Trying a little something different: Seed Tape

I was perusing my local seedshop looking for lettuce seed and spied this.  I've seen seed tape before, but never used it.  The price difference wasn't much as compared to a packet of loose seeds, so I decided to give it a try.

A seed tape is nothing more than a strip of thin paper with seeds placed at specific intervals.  Above, you can see three strips of seed tape.  A strip is planted in a furrow where the paper softens when exposed to water and the seedlings push through it easily.  With small, hard to manipulate seeds like lettuce or carrots, this makes planting simple and prevents over seeding.

Lettuce seed is planted very shallowly, so I just laid the tape on the soil and covered it by lightly sprinkling a small amount of soil over it.  The tape above is half covered.

Weekly Gardening Outlook: Last Minute Bed Prep and Some Early Plantings

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

Bermuda grass infesting raised bed.

In December of 2009, I added two wooden framed 4' x 8' raised beds to my garden.  Despite scalping the area with a lawnmower on its lowest setting and laying down two layers of thick cardboard, the Bermuda grass persisted and invaded my new beds last year.  This spring, I raked the soil back and removed as much as I could, but I have no doubt that I will deal with it again this year.  If you are building a new bed and have Bermuda grass, my suggestion is to remove the top 3-4" of soil containing the grass before building your bed.  A flat-nosed shovel will do the job, but a motorized sod-cutter can be rented to expedite the job if you are putting in multiple beds.

Evergreen bunching onions flowering.

Evergreen bunching onions flowering.

The flowers are opening up on the evergreen bunching onions.  As they are pollinated and form seeds, I will be watching them closely to try to harvest some of my own seeds.  I started these from seed last spring and look forward to completing the cycle from seed to seed.

Apple tree leafing out.

Despite my concern over the -18 degree temperatures, the potted apple trees made it safely through the winter.  I will pot them up into larger containers soon.

Partially planted bed containing onions and herbs.

This past Sunday, I planted a portion of the "Bermuda grass free" bed with onion sets (yellow and purple), cilantro, lemon thyme, oregano, and bok choy.  The onions can handle any mild freeze that we may get, but I will have to cover the herbs and the bok choy.  In about two weeks, when all danger of frost has passed, the garden really gets going when I put in the main summer crops.  Until then, bed prep continues.

Oregano. 

A common herb, oregano is used in Italian and Mexican food.  Because it spreads via runners, I only bought one plant and will divide it up as it spreads to eventually have several for plantings in my blocks.  Oregano is known for its hardy nature.  Once established, it will come back year after year.

Lemon Thyme.

 Lemon thyme is a less common herb that I haven't found in stores.  It's great on fish and chicken or anything that you want to add a lemony zing to.  Thyme of any variety is very tough and stays green through the winter and comes back year after year.

Bok Choy.

I've never grown bok choy and bought this plant on a whim.  It appears that spring may not be the easiest time to grow these according to THIS source.

Arugula.

 Arugula is a nice addition to a salad with a spicy flavor.  It continuously sends up new leaves as I pick the young tender ones for salads.  As the days get warmer, it will bolt (send up flowers) and become bitter.  I will erect a shade cloth to cover it in three or four weeks to try to prolong the harvest.

Divided cilantro.

Transplanted volunteer cilantro. 

 My transplanted volunteer cilantro is doing great.  I bought two more cilantro plants and then divided them immediately in half before planting.  We use a lot of cilantro in salsa.  It will bolt as it gets hotter outside.  Once it flowers and forms seeds, they can be harvested and used for cooking.  Their seeds are the seasoning called coriander.  I will erect shade clothes over them in three to four weeks as well to try to prolong the harvests.

Yellow onion sets.

Purple onion sets.

 After these pictures were taken, the sets were covered with an inch of soil.  Our local nursery provides as many onion sets as I would care to take free of charge every year.  This year I added purple onions to the garden just for the variety.  Onions are very easy to grow.  For large bulbs, plant the smallest sets four inches apart and 1-2" deep.  Water them once and pretty much leave them alone until late July.

Rabbit or deer damage to a blueberry bush.

Budding blueberry bush.

I stopped by the house of the customer that I helped plant four blueberry bushes.  Three of their bushes suffered severe damage over the winter from rabbits or deer munching on them.  This next fall, we will install wire fencing around each bush to protect them.

Chicken and Egg Report:

We are still getting four to five eggs a day.  One hen has gone broody and is sitting on the eggs.  She's not pulling feathers from her breast, so I figure she'll come out of it pretty quickly.  FYI broody means that a hen begins sitting on the eggs with the intent to hatch them.  Usually she pulls the feathers from her breast so that the skin can better transmit her heat into the eggs.  She also doesn't get up to eat or drink very much and can lose weight.  In the spring and summer our hens go broody here and there and we just leave them be other than harvesting the eggs out from under them daily.

Weather Outlook:

About an inch and half of rain.

-The evening after planting the our bed, we got about an inch and a half of much needed rain!

-It's going to cool down with a chance of rain Friday and Saturday.  I've seen predictions that it might get close to a frost Saturday morning, so keep and eye on that.  By Sunday it should warm back up into daytime high in the 70s.

