Posts Tagged ‘edibles’

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Start Your Vegetable Garden on New Year Day

Friday, January 1st, 2010

It’s New Year’s day, which means there’s a lot of football on the tv and not a lot happening in our household. I like my first day of the year to start slow.

Closed Hoop House Keeps Brassicas Growing in Cool Weather

Closed Hoop House Keeps Brassicas Growing in Cool Weather

On a lazy, indoor day like this, when rain is flying in 25+mph winds and our hoop houses threaten to fly away, I can get lost for hours reading through seed catalogs, reviewing past year’s plans, successes and failures, and fine-tuning my future edible garden programs. And, that’s exactly what I did today. And I’m glad I did. Monday, I’ll call in my seed orders, and by the time I return from an early January visit with family on the East coast, my 2010 seed should be here just in time for my first indoor seed date of January 25, 2010. Yep — that’s when the brassica (and other seeds) first get sown indoors under lights with a bit of supplemental bottom heat. I have to wonder – are you ready?

(more…)

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Posted in Edible Gardens | 2 Comments »

Growing a Tomato that Stores Well into Winter

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

If you’re anything like me, you pine for a good, garden-fresh, ripe tomato in the mid-winter months. Sure, hothouse tomatoes have come a long way in recent years, and those sold “on-the-vine” at the grocery store can provide the illusion of garden-fresh.

Late December Long Keeper Tomatoes

Late December Long Keeper Tomatoes

But really, they just aren’t the same. We may be able to bruise the stem and capture a brief whiff of that summery tomato plant scent, but when we slice the waxy red fruit, it never quite lives up to our expectations (and the high price). Plus, my inner locavore really wonders how much these grocery tomatoes really cost in fuel production and transport. So, I look to myself to solve the problem.

In my on-going quest to produce a homegrown tomato for winter, I grew indoor Red Robin cherry tomatoes in my dining room in 2008, with mixed success. And, in 2009 I decided to try Irish Eyes’ Long Keeper in the garden. And, this was definitely a success. Making a few modifications to my regime last year, I’ll definitely be growing this winner again. Here’s the story…

The Long Keeper tomato is an indeterminate (that in my experience performed in pots more like a determinate). It is sold as 82 days to ripening (more on that later). Although the catalogs warn that you may give up a bit in taste, your return on this crop lies in it’s ability to store for a long time — some suggest even all the way through winter.  And, frankly, in mid-winter any store-bought tomato is going to be lacking in taste, spendy and likely a very long-distance traveler from a greenhouse. So, hoping to prove the promises of keeping this tomato into winter, I added it to my seed order last January.

Because I grew several other varieties of tomato to enjoy during the summer and because the Long Keeper was intended as a fresh-storage tomato for us, I scheduled seeding it much later than my other tomatoes. My summer tomatoes were seeded indoors in early March; my Long Keepers were seeded in the greenhouse (unheated and without supplemental light) in late May. In theory, on an 82 day schedule, this would have me harvesting Long Keepers by about the middle of August.

In the end, I found myself harvesting slightly-blushed Long Keeper fruits starting in early October and through the weeks of that month — not the 82 days advertised, but still within the growing season. (And, I have to wonder, is it 82 days from flowering rather than seeding that I should have counted?) By mid-September, I had moved the potted plants from breezy spots throughout the garden into the unheated greenhouse where they were protected from cool temperatures and seasonal rains. Although the fruits didn’t fully ripen on the vine, I went ahead and harvested as a few of them showed a bit of color, knowing they were reputed to finish ripening, slowly in storage. Then, toward the end of October, when I found a couple of fruits splitting from colder night temps, I cleared the last — green or not — from my vines and began the ripening wait.

Cellared Long Keepers in October After Harvest

Cellared Long Keepers in October After Harvest

To store these tomatoes, I used an empty canning jar box with its jar separators to keep each tomato from touching another. I placed the boxes of tomatoes in my basement cellar area near storage onions, squashes and potatoes — they’re all in separate containers stacked in a particular area, sheeted to keep out any of the mild light that makes its way into that dungeon of a room.

