Fall.

It's here. The corn stalks are ripped out, the squash and zucchini plants are rapidly succumbing to mildews and molds, and the slugs have returned in greater numbers than before. Lows for the next few weeks will be hovering around 40 - the temperature below which summer crops begin to struggle. Like last year, I've let fall creep up on me as if I didn't know it was coming. I started my fall crops too late, haven't built my cold frames, and wasn't mentally prepared for rain and cold fingers. My feed store shopping list includes muck boots and a full rainsuit.

But I do like fall. We have a week of rain ahead of us, a perfect time to get cover crops in.

This year I'm trying to grow crimson clover over the whole main garden, except for my 3 or 4 beds of fall and winter crops. I started them a few days ago, when it was sunny and warmer, so I used burlap row cover to keep them moist and help seed germination.

Five days ago..

Cover crop is up.

I also got my plow-down mix planted in the field. But I am behind in the main garden. The cucurbits are ready to be pulled before they spread powdery mildew around, the fallen down beans (windstorm took out the trellis) need to be yanked, and cover crop sown everywhere. Running out of time!

More planting

The weather the last 2 weeks has been sunny and warmer than normal for the end of May, so I took advantage of that to get in more hot weather veggies a little early.

Transplanted:
- two squash (Bush Delicata)
- two zucchini (Raven)

Sowed:
- 12 potatoes 2' apart (red, blue, russet)
- 4 bush cucumber 2' apart (Bush English slicer)
- 6' bed carrot (Nantes variety)
- 6' double row radicchio (Early Treviso)
- 6' double row summer lettuce (Slobolt, loose leaf)
- 6' double row summer European lettuce mix (Redina, Nevada, Cardinale)

This is my first try at potatoes.Two "Red Pontiac" starts from my mom, and seed potatoes from the feed store down the road. I put the seed potatoes in a sunny window for a week or so and got them sprouted.

Dug a 8" trench down the center of one bed, then hoed in steer manure and fertilizer 6" deeper. I added about 1" of soil to cover the compost (apparently, having seed potatoes touching compost or manure when planted can cause potato scab), then dropped in the potatoes and covered 3" deep. When the shoots emerge I will hill up soil around them continuously about 6" high, so the potatoes can form along the covered growing stem. I hope I get a good crop this year!

Sowing seed in the garden

I have been working on getting more beds made each week, and sowing seed as I go.

This week I put in:
- 12' double row of snap peas (Sugar Snap)
- 4' bed of spinach (Olympia Hybrid)
- 12' triple row bulb onion (Yellow, from sets)
- 12' double row runner beans (Scarlet Emperor)
- 12' double row pole beans (Tri-color mix, Blue Lake, Yellow Pole Wax, Purple Peacock)
- 24' of 3 plant clumps 2' apart of corn (Earlivee Hybrid)

I also transplanted some things I started from seed:
- one row, 7 plants, tomatoes (in walls-o-water)
- 12' double row leeks (unknown variety grown by a friend)

Whew. Lots of seed to keep wet.

Update

Weather was nice this last weekend, so I got out and did a little work at the garden plots.

Finally got my carrots in. I have a few varieties I want to try, so I'll be sowing a row or patch of each every few weeks. I am hoping I have timed it so they will have time to size up before it gets too cold (but not so much that they split open) and I can use them through the winter. Bed preparation is critical in order to allow the carrots to germinate well, grow quickly, and size up before cooler weather slows them. To facilitate rapid growth the carrot bed was deeply dug to 12", heavily amended with light, sandier soil and some well-rotted compost, and fluffed up to a loose and light texture before sowing seed.

I also sowed a thick patch of bunching onions (green onions or scallions), which I'll also use this fall and through the winter.

- Sowed 8 row feet Red Samurai Carrot (Daucus carota var. sativus)
- Sowed 4 sq feet Evergreen White Bunching Onion (scallions)

The garden is coming along nicely. I finally staked up the tomatoes. It would have been much easier to put in the bamboo stakes when I transplanted the tomatoes, but somehow I failed to think of it. Despite the cold weather, they have done quite well inside their tunnel cloche and have doubled in size since transplanting.