-Ten day forecast

What's Being Harvested:

-Herbs

-Arugula

Building and Using a Cold Frame (Plus Some Alternatives)

See previous post about cold frames here.

Six bales of straw make up the walls of this cold frame

 We helped a customer construct a simple, straw bale cold frame a few weeks ago.  As seen above, an enclosure is made around the bed with the bales.  We pushed them together tightly and stuffed straw into any cracks to prevent drafts.  For the top, they covered two old screens from a sliding glass door with plastic.

Sliding screen doors covered with plastic serve as a cover

When an overnight freeze is expected, the tops are put in place a few hours before sundown to gather the sun's warmth.  In the picture above, only one screen is in place.  A second identical plastic covered screen will completely seal off the interior of the cold frame.  Swiss chard is visible growing in the lower right quadrant.

Young kale growing in the cold frame

Kale is quite cold hardy and with this cold frame in place, they should be able to grow it all winter long.  The green grass on the left are sprouts from wheat seed left in the straw bales.

Sweet basil growing next to kale

 Even after getting down to 22 degrees, this volunteer sweet basil plant is doing just fine.  Basil is notoriously intolerant of freezing temperatures, so it is a good sign that the cold frame has been effective.

How to use a cold frame:


Cold frames are not a "set it and forget it" tool.  They require the gardener to monitor the forecasted temperatures and the conditions of the plants inside.  If the temperature during the day is in the mid 60s, the temperature inside could easily climb into the 90s or higher, roasting the plants inside.  If it gets too hot inside, lettuces and other greens will think it's summer time and will bolt (send up flower stalks), which makes them bitter and inedible.  Control the temperature inside by propping open the top or removing it all together on warm days and sealing it up tightly on cold nights.

Don't let me discourage you though.  This time of year, the top stays off most most nights.  As an example, looking at the forecast ahead, our customers won't need to cover their cold frame again until Saturday night.  Today is Monday, so that's a pretty good stretch without having to do anything.  Early in the season, the cold frame is there to get you through the cold snaps here and there and allow your garden to enjoy the great growing weather in between.

Jugs of water inside the cold frame will absorb heat during the day and radiate it back out at night.  This can help keep the cold frame warm as we get farther into fall and winter.  When temperatures dip into the teens and lower, a heat source may be needed at night.  A 100 watt light bulb is simple and effective.  A small, electric heater with a thermostat can also be used.  Please exercise all due caution with electrical devices.

Here's a previous post on cold frames with more information.

Alternative uses of household items:

A cracked aquarium makes a great miniature greenhouse

The lettuce in the aquarium above had been harvested for last night's dinner.  Note that the plants were cut 1-2" off of the ground.  This allows it to regrow again and again without requiring replanting.

A fish bowl, a one gallon pickle jar, and a juice bottle with the bottom cut out

Many things around the house can be used to keep the cold out.  Ask around for old, unused fish aquariums.  If you cannot find any, Wal-Mart typically has small fish aquariums at a low cost and a few of those can keep fresh salads on your table well into the winter.  Treat these like cold frames and remove them on warm days.  Put them in place a few hours before dark when a freeze is expected.

An unused fish bowl keeps the cold at bay for this lettuce

Note the increased growth of the previously covered lettuce

Random thoughts:

• The straw bales will absorb water and begin to break down over the winter.  They should make a nice addition to the compost pile in the spring.
• I am contemplating replacing the straw bales on the south side with some transparent material to allow more sun into the cold frame.  As winter progresses and the sun sinks lower into the southern horizon, that southern wall will cast a longer and longer shadow into the growing area.  Perhaps a sheet of transparent corrugated siding used in green houses?
• Remember that with the top in place, rain fall is excluded.  Water as neccesary.
• The artificially warm environment can attract/house damaging insects, voles, and mice.  Keep an eye out.

UPDATE:  See updated results and experiences with cold frames and glass enclosures here.

Weekly Gardening Outlook (Summer is gone)

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

The last tomatoes of the season

 We harvested all of the tomatoes ripe or not due to the impending freeze.  They have taken up residence on our kitchen counter in hopes that they will ripen up.  The one's that don't will be chicken food.

The freeze killed the tomato plants deader than a door nail

The garden, now just a salad garden

Chard not liking the freezing temperatures

 The chard can stand light to moderate frosts, but doesn't like freezes.  With it expected to get to 25 degrees later this week, we don't expect the chard to hang around much longer.

Lettuce

New lettuce coming up

 We are getting a couple of family sized salads a week from the garden.  We planted more a week ago and it's popping right up.  Our source for a glass door for the cold frame hasn't come through yet, so our cold frame plans are put on hold until spring.  Without a cold frame our lettuce growing season will be shortened.  We did build a cold frame at a customer's and promise a post about that this week.

Next year's strawberry plants are digging the cooler weather

 Towards the end of the season, we allow our strawberry plants to send out runners into the main garden bed.  This is a great source for free daughter plants next year.  They will overwinter here and be transplanted in the early spring.

The blueberry bush leaves are turning red

No eggs today

We're averaging about a half dozen eggs a week right now.

