
-== Seeds to Order ==

 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1347|Yellow of Parma Onion]] -- storage
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1454|Long Red Florence Onion]] -- fresh
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=394|Borettana Yellow Onion]] -- "ideal for kebabs"!
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=392|Ailsa Craig Onion]] -- fresh
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=350|Fractal broccoli!]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1507|Carrot]] -- can grow in shallow soil
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1289|Sunflowers]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=112%28OG%29|Parade Cucumber]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=112%28OG%29|Lettuce mix]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=46%28OG%29|Swiss chard]]
+== Seeds to Acquire ==

Marigolds, yarrow, potatoes?
-Line 47:
+Line 39:
+ * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1347|Yellow of Parma Onion]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=394|Borettana Yellow Onion]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=350|Romanesco Broccoli]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=112%28OG%29|Parade Cucumber]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=46%28OG%29|Five  Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=607|Christmas Lima Bean]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1024|SSE Lettuce Mixture]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=245%28OG%29|Waltham Butternut Squash]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=927|Early Hanover Melon]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=40%28OG%29|Amish Melon]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=645%28OG%29|Aurora Pepper]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=269|Anise]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=462|Cumin]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=1289|Sunflower Mixture]]
 * [[http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=269|Spider Flower Mix]]
-Line 71:
+Line 78:
-GT,,0,, is allocated to Chamomile+Dill, GT,,1,, and GT,,2,, are unallocated
+GT,,0,, GT,,1,, GT,,2,, : unallocated
-Line 75:
+Line 82:
- * ST,,0,,: 2x Chicory, 3x California Wonder Bell Pepper
+First waterings are noted here, but subsequent are not (I was under the impression that it'd have to be done less often than basically daily ...)

 * ST,,1,,: 2x Sweet Banana Pepper, 2x Orange Habanero, 1x Cayenne Pepper
   * 2012-03-03: Watered
   * 2012-03-03: Fertlized lightly
   * 2012-03-05: Watered
   * 2012-03-21: Thinned seedlings
     * Fertilized lightly
   * 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
   * 2012-04-20: Fertilized heavily, moved to main hood (turns out I've been underfertilizing!)
 * ST,,2,,: ... CHAOS (repotted, numbers are inaccurate). Sweet Basil, Oriental Basil
   * 2012-03-05: Watered
   * 2012-03-09: Thinned all basil
   * 2012-03-09: Fertilized lightly
   * 2012-03-20: Fertilized lightly (and thinned Oriental Basil more)
   * 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
   * 2012-04-20: Repotted
     * Culled weak plants, repotted 8x Sweet Basil, 7x Oriental Basil
     * Kept ~20 semi-strong seedlings (ten of each)
     * Fertilized heavily
     * Moved to unhooded rack, beginning hardening off process

=== ST,,0,, and ST,,3,, ===

Actual situation is messy. It's late, I needed to record what I did, will reorganize &c later -- ClintonEbadi <<DateTime(2012-04-20T08:16:38Z)>>

 * ST,,0,,: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 2x Chicory, 3x California Wonder Bell Pepper
-Line 81:
+Line 114:
- * ST,,1,,: 2x Sweet Banana Pepper, 2x Orange Habanero, 1x Cayenne Pepper
   * 2012-03-03: Watered
   * 2012-03-03: Fertlized lightly
   * 2012-03-05: Watered
 * ST,,2,,: 3x Sweet Basil, 2x Oriental Basil
   * 2012-03-05: Watered
   * 2012-03-09: Thinned all basil
   * 2012-03-09: Fertilized lightly
 * ST,,3,,: 3x Parsley, 2x Lavender
   * 2012-03-05: Parsley has germinated! (way, way early)... in the windowsill since I'm out of lights
+   * 2012-03-19: Thinned peppers (note: third pepper tray has really low germination rate, bummer)
     * Fertilized entire tray lightly
   * 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
   * 2012-04-20: Repotted
     * Killed half of the peppers (weak, didn't germinate)
     * Repotted 6 Cal Bel Peppers
     * Thinned weak Chicory
     * Fertilized heavily