The tunnel has survived 40 mpg gusts and a few very windy days common to spring in Bellingham with no signs of weakening.

Stupice tomato was the first to flower and naturally has the largest developing fruit at about 1" diameter. I pinched off about half of the flowers on this truss just after they started to form fruit and will probably do the same on every plant this year. Less fruit per truss means more nutrition per tomato (less water content), larger fruit, faster ripening, and better tasting tomatoes!

Lots of peas starting to pod up. As soon as they begin to ripen, regular harvesting of mature pods will encourage a longer production time of new flowers and pods. If the pod matures and holds on the vine, the plant thinks it has done its' reproductive job and will stop producing new flowers and fruit.

Spiders are out and hatching everywhere.

A good harvest today

It's different to have garden plots across town than to have them right in your backyard. I would probably spend a little time each night checking on things were my plots close to home. Since they are not, I might go twice a week or, usually, just once. Therefore each time we go it means more than a few hours of weeding, planting, intensive watering, bed preparation, and harvesting. That's why I have lots to report on about once a week, rather than every day.

The Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe or Raab, Broccoletti, Broccoli di Rape, Cime di Rapa, Rappi, Friarielli , and Grelos) is ready. Although it shares name and outward appearance with broccoli, it is actually closest to the turnip. I let mine go a few days too long (a downside of my cross-town plot) and a few florets flowered. These are edible, however, along with the stems, toothed-leaves, and florets. They have a pungent, slightly bitter, broccoli-like taste. Best steamed or sauteed as you would any normal broccoli.


Radishes are about finished off. They hold for only 10-14 days after maturing, after which they begin to split open or are lost to chewing insects. A few of our biggest are beginning to split. I'll probably sow a small fall patch later on this summer.

Pollination attractors are blooming!

Tomatoes are setting fruit, butter-crunch lettuce can be picked next week, and peas are growing strong. Here's how the garden looks today.

The foremost bed will have pepper and eggplant transplants in a few weeks, with the bed behind soon holding carrots and salad mix. The bed far in the back will get direct seeded cucumber, squash, and ice-box melon maybe by next weekend, if the weather cooperates.

Sowed and transplanted today as well:

- 6 row feet Mesclun Blend salad greens
- transplanted 8 clumps of salad onions from 2" pots (Guardsman, Purplette, and Copra) (sown 03.16.08)
- transplanted about 12 pots annual dahlias (sown 3.06.08)

Rototilling!

It was finally dry enough to till, so today was the day. A friend at the garden plots let me borrow his tiller so we hefted it up and turned over the tomato, brassica, dahlia, and carrot beds. Normally with raised bed vegetable growing you don't need to rototill each spring, as the beds usually get through winter in fine condition and only require hoeing up the top 4-6". In our case the soil was so compacted that the beds had to be broken up deeply to at least 12". Forgot my camera so Em took a cell phone pic.

I look a little nervous. Big rototillers aren't really made for raised beds...

Sowed some more seed as well:

- 4 row feet Oriental Giant Hybrid Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)
- 8 sq. foot bed of Red, Golden, and Chioggia Beets mix (Beta vulgaris)

Since we've had cold nights (still below 40 degrees), I've been moving the tomatoes out for the day and back inside for the night for a few days now. Tonight they will stay outside for the first night in the little cold frame. Doing well and many are budding. Roots are already filling the quart sized pots.


I'll probably head back out in the next few days to finish up bed preparation for all the sowing and transplanting soon to come. Bellingham's average last frost is May 5!

Fresh soil at the garden plot

Emily and I, along with 6 other plot renters from the Happy Valley Community Gardens, brought in 20 yards (!) of 4-way soil/compost mix to share. We really needed it in some of our beds, which have eroded away as they sat unused for years. I think it will be most useful for lightening our heavy clay soil that has compacted to concrete-like hardpan.

