The 2012 Garden Is Underway

Each fall, I generally clean everything out of my garden and either plow or till it, but last year I was lazy and traveling and did nothing.  I’d decided that since we had a big RV trip or two planned, there was no sense planting a big garden so I could just clean it off in the spring as I needed the space.  Early in the year, in the presence of Bev, my buddy Joe says “I’ll look after it while you’re gone” and Bev jumped all over that. 

Now it’s the full garden and I’ll still just clean it off as I go, but we planted some things last week in the garden and the brassicas and lettuces I grew should be big enough to put out this week. 

We planted 150 Superstar onion slips that I bought from Dixondale Farms along with seeds for radishes, beets, kale, chard, spinach, garden peas, and snow peas.  It’s hard to believe, but by letting last year’s onions dry out in the garage until October, then putting them in the fridge, we are just now eating the last of them and have only lost a few - we've never had sweet onions past into the next year.

Over the years I’ve used a variety of methods to encourage my seeds to germinate and why I’ve never tried this is beyond me.  After watching Bev use the oven with just the light on to bloom the yeast in her bread starter, I decided to give it a try.  I sowed the seeds in my starter medium in pots and sat the latticework flat of pots in a tray of water until the soil was saturated, then dumped the remaining water from the tray, covered it with plastic wrap, and put into the oven with the door closed, the light on, and a sticky on the door announcing they were in there.

I sowed them on Monday, some had sprouted on Friday and nearly all of the maters were up on Saturday – the eggplant have yet to come up.  According to my Thermopen, pretty accurate thermometer, it was 87* in the oven, which could be a little on the high side as the seedlings may not like it that hot – I kept a close watch on them and moved them to the greenhouse as soon as they popped up. 

Next time I’ll crack the door a little and try to keep it 80* in the oven.  If you start your own seeds, you may want to give this a try and if you already do, just say duh, where’s he been, I thought he was a gardener.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Bison Burger & A First

Two years ago:  Chicken Fried Steak – It’s What’s For Breakfast

Larry