Every few days, I check my storage foods for spoilage. As the saying goes, “One rotten apple can spoil the lot.” A few of my storage tomatoes did crack and begin to fail (and were immediately removed to the compost bin). But, most slowly but surely colored up — even the ones that went into storage hard and only slightly starting to turn a lighter shade of green. I found it important to handle them minimally but be sure to rotate their position periodically; the portion touching the cardboard tended to ripen the fastest, so sometimes a fruit that appeared unripe from the top view was actually ready to eat based on the ripened bottom. As I anticipate wanting a tomato or as the cellared gems begin to really blush, I bring them up to the kitchen and place them in a bowl in a warm window where they finish their ripening a little more quickly. (I would not recommend trying to store or rapidly-ripen off these tomatoes all in a window; they can go to rot pretty quickly this way.) Then, I enjoy them, fresh sliced in a salad or on a sandwich. Note: I find that few of them finished ripening near the stem. In some cases it remains yellow but still tasty near the stem. In other cases, I simply tossed that part into the worm bin; they’re always happy to have the fresh snack even if it doesn’t taste good to me.

Yes, the flavor isn’t as magnificent as a Gold Nugget cherry off the vine on the 4th of July. But, in winter, I’m just happy to be able to enjoy a fresh tomato I grew, from seed, in my own backyard. That’s about as locavore as I can get at the end of the year. Sure, I’m making soups and stews with frozen garden tomatoes and sauces and antipastos with dried, but there’s nothing like a fresh one to really brighten up a wintery day.

Long Keeper Sliced into a Late December Salad

Long Keeper Sliced into a Late December Salad

So here’s the thing, I’m still kind of in awe that we were able to enjoy a green salad last night with tomatoes from our garden. And, nope, that wasn’t our last tomato. We still have a few continuing to slowly ripen in the cellar. My guess? They’ll all be done by February, which is well before my tomato harvest will begin again for 2010, but hey, I’m still jealous of myself for having them now!

So, what will I do differently in 2010? First, I’ll definitely seed my Long Keepers in late April as well as later in May. Unlike in 2009, I won’t be traveling in early May this year, so seeding at that time will be possible. And, I’ll grow at least one plant in the ground (as well as in pots again) so I can see how indeterminately it will grow (and how well it might perform in-ground, under hoops in late summer). Oh, and this year I’ll also order Long Keeper Organic seed, which wasn’t offered in 2009, but is now listed in the Irish-Eyes Catalog.

Need help planning your vegetable garden for 2010? Get in touch with Garden Mentors soon for a garden coaching or design program that will help you get your gardening going. Now is the time to start planning. Winter is the time to get your beds ready, test your soil, and order and plant your seeds. Don’t wait ’til Spring to start or you may already be too late!

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Garden Coach Plans 2010 Vegetable Garden in 2009

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

If you’re anything like me, you’re starting to go a little stir crazy after the madness of the past few days around Christmas. I wrapped, cooked, cleaned, decorated, unwrapped, cleaned, lounged, drank, read, watched movies, played games, and occasionally left the house to walk the dog. Really, it’s been about 3 or 4 days now of doing not much of anything, and I’m starting to get cabin fever despite the clear blue skies above. It’s time for me to move beyond the cookie tin and think about the gardening year ahead.

Witch Hazel in Bloom - A Hummingbird's Winter Feast

Witch Hazel in Bloom - A Hummingbird's Winter Feast

After I finish this post, I’m going to bundle up and get out in the garden for a bit. My greenhouse kale and chard need watering, and I’m just plain tired of looking at dead Monkshood towering above evergreen sword ferns — the prominent view from my favorite reading chair. I want to walk the gardens a bit, perhaps trimming Witch Hazel leaves that don’t receive enough abscisic acid to naturally fall from the now-blooming branches. But, since many of my garden beds are frozen, I likely won’t stray far from my walking paths, which means I won’t be in the garden long. (Stepping on frozen soil can cause compaction, which isn’t good for the soil microbia or the plant roots.) So, like many of you who are snow and ice-bound — or just plain not interested in gardening in frigid weather — I’ll end up spending must of my day working indoors on my 2010 vegetable garden.

