Updates

Everything in my raised beds is flourishing. I have not had any problems with anything not growing. My lettuce is getting very tall! The Red Romaine is 29" tall, the Paris Island is 23" tall and the
Lola Park is 21". The Red Romaine and Paris Island have even started to bloom. I found that the Lola Park variety is bitter so I have been avoiding using it. It is a very beautiful lettuce though. It makes a great garnish.

I love all three different kinds of the kale I'm growing, especially the Lacinato variety. I love how fast the kale grows back after I cut it because kale is the veggie I eat most often.

I've picked almost all of the first row of radishes. My dog helped by pulling some out with his teeth. :) Each day I come home there are 1-3 new shriveled up radishes laying on top of the garden bed. I planted a new row of radishes but wish I had planted them sooner because now I have to wait for more. I don't use a lot of radishes in my cooking or salads so I may replace that space with something else like spinach.

I'm starting to see smalls bulbs from by white and red onions poking out of the soil. This is my first time growing onions and I was curious how to know when they are ready to harvest but I see now that I will be able to tell based on the size of the bulb sticking out of the garden.

The Swiss Chard is getting bigger and starting to look more like the Swiss Chard I see other people grow.

In the space not being used in the bed, I planted green beans on the north edge where I plan on building a trellis for them, spinach and I planted the ends of the scallions I used in the kitchen right in the bed. I love how fast scallions grow.

The artichokes are growing very slowly, but I am very excited to actually see an artichoke develop because artichokes are one of my favorite veggies.

Just about all of the carrot and spinach seeds I sowed right into the garden bed next to the artichoke have sprouted. All the carrots I have grown in the past were mini, so I am hoping to have more success this time around.

Week 5

Raised Bed #2

I have two artichoke plants I got from a local plant nursery "Green Things" that I was really excited about planting. I know each artichoke plant gets very big so I could not plant them in the raised bed I already had made. I was afraid they would take over and shade all of the other plants. I made a second raised bed out of leftover wood scraps and garden cloth I had and planted them as instructed 14" apart. I planted them on the north side of the bed so as not to shade the other plants I add to the bed.

 After adding the artichokes, I planted 5 small rows of Bloomsdale Spinach and 5 small rows of Scarlet Nantes Carrots. I did not start these seeds indoors because both carrots and spinach do well in the colder months and sowed directly into the garden.

Raised Bed #3

I'm really proud of myself for making this raised bed. I saw one similar to this on Pinterest and decided to attempt making one. The height is appealing to me because not only do I not have to bend over but one this tall wont allow my dog to get into it. I have a lot of scrap wood that I used so the only thing I needed to buy were screws. I was surprised at how easily screws screw into pine wood so I did all of this with a screwdriver. The slated bottom allows for aeration and drainage. I plan on planting some of my seed starts in this bed and when I am ready I will be putting down gardening cloth to keep in the soil. I can't wait!

Indoor Seed Starts (Round 3)

I made a trip to my favorite local seed shop "Native Seeds" and bought Beck's Gardenville Okra, Pablano Chile, Tepehuan Tomatillo, Wild Luffa and Anaheim Chili which I planted in the remaining Jiffy Pete Pellets. I am really excited to be growing all of these varieties but especially the wild luffa. I want to use the luffa in handmade soaps I make.

Out of the seeds I planted a week ago in the first half of the peat pellets, the flamenco tomato, Oregon spring tomato, marketmore 76 cucumber and lemon cucumber have sprouted. The only ones that have not sprouted yet are the red flax.

Week 4: Bokashi Composting & Second Round of Indoor Seed Starts

Bokashi Composting

In my urban farming classes the Bokashi technique of composting appealed to me the most. This form of composting is appealing to me because it is quick, convenient, there are many uses for the tea and it can all be done in my kitchen which is perfect considering it is winter right now. I had been eyeing one of the kits sold on Amazon from Sunwood Life and mentioned it to my family and I ended up getting it for Christmas which was perfect timing because it is one of the projects I planned on doing for this externship.

The kit comes with a little trashcan with a plastic bucket inside so I can save my kitchen scraps until I have enough to add to the main composting bucket. The kit also comes with compost starter and innoculant which speeds up the composting process.

The directions say to add 2-3 inches deep of kitchen scraps each time and the little bucket holds that amount which is convenient because I always know when I have the perfect amount to add to the composting bucket.

Once the scraps have been transferred to the main composting bucket, they need to be cover with a layer of the compost starter. The mix needs to be added to the top of every 2-3 inches of scraps.

As the scraps ferment I will often need to empty out the tea that drops down to the bottom of the bucket which can be released from the spout built into the bucket. Once diluted, I can add this right into my garden as fertilizer. After the bucket is full I need to let the bucket with it contents ferment for about two weeks before adding it to the soil in my garden.

I love my Bokashi kit, but what I learned is that this process is so easy that it is not necessary to purchase a kit. Any bucket with an air tight lid can be used and the compost accelerator can even be easily made at home. I may make another bucket so that when one bucket is fermenting for 2 weeks I have another one started. I can't wait to see the results!