Weather outlook:

-Highs in the mid 60s to low 50s over the next week with a chance of rain today.  A freeze is expected Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. 

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Green onions

-Lettuce

-Chard (Probably the last week that this will be available)

-Mint (The only herb that has survived the first freeze)

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

The garden

Much of the garden is now fallow.  A pending freeze Thursday night will pretty much do away with the summer crops like tomatoes and peppers.

This tomato plant became too heavy for the wire cage to support

This plant was a volunteer Roma from the spot where our compost pile was last year.  We left it in the spot it sprouted in and put a wire cage around it and mulched the base with grass clippings to help keep the grass away from its roots.  This was our largest, healthiest, and most productive tomato plant.  Fusarium wilt affected all of our tomato plants except for this one.  This is a reminder to rotate crops.  Next year, we will not grow tomatoes in the same locations as this year.

Green tomatoes

We've harvested 10-12 reddish tomatoes over the last couple of days.  The pending freeze Thursday night will have us out collecting all tomatoes that we can.  Hopefully they are mature enough to ripen up inside.

The daily bounty from our molting flock

Our chickens have given us 1-2 eggs per day for the last week.  They have been eating a lot more feed over the last several weeks.  They require a lot of energy to replace their feathers.  Their consumption will remain somewhat elevated over the winter as wild forage availability will decrease with cooling temperatures.

Blueberry bush

 Our blueberry bushes had a severe case of leaf spot earlier in the year.  We lost two of the five to it.  The remaining three are flourishing after a few treatments with Serenade.  We've discussed this organic treatment before here and still highly recommend it.

Late season jalapeños 

Rocky Top lettuce

We practice the cut and come method with this lettuce.  We harvest it to 1-2" high and it regrows again quickly without replanting.

The first year apple trees

From leafless sticks to a 3 foot tall, multi-branched trees our two new apple trees have survived Japanese beetles and drought. We treated them with neem oil once a week while the Japanese beetles were arround and that kept them at bay.

Over summered kale

The kale absolutely did not regrow when cooler weather hit as we had hoped it would.  Next year we will pull it as soon as it bolts and plant something else in its spot.

Weather outlook:

-Highs in the mid to upper 60s with a chance of a freeze Thursday night.  Clear with no chance of rain through the week.

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Green onions

-Lettuce

-Peppers (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

-Tomatoes (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

-Chard

-Basil, mint, and other herbs (We will likely harvest everything on Thursday)

Weekly Gardening Outlook - Empty Nest Syndrome, Indian Summer, and Transitioning into Fall

We apologize for the brief interruption in egg laying...

Empty nest boxes and feathers strewn about means it's molting season

The girls are not looking their best

See the new feathers growing in on this chicken's chest and throat

The chickens have been molting for the last two weeks.  This is a normal process where the chickens lose and replace their feathers.  It takes a lot of protein and energy to replace the feathers, so unfortunately for us the hen's body shuts down egg production to compensate.  It usually occurs once a year in the fall and lasts for 2-4 months.  Our chickens began their first year of production last December and this is their first molt.  That is 10 full months of production.  Because Black Australorps are known to be prolific layers and the fact that our flock produced for 10 straight months, we are hopeful they will be back into production by mid December.  Our flock of 6 hens has produced 1,500 eggs for us over the last 10 months.  I think they have earned a rest.

Eggs!

Update:  While this post was still under construction, I made my rounds checking on the garden, dogs, and chickens and checked the nest boxes just in case.  Look what I found!  It seems a couple of the girls are coming back into production after two weeks off.  This isn't unheard of as commercial egg laying operations are able to force molt their flocks in two weeks.  We have chosen not to do this though as it requires confinement and starving the birds for an extended period of time.  However our girls are doing it, we are thankful for some eggs!

Indian summer:

A bounty of green tomatoes in late October

Frost, frost, stay away

An unusual warm period is extending the summer crops a few weeks past the average first killing frost date.  As you can see, our tomatoes are loaded with fruit.  With the lowest predicted temperature in the next 10 days at 38 degrees, it looks like we are going to get an unexpected bounty!

Swiss chard, beautiful as always

Lettuce mix is growing well

Pink Beauty radishes are ready to eat

The Serrano peppers haven't handled the cooler weather well

The jalapeño peppers are doing a little better 

The bean pods saved for seed are drying out

The green onions are winding down

Prepping for fall gardening:

Trellises put away for winter

Being prepped for fall gardening

It's getting to be time to either put your summer garden to bed for the winter or begin making preparations for fall gardening.  I recently helped a customer harvest their sweet potatoes (look for a post on that soon).  While I was there, we removed the trellises, cleaned up the garden, and built a straw bale cold frame (also look for a post on that soon). They are going to grow kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, and turnips in the cold frame.

Weather outlook:

-Wild temperature swings from a high of 63 degrees today to a high of 81 degrees on Thursday.  It has been raining today and there is a good chance of rain as we approach the weekend.

-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:

-Radishes

-Lettuce

-Peppers

-Tomatoes (Loaded with full sized fruit.  We are closely watching the overnight low temperatures)

-Chard

-Basil, mint, and other herbs (enjoying them while they last)