Yep, it’s that time. Time to review my crop rotation plans, check my seed inventories, make a list of seed to order, and begin calendering out my 2010 seeding program. After all these years, it’s still a little surprising to look over my January calender for 2009 and realize I was seeding cabbages just a few weeks after the new year began.

Cabbage Harvested in July was Seeded in January

Cabbage Harvested in July was Seeded in January

So, today I’m reviewing my notes from prior years, checking what worked, what failed and determining what I believe I can do better and how I will achieve better success — now is the time for gardeners to begin making plans for an even better garden in 2010.

If getting out in the garden itself isn’t realistic right now, I encourage you to start your vegetable garden planning today. And, if you need help, get in touch here to sign up for a gardening consultation soon. Together, we’ll build the right garden and gardening program for your successful 2010 vegetable (or ornamental garden)!

Plus, if you’re attending the 2010 Northwest Flower and Garden Show, I invite you to join me for my presentation on Ornamedibles. In this seminar, I will provide design solutions for creating beautiful, edible spaces — whether you have room for a small container or a much larger space, adding edibles is a lovely way to enhance your gardening experience.

Hmmm…maybe before I head out, I’ll eat something — perhaps a delicious long keeper tomato from my 2009 vegetable garden. Yep, they were a great success. Harvested green or just blushing in September, they’ve continued to slowly ripe in our root cellar. I’ve got one that’s begging to be eaten with the last bit of lettuce in the greenhouse — maybe a BLT is in my very near future. Then — into the garden!

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Garden Coach on Ways to Extend Your Vegetable Growing Season

Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Shiloh Thanking Bob for Building the Hoophouse

Shiloh Thanking Bob for Building the Hoophouse

It’s all the buzz right now — vegetable gardening. Nearly all of my garden coaching clients are asking about them. And why not? This is the season when starts and seeds are appearing in nursery centers. It’s that time of year when gardeners are checking weather forecasts daily. The days are shorter and the warmth of summer is rapidly seeping away. Friends living in places like Colorado are already posting Facebook updates about picking up newspapers in the snow. Here in Seattle, the weather reporters warned that tonight we may have a mild freeze. This news means we will be switching out all remaining floating row cover in the garden for the more protective and heat building and heat retaining plastic hoop house covers.

If you’re growing edibles in your winter garden and need help retaining heat, read on for ways to extend your growing season. And, don’t delay. If cold temps are trickling (or racing) into your garden, one freeze can do in your crops. Protect them early and eat well all winter.

(Original post from March 27, 2009)

Gardening magazines are featuring edible gardening. Heck, even the Obamas are jumping on the bandwagon this year. Edible gardening is nothing new to me. I grew up pulling weeds around squash, hoeing acres of rows for greenbeans, and putting up freezers full of all sorts of vegetables on our farm year-after-year. I come from a family of farm folk, and though I’ve chosen a suburban home life, I continue to raise food year-round in Seattle.

Seattle is a great place to garden. Although the winter of 2008/09 brought us huge freezes that took out a lot of our consistent garden performers like Rosemary, Lavender and Flax, generally we have mild winters through which a wide array of plants will survive — including winter edibles. However, as great as gardening can be in Seattle, it does present some consistent challenges, particularly long, cool, wet springs.

Even the most seasoned edible gardener is going to need to rethink tried and true methods they’ve used in other areas of the country. For instance, the beefsteak tomato that you’ve grown up loving in the midwest may do nothing for you here; if you’re lucky you might get some big green tomatoes from it. Peppers can be difficult to get going, especially if we have an extra cool gardening season. So, what can you do to get past these trouble spots and have success in your garden? Well, besides taking care to select edible starts and seeds known to perform well in your area, creating heat-traps in your garden may make all the difference!