 * ST,,3,,: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 1x Lavender (1 died), 1x Parsley, repotted parsley
   * 2012-03-05: Parsley has germinated! (way, way early)... in the --(windowsill since I'm out of lights)-- in the main hood after bumping the peppers out
   * 2012-03-20: Thinned Parsley
     * Lightly fertilized
     * Lavender not germinating too well
   * 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
     * Reasonable success germinating lavender
     * Parsley is looking a wee bit sickly
   * 2012-04-20: Repotted
     * Culled almost all parsley, half lavender
     * Thinned lavender
     * Repotted 6 parsleys that looked the least sickly
     * Fertlized heavily

After repotting and thinning, ST,,3,, and ST,,0,, were mixed-and-matched. Everything still in a seedling cell went into ST,,0,, under the main hood, and the repotted seedlings moved to the unhooded shelf in ST,,3,,. These are not ready for hardening off and will remain indoors for the time being.
-Line 100:
+Line 147:
- * [[http://www.homedepot.com/Lumber-Composites-Boards/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbqmcZ1z0ywvw/R-100008466/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053|1x12x10 pine board]] is $20 for 10', but if we want 4' beds that's an awkward length
 * [[http://www.homedepot.com/Lumber-Composites-Boards/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbqmcZ1z0ywwnZ1z0ywvw/R-100077293/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053|1x10x12 pine board]] is also $20 for 12' and would get us three sides of a 4'x4' frame per board
+Using 2"x12"x10' boards (cheaper!)
-Line 107:
+Line 153:
-Might need gravel for drainage.
+Strata:

 * 3" (overflowing top of bed) mulch
 * 10" compost/soil/perlite/vermiculite mixture
 * 1" of mulch
 * tilled earth
-Line 113:
+Line 164:
-We could make it square meter gardening, but the book recommends 4'x4' grids so we'd be losing some space, and wood in America comes in feet :(

Available (to us at least) board sizes are either 1x10x12 or 1x12x10; we want the beds to be at least one foot so square beds are wasting not-to-useful-sized pieces of lumber. Maybe a non-square design: 6x3 feet? 5x3?

Assuming use of 10' lumber ... 5x3 + 5x3 + 4x4 uses 5 pieces of lumber, with 6' of the last piece unused (throw in another 5x3 bed and piece of lumber to fix that ...). Or, 6x3 + 5x3 + 4x4 with no wasted lumber.

{{drawing:garden-layout.adraw}} (doesn't work, Steve's wiki is too old)
+ * 5'x3' raised bed (Two 10' boards)
 * '''4''' 5'x16" beds, around a 6' tall garden trellis cube made of electrical conduit (Five 10' boards)

=== Main Plot ===

First step: allocate each square roughly so that we can visualize the garden. Unspecific order (easier to perform plant location optimization after we know how many squares of each will be grown).

|| || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 ||
|| 1 || cayenne pepper || cayenne pepper || oriental basil (4) || parsley (4) || marigold (5) ||
|| 2 || dill (2) || bell pepper || cilantro (4) || onion || onion ||
|| 3 || lettuce || lettuce || nil || plum tomato || plum tomato ||

=== Garden CUBE ===

 * Move butternut squash to main plot + teepee and vine eggplant instead?

|| || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 ||
|| 1 || crookneck squash || crookneck squash || butternet squash || butternut squash || ''this row is actually spaced 18"'' ||
|| 2 || Amish melon || Amish melons || hanover melon || hanover melon || nil ||
|| 3 || cucumber || cucumber || lima bean || lima bean || nil ||
|| 4 || Slicing Tomato || Slicing Tomato || nil || nil || nil ||

Squash plants should be a couple feet apart and will need support for the fruit at some point

=== Containers ===

 * Habaneros x 4
 * Bannana Peppers x 4
 * Overwintered peppers x 2
 * New bell peppers x 2
 * Aurora Peppers x ??
 * Basil x 6
 * Rosemary x 3

=== In the yard somewhere ===

 * Chamomile
 * Chicory
 * Anise
 * Cumin
 * Lavender
 * Rosemary (good hedge for the front!)

----
CategoryEvergreen

Wiki

Page

User