With a generous addition of our new soil, I was able to prepare a spot for our snap and snow peas sown 4 weeks ago. I worked the soil about 8" deep, hoed in fertilizer and lime, and transplanted my healthy peas.

Should begin producing peas first week of June.

We had poly tunnels over some beds to dry them out faster, so today I direct seeded some greens in those beds after turning them over and incorporating new soil.

- 5 row ft Slobolt (loose-leaf lettuce) Lactuca sativa
- 5 row feet Tangy Mesclun Blend (Salad greens)
- 6 row ft Rainbow Radishes (Easter Egg II)

Broccoli and Cabbage starts have been growing strong for 2 weeks under lights. They've formed 2 true leaves, which means out into the cold frame to harden off and grow a bit more. When 3 true leaves are grown out I'll transplant them in the garden.


A few more pictures from today.

Direct sown Bloomsdale spinach seeded March 9. True leaves just emerging. Germinated and started pretty slow because March was so cold. It will pick up as April gets warmer.

Overwintered garlic (front) and leeks (behind). Carrot patch behind in the upper left. The garlic looks pretty bad...good thing I put in about 25 new bulbs a few weeks ago.

I overwintered a patch of Arugula as well. It barely survived and started growing again in February. We cut enough for a salad a few weeks ago and it immediately went into reproduction mode - sent up flower spikes and bloomed! Cool flower.

Tomorrow I'm gonna make Em come with me to the garden plot and we'll move more soil.

Spring Cleaning

Even though the soil was still a bit too wet, today we went ahead and prepared our first bed. Our process for spring bed preparation is as follows (this is for NEW beds - or in our case, an established bed that has not been properly prepared for many years):

- First, weed entire bed.
- Make sure soil is dry enough to work by collecting a handful and squeezing into a ball. The ball should crumble and come apart easily under pressure. If it will not form a ball at all, it is too dry. If it stays together and compresses under pressure without breaking up, it is too wet.
- Using a 12" digging fork, break up soil by plunging fork all the way down and pulling back, moving back 4" each time, across the entire bed.
- For a clay soil, like in most of Bellingham, broadcast about 50 lbs per 1000 sq ft lime and work in deeply. Also work in 1-2 gal per 100 sq ft complete organic fertilizer (around 5-5-1).
- Add 1/4-1/2" well rotted compost and incorporate into the top 3-6".

After this was completed in plot C10, we transplanted all our perennial herbs from elsewhere in the garden. These included:

- 2 x Arp Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis 'Arp')
- 2 x Grappenhall Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia)
- Greek Oregano (Origanum vulgare cv. hirtum)
- Hot and Spicy Oregano (Origanum vulgare cv. hot and spicy)
- Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
- Garden sage (Salvia officianalis)
- Tri-color sage (Salvia officianalis cv. Tri-color)
- Purple Sage (Salvia dorii)
- English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

We also moved over two Alpine Strawberries and one Pineapple Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), a very sweet (and pine-appley) yellow fruited variety.

- Sowed 5 row ft Bloomsdale Spinach under plastic tunnel cloche

Today Emily transplanted lots of flowers that I held over the winter in pots or around the garden plot. Included were a few varieties each of German Iris, Coneflower (Echinacea), and Blanket flower (Gaillardia).

I also am attempting propagation by softwood cuttings. I took 6 cuttings each from two establish lavender plants. Provence lavender (Lavandula intermedia "Provence") and Blue Start Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoeches "Blue Star"). These will receive bottom heat for a few months until evidence of root growth.

Onions and Spinach

I actually already started this month. The weather the last 10 days was unusually warm for around here this time of year. Sunny and 55 days and no rain for almost 2 weeks! I was able to dry out the soggy soil enough to sow by covering a patch of soil with a plastic tunnel cloche for about 10 days.

Feb 16: planted 15 row ft of Stuttgarter onion (long keeper) from sets
Feb 23: sowed 4 row feet of Bloomsdale Spinach under plastic tunnel cloche