First Hoop House On Raised Bed

First Hoop House On Raised Bed

Maybe you don’t have room or budget for a greenhouse. Maybe you don’t have room for a coldframe. Instead, consider adding a simple hoophouse over your exisiting vegetable beds or plot. They are relatively inexpensive to build and can easily be dismantled when the growing season really kicks into high gear.

For several years, I’ve maintained one small raised bed in my west-facing front garden. Seasonally, we pull out the PVC hoops, a sheet of plastic and some clips to help warm up seedlings or protect them from winter (or spring) snows. Through the winter, this small bed has kept a nice crop of various things going for us — ranging from chard to lettuce to parsley to kale. In the cool spring, the hoop house has later served as a protective incubator for tomatoes too delicate to face the range of temperatures swinging back and forth in the early (or late) Seattle spring.

Closed Hoop House

Closed Hoop House

A hoop house is designed to trap heat in a specific garden bed area. Sunlight, even diffused sunlight, filters through the plastic sheeting, warming the air inside the tent as well as the soil and the plants growing inside. As plants transpire, the hoop house can also serve to trap the warmth and moisture released by the plants. This creates a great, inexpensive greenhouse in a specific area of your garden. But, be sure to check the soil and water regularly. Since you’re keeping the rain out and you’re heating up the environment, you’ll probably need to provide your bed with additional water regularly!

In our garden this year, we added a second, taller hoop house to a new edible section of our garden. Unlike the hoops on our raised bed, this new system is installed directly into the earth using rebar to stabilize the hoops. So, in this case the PVC is attached over the rebar. Honestly, this isn’t my preferred method.  PVC can leach toxins. My preferred method is to attach brackets to the outside of a raised wooden bed so that the PVC slips into the brackets outside the growing area. Regardless, we’re trying both methods this year and doing our best to keep the PVC away from our soil. I have seen other materials used for hoops, but none are as cost effective as the PVC.

Clipped Open Makes Working Inside Easy

Clipped Open Makes Working Inside Easy

Because I use clips that hold the plastic tight to the hoops, I have less trouble opening and closing the plastic to work in the beds. It also makes it easy to open the hoophouse during the day to let in natural rain and warmish breezes. Opening the house more and more as warm days approach is critical to hardening off the plants inside, getting them ready to withstand days and nights of unprotected exposure. As well, gentle breezes help deter many edible garden problems like bortrytis from killing seedlings. Too, gentle spring rains, direct from the sky, provides the type of water plants prefer over processed tap water.

Back in January, I wrote about starting my seedlings indoors. Yesterday, almost two months to the day I started these seeds, I planted young starts into my hoop houses. These little kale, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, chard and snow peas have made the rounds in my home. Beginning in January they were seeded into sterile mixes and placed in a south-facing window with a furnace vent below them to provide air circulation and bottom heat. After germinating, they were moved into my cooler basement under shop lights where they would begin managing cooler temperatures but continue growing under supplemental light. Then, after transplanting them from sterile soil into larger pots with mixed worm castings and potting soil, the young plants moved into my coldframe to further harden off and grow for about another 3-4 weeks. Now, I have two hoop house beds filled with edibles that we’ll be harvesting in just a few weeks.

Oh, and I should mention that we are already harvesting a few crops. Several rainbow chard, dinosaur kale and lettuce plants plugged right through the cold, hard winter. Each experienced a bit of dieback in the cold, but the plants themselves perservered and as an annoucement of spring, they’re already providing tasty morsels for our table. Curious what else is on the way? Well, tomato seedlings and beets are growing like mad under lights, and more seeding is coming soon. Here’s the full list of what we’re planning…well, it was the beginning list. We’ve added few new things since making this list at the beginning of the year.

Odds are we’ll have more food than we know what to do with. Between the garden and the prepaid CSA program, I anticipate having a lot of food on hand by summer. I’ll be canning and freezing and eating! I also hope that some of what I grow will go to feed the hungry. Local food banks are happy to accept fresh foods from our gardens to help fill their distribution needs.