Indoor Seed Starts Round #2

The first round of my seed starts went so well that I decided to grow more but with a different technique. I bought a seed start greenhouse from Jiffy brand which comes with 50 peat pellets and a container that holds water in the bottom and a lid. This way is much more convenient than the multi-celled containers I first used because there is a resevoir that collects the water so that it does not drip though the bottom. Once the peat pellets have been water they expand which allowed me to easily add the seeds into the hole in the middle of each pellet. 

I only did about half the pellets in the container and if I see good results I will do the second half. I used the same seeds as the first round of seed starts but this time I started with Lemon cucumber, Marketmore cucumber, Oregon spring tomato and flamenco tomato. I chose these varieties because I want to grow a lot of cucumbers and tomatoes since they are what I buy and eat most of.

I was keeping my seed start in the utility room of my house but that room is really cold and dark so I moved them to my second bedroom which is warm and gets more light. I then placed them under a window for sunlight.

Indoor Seed Starts Follow-Up

I have been watering my seeds about every other day. The multi-celled containers dry out quickly, especially because I have the plant light shining directly on them for about 12 hours a day. So far everything has sprouted....

.....accept for the Anaheim chili and Australian brown onion. I am wondering if the temperature was not warm enough for these seeds or if the seeds were not healthy.

I am actually really surprised at how many seeds sprouted given the medium I used and the fact that the temperature I had them located was not very warm. I think the plant light I have is allowing them to get enough warmth. I may not need to purchase a warming mat after all.

Week 3: Indoor Seed Starts

This week I have begun indoor growing to prepare for spring planting. I have read that it is best to use grow mediums such as seed start mix or pellets made of peat or coir, but I decided to use a mixture of soil amendment and compost that I already had on hand to experiment with. This is the same mixture I used when making my raised bed. I want to experiment with different types of grow mediums in the coming weeks, but because I am low on funds this week I thought I would use what I already have on hand and this week try different mediums. I purchased plastic multi-celled containers from a local aquaponics store and the seeds were ones I had previously bought from a local retail seed bank. I already had the grow light and the shelving so all I needed to purchase for this project were the multi-celled containers.

I filled each contained with the mixture of soil amendment and compost and soaked the soil. I then added 1-2 seeds per cell. The seeds I added to the multi-celled containers are: Marketmore 76 cucumber, Swiss chard, cabbage, brown onion, mammoth dill, scallop summer squash, Anaheim chili, romanesco broccoli, Oregon spring tomato, flamenco tomato and cantaloupe.

I placed the seeds on the shelves and put the selving in my old wash room that is currently not in use. This room gets fairly cool at night, so I keep the plant light on to help keep the seeds warm. I am going to be purchasing a heating mat to place under the multi-celled containers to help keep the seeds warm enough.

The average last frost date for my region is March 1st - March 20th. Once my seeds have sprouted and grown their first true leaves I will slowly start placing them outside to get them used to the weather so as not to shock them once I plant them in my raised beds.

Raised Bed #1 Follow-Up

It's been about a month since I started my first raised garden bed. Here is a before and after picture of my garden bed and updates.

Parris Island Romaine Lettuce:

Red Romaine Lettuce:

My red romaine lettuce has started to bloom. I am going to save the seeds and plant them later.

Both the red and white onions seem to be healthy and the stalks are getting longer.

Three different types of kale:

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All three varieties of kale have developed white spots on them. I'm affraid this may be a fungus that I read is common in members of the Brassicaceae family which includes kale. I am going to keep an eye on it to see if it continues. I have not noticed it on any of my other veggies but fear if it is a fungus that it will spread.

The radish and Swiss chard seeds I planted have sprouted and look healthy.

The green onion seeds I planted have not sprouted yet. They should have already so it looks as though they are not going to. The seeds were pretty old so I plan on picking up some more seeds at the seed bank.

Week 2: Worm Box

This week I started a worm box for compost. I went to a local farmers' market to get worms from a company called Vermillion Wormery that I knew would be there. Here is a link to their website: www.vermillionwormery.com. I spoke with the owner Linda Leigh and she did not have any worms on hand, but I was able to order some to pick up at the next farmers' market.

Linda advised me that since I had not started my worm box yet, it would be wise to do so before adding worms so that microbes would have a chance to form before adding the worms.

I knew I wanted my worm box to be made out of wood opposed to plastic because wood allows for more aeration. I remembered that I had a wooden wine box just lying around that I thought would be perfect.

The first step was to drill holes in the bottom of the box for aeration and drainage.

Next, I added a mixture of shredded paper and cardboard for the bedding and soaked the mixture in water. I want to start slowly not only because this is my first worm box, but because I want to keep the box healthy and not have more scraps than the worms can digest quickly. Starting slow will also allow for bacteria to grow which is beneficial to the box.

I had about 10 red wiggler worms that I found and added them to the box along with some kitchen scraps which consisted of egg shells and artichoke clippings until my order of worms from the Vermillion Wormery are available. I have decided on a process where I will add scraps to one side of the box and when the worms have turned those scraps into castings I will add more scraps to the other side. This process will cause the worms to migrate to wherever the scraps are so I will be able to easily remove the castings when needed.

Once I added the few worms I had and the scraps, I put the lid on the box to give the worms darkness and placed the boxed on an old pot to collect any liquid that comes out through the holes on the bottom of the box.