Need help constructing a hoop house? Get in touch to schedule a gardening consultation to learn more about how to build a hoop house or cold frame of your very own!

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Posted in Edible Gardens, Food, Greenhouse, vegetable gardening, vegetable starts | 8 Comments »

Successfully Growing Fruitful Lilikoi in Seattle

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Passionfruit is my passion and growing it has been my obsession this season. As other plants have rapidly flowered, put on fruit, ripened and hit my plate, our passionfruit vine has plodded slowly on its path to fruition.

Freshly fallen Passiflora edulus 'Frederick'

Freshly fallen Passiflora edulus 'Frederick'

Months ago, in July,  I wrote a first article singing my praises of this fruit, choking back my impatience with the fruit ripening slowly, and sharing the beauty of this plant’s flowers and early fruit formation. In it I wondered if the fruit would actually produce the nectar I so crave. Yesterday, I found my answer.

Rolling on the floor of the greenhouse, abscised from the vine, was a single purple orb the size of a small hen egg. Fortunately, this fruit has a naturally hard, waxy outer shell that protects it when it falls, ripe, from the vine. It must fall from the vine, not be cut, to ensure ripeness. Still, looking at it on the floor of the greenhouse, I couldn’t be sure if it really contained anything worth eating. I’ve been fooled in the past by other, ornamental passifloras, which form empty, fruitless orbs after flowering.

Delicious Passion Fruit

Delicious Passion Fruit

Then, I cut it open. Immediately, the kitchen was filled with the unmistakable fragrance of passionfruit. The orange-yellow seedy fruit dripped from the knife, and I could barely contain my joy at this special triumph — unique, beautiful lilikoi from my own backyard.

Finally, Bob and I each claimed a half of the fruit, toasted our success with the fruits themselves and began to slurp and crunch the sour-sweet, juicy perfumed fruit. Closing my eyes, I was transported briefly to Maui where I first indulged in this wonder. Each tiny taste was a treat beyond compare, and fortunately several more fruit continue to ripen on the vine for more special treats in the weeks ahead. Despite overwhelming success with many other fruits and veggies this year, these tiny purple treats make me happiest of all.

I look forward to enjoying the next lilikoi that falls. I have plans to crunch and slurp it up as I stand beside the half open greenhouse Dutch door, inhaling the burnt-sugar fragrance of our yellowing Katsura. What a way to welcome in autumn, just days away, and wave good-bye to the fruitful brilliance of an amazing summer.

Will the vine survive the winter as promised? That remains to be seen, so stay tuned next spring to find out. Given my love, nay obsession, with this bit of deliciousness, I’ll be working hard to see it through come sleet, snow or freezing rain.

Want more Lilikoi? Read Part I here.

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How To Help Your Garden Beat the Heat

Monday, July 27th, 2009

It’s been hot. Or at least, it’s been hot for Seattle. Remember, we rarely have a long stretch of 80F, let alone the 90F we’ve had lately. Plus, our sunlight hours are long, so the heat really builds up. This leaves me melty and often cranky. It also means I spend some extra time watching my garden for signs of stress and seeking opportunities to keep everything growing happily.

Hot Sunny Seattle Patio & Garden

Hot Sunny Seattle Patio & Garden

When the heat flares up, here are a few helpful hints to keep your garden from completely crashing for the season:

  • Regular & Mid-day watering: Yes, I said it! I don’t encourage you to take up a program of watering any and every garden item mid-day, but if you’re growing cool season edibles like lettuce or if your hydrangeas are crashing in the heat, hitting the leaf surfaces briefly with some cool water mid-day can help reduce crashing and ward off notorious heat-bolting in lettuces. Other than that, keep sticking your finger in the soil to see if your plants need a long, deep soak. I prefer to give these, as needed, in the very early morning.
  • Powdery mildew: Last week this nasty sign of stress began showing up in my own garden as well as many clients’ gardens. Powdery mildew really is a sign of stress. It can happen from too much water, from too little water, from significant day-to-night temperature fluctuations, and from a number of other stressful issues. I have a pretty high tolerance for the stuff on my ornamentals, but when it goes after my edibles, I go after it with a vengeance. Mix up a gallon spray bottle with about a teaspoon of baking soda and a few drops of liquid soap. Spray all surfaces of your infected plant to drench. The soda will burst the mildew spores and the soap will help it stick. (Note: try spraying a few leaves before doing the entire plant; some plants are sensitive to soda. Also, use a phosphate-free soap. Multiple applications may be necessary, and if the mildew has really taken hold, you may be unable to win back your plant. If the mildew starts winning the battle, best to remove your infected plant to keep it from spreading the mildew to other similar plants.)
  • Water features: In the heat, algae can grow like mad in water features. I dismantle mine, as needed, to wash off the algae growths. Too, check them regularly to be sure there’s enough water in them. If you’re running a small, recirculating system, some water is lost to evaporation and to thirsty birds.
  • Harvest those crops: Get out early in the morning and do a daily harvest. Likely, your edibles are really rolling in. Keep harvesting regularly or your crops may stop producing. Harvesting in the morning allows you to cool down your crops before you eat them later in the day; this way you can crisp your lettuce  instead of having a harvest-wilted salad. (caveat: there’s nothing like a warm tomato fresh off the vine!)
  • Under cover: Sometimes there’s nothing more to do for your garden than contrive some shade for touchy plants. In a year when our rains continue later than they did this year, my astilbe (for instance) happily plugs through the sunny days of late summer. In years like this, it is already drying and crisping up. Simply putting up a patio umbrella to protect it from reflected heat can make all the difference.
  • Watering, one more note: When I was in first grade, I entered a contest to draw the best poster illustrating water conservation. I was a hippie kid in the 70s and had some pretty cool ideas including using rain barrels. During the summer, rain barrels are usually long-emptied; there’s nothing falling from the sky (in Seattle) to fill them during our summer drought months. As my contest poster suggested, consider keeping a bucket in your tub. As you heat water to fill the tub or start your shower, catch the water as you wait. If you can’t use it immediately to pour onto a thirsty plant, dump it in your rain barrel to use later. You might be surprised how much water you’ve been wasting down the drain and how quickly you’re able to refill your rain barrels even in mid-summer. Plus, if you’re as heat-exhausted as I’ve been lately, you’re probably taking more than one shower a day this week just to survive.

As I sit here in my west-facing office on the north side of the house, I’m beginning to overheat myself. We have close to 5 more hours of sunlight ahead, 4 of which will be pounding on my office window. After I post this, I’ll be seeking shade and maybe a bit of water for myself.  I wonder where I put my foot tub? Mixing some fresh peppermint in some ice water and dunking my feet in it sounds perfect right about now.

Stay cool folks!

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Michelle Obama Reminds Us Gardening Can Improve Our Health

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

This year I’ve had a huge increase in requests for edible garden design and education programs relating to gardening with edibles. I know quite a few of these new clients are interested because of the vegetable garden the Obamas added to the White House earlier this year. Fortunately, my earliest gardening work was on our family farms raising our own food. Raising food is in my blood and in my soul, so I’m always thrilled to mentor others in the art and science of growing their own. It isn’t just about the health benefits that getting out in the dirt and doing the labor means. It isn’t just about enjoying the beauty of creating a veggie garden. It isn’t just about reducing our carbon footprint and petroleum consumption by growing foods as locally and organically as we can. It isn’t just about learning that real food doesn’t come out of a plastic bag or cardboard box. It isn’t just about correcting our health by reducing our consumption of processed foods. It is about all of these things and so much more.

In a recent interview with ABC News, Michelle Obama related her experiences and thoughts on health care reform. Gracefully, she connects the dots between diet, exercise and gardening to her family’s health as an example to all of us. I enourage you to watch the interview here for her own words.

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Gardener’s Bloom Day — June 2009

Monday, June 15th, 2009

It’s garden blogger’s bloom day today, and it’s been months since I put out an update of blooming in my garden.

Goatsbeard Attracting Bees & Adding Beauty Simultaneously

Goatsbeard Attracting Bees & Adding Beauty Simultaneously

Today I decided to share a bit of what’s blooming. Then, as I was photographing, I found myself more interested in what is fruiting. In any case, following are just a few select shots among a wide array of beautiful blooms and fruits in my June garden.

This first photo illustrates one of the best additions I’ve made to my garden. This native Goatsbeard, also known as Giant Astilbe or by its botanical name Aruncus dioicus, is not only stunning, but every bee in town swarms to it. Tiny sweat bees feed on it; honey bees scramble through it; bumblebees gracelessly tumble through the itsy-bitsy blossoms; even yellowjackets can’t resist its nectar.  It is found throughout most of the northern hemisphere and makes a stunning addition to any garden. Plus, placed near your edibles, it will bring in those summer pollinators who will divert to your tomatoes, squash and other delicious blooms as well. (more…)

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Plant a Row for the Hungry from Free Edible Starts

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Regular readers know that I set a goal earlier this year (actually late last year)  to grow more edibles this year from seed than I have in past. And, so far, I think I’m doing a pretty decent job.

Maturing Cabbage, Cauliflower & More Planted in March

Maturing Cabbage, Cauliflower & More Planted in March

I started planning our expanded edible garden last December. I ordered seed in January. And I began seeding my edibles in early January with mixed results. So far, we’re harvesting buckets full of lettuce, spinach and sorrel each day for enormous salads. We’ve had radishes coming out of the ground since Easter and are now on our third planting of them. Our chard and kales (lacinato and red winter)  are coming in by the bundle every few days. And our cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli are starting to tighten up to form tasty heads.

The hoop houses (now covered only with floating row cover) have made a huge difference with retaining heat, protecting seedlings from freak hail storms, and keeping out worm-laying pests. Sure, I’d love to admire the beautiful plants rather than the white sheeting, but there’s enough beauty elsewhere in the garden that the sheets don’t bother me much — especially when I’m able to pick dinner from under them each day!

So, what hasn’t worked out as I’d hoped?

Well, first I’ve had mixed results seeding. Some plants happily germinated and produced incredibly well. Others completely failed to germinate or had low percentage success rates. For instance, where I ended up with over 100 tomatoes, I only produced one successful Bottlehouse gourd start. Although crookneck squash came through 100%,  Butternut only germinated at about a 20% success rate.

Tomatomania -- Free To a Good Home!

Tomatomania -- Free To a Good Home!

There are a few things that play into these rates. First, when seeding, I tried a few seed tray methods. I found that using egg cartons works fairly well, but they dry out really fast. So my watering was a bit off for those and contributed to some of my failure rates. Too, where I seeded tray after tray of tomatoes, I only seeded about 1/4 of a tray of gourds. There’s the rub — seeding just enough to fit your garden does not guarantee you’ll end up with enough if germination isn’t perfect. So, instead, we seed too much. And now, I can’t give away enough starts!

Yesterday, I invited friends to visit my garden and take away extra edible plants ranging from Amaranthus to Tomatoes. I collected donations that will be passed along to a local foodbank. I figure this is a way I can plant a row for the hungry (and so can the people who took the plants away!). Despite giving away mountains of lettuce, trays of tomatoes, boxes of squash, and lots of other fun items, my back patio is still filled with extras that I need to distribute. These will NOT go back in my greenhouse.

Curbits, Lettuce & Brassica Free to a Good Home!

Curbits, Lettuce & Brassica Free to a Good Home!

It’s time for me to pot up my own plants to grow them on for my own garden, and believe it or not, it is time for me to sow even more seeds. One tomato seed is recommended for a late sowing and late harvest. Apparently, the fruit from it will store into late winter. So, for these crops and the winter crop seeding that begins in July, I need my greenhouse space back.

Today, the remaining plants are going into a public place for free in hopes they find good homes with hungry people who will care for them and enjoy their bounty later this summer. And, perhaps, some of the bounty grown from these starts might even make it to the food bank from your garden?!

If you’re interested in making a donation to the hungry and taking away some great edible starts (or you need some free edible starts to feed your own hungry family) , get in touch here with your contact info. If we have anything available by the time we hear from you, we’ll be in touch.

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Posted in Edible Gardens, plant sales, vegetable gardening, vegetable starts | No Comments »

Spring 2009 Plant Sales in Seattle

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Newest Sale Updates Included Below…just scroll down…

Seattlites are in a spring daze of summer weather this week. It won’t last, but go ahead and dream. Start your shopping lists. Mark your calenders. Pull your weeds. Test your soil. Amend your soil. And get ready. The best spring plant sales around are just, well, around the corner. Following are a few of the many not to miss:

Organic Buttercrunch Lettuce

Organic Buttercrunch Lettuce

Lake Washington Technical College Environmental Horticulture Spring Plant Sale

When: Friday, April 24th-Saturday, April 25th and Friday, May 1st-Saturday, May 2nd . 9am-3pm each day

Where: 11605 132nd Avenue NE Kirkland, WA 98034

My alma mater! Find a huge array of perennials, woody shrubs, annuals, hanging baskets all propagated and cared for by students for the benefit of the program itself. Plus, Northwest Nurseries will be offering wholesale prices on prime trees, shrubs and perennials. This is a not-to-miss event!

Tilth Edible Plant Sale

When: Saturday, May 2-Sunday May 3, 9am-3pm each day

Where: Meridian Park in the Wallingford Neighborhood

Want to check out some city chickens? Need some organically grown edible starts or herbs or perennials or interested in composting? Or, maybe you just want to spend a day outdoors with the family. This is a great spot for all of these choices — and more!

Florabundance! Seattle Arboretum Foundation Plant Sale

When: Saturday, April 25, 9am-5pm & Sunday, April 26, 10am-3pm

Where: 7400 Sandpoint Way NE Seattle, WA

Species cultivators, plant collectors, and fine specialty nurseries will be on hand. Consider joining the Seattle Arboretum, which will get you into the sale early on Friday, April 24th from 5:30-8pm.

Master Gardeners Plant & Book Sale

When: Saturday, May 2, 2009, 8am-5pm and Sunday, May 3, 2009, 10am-3pm

Where: UW Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH) in Seattle, WA

Proceeds support the Master Gardener Foundation of King County which is a not-for-profit organization formed to raise the funds needed to operate all of the educational programs organized and staffed by the more than 650 volunteer Master Gardeners of King County. These programs include 34 plant problem clinics, 11 demonstration / outreach gardens, 17 youth garden sites, free public classes in a variety of locations, a speaker’s list, 11 portable classroom teaching kits for use in schools and community groups and a diagnostics center in Seattle.

Are you involved in a local plant sale (or even one outside Seattle) that you would like to see listed on gardenhelp.org? Please feel free to submit it here, and we’ll post details for others.

New Sales Added!

Early Bloomers Sale
When: Saturday, April 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Graham Visitors Center at the Arboretum

The charming, volunteer-run sale features plants propagated from specimens in the Arboretum collection, as well as others donated to us by area gardeners. Shoppers will find a great selection of early-blooming perennials such as epimediums and trilliums, as well a wonderful array of young shrubs, conifers, and small trees. For more information, call 206-325-4510.

Broadview Garden Club Plant Sale

When: April 25th 10-2pm

Where: Broadview Thompson School on Greenwood and 130ish in Seattle.

Just in from Sue at Dunn Gardens: This may be a small sale, but it’s local and with some little treasures like Dunn Garden trillium and snowdrops. If you can”t get to the big ones, it’s fun and a good group. (If it can get up there, I tell you I’m grabbing some Trillium!)


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