Path to the compost
A couple days ago the evil groundhog (who I might point out ate about 8 of my winter squash this year), came out and told us that we wold have an early spring. He lies. Though truth be told I'm sure our groundhog didn't come out that day since it was snowing, sleeting, raining, and generally being a very miserable day. We ended up with another foot of snow with sleet and rain on top. We have two storms coming in over the next four days. The jury is out whether it is rain or snow or something in between.
My tunnel I'm sure has collapsed in there. We will see when things melt out. Yes there is a tunnel somewhere inside there. Or at least a flat piece of plastic.
Upstairs in the nursery however things are going well. In there it looks like spring. The sprouts are growing well. There is now exactly one onion in each little soil block. I had originally planted about four in each. It seems like they all came up. A few came up with eight in each. Whoops! I guess I double dosed those blocks. After they were thinned they were kind of droopy and sad. A bit of water and a couple days later they are happy again.
I really hope they grow well. I've never done well growing my own transplants for onions, but I still won't give up. Maybe this year? Some year I'll have to give up and just buy transplants or use sets. I've let other things go that don't work well, but not this. I want to get onions from seed. I'm growing four kinds this year. Copra, Varsity, Redwing, and Alisia Craig. The Varsity and Redwing are from old seed but still had about the same germination as the others.
I think it was Thomas that was saying that all the snow made him want to bake more. Maybe so. I baked these the other day. It is a take off on Granny's recipe, but I can never follow a recipe. I always have to change it. This ones uses olive oil, more water (I like a wetter dough), and a bit of whole wheat flour.
Wow, all that snow makes me want to curl up under a blanket and read a good book! Seedlings are looking good.
ReplyDeleteThe evil groundhog's west coast cousin, the evil gopher, has declared spring to be sprung here and has invaded my garden. Actually, it is looking like spring here, one of my favorite wild flowers is already starting to bloom and we've had only a few cloudy rainy days since the start of the year. I keep waiting for the deluge or freeze to hit, most likely as soon as I've set some new seedlings out in the garden...
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely buns you baked, they look absolutely delicious. What do you plan on sandwiching in there? It seems like a lot of gardeners carry a bread baking gene, I've been baking a lot lately also. I might have to post a picture of my latest efforts.
Yumm, and Yumm! Hmmm... should take those cuttings from thinning the onions and bruised 'em into some cream cheese to put on those warm rolls....oh I think I'm drooling! :-D
ReplyDeleteYikes! That some serious snow! Your onion seedlings look great! It's my first year growing them. I hope mine survive! Mmmm....bread!
ReplyDeleteGosh! I'd being crying with all that snow....
ReplyDeleteWhen you think your onion seedlings, do you save the thinned out ones and transplant them? Or do you toss them?
ReplyDeleteI ask because awhile back I learned to snip off the excess seedlings in a container instead of pulling them out, it seems to bother the remaining ones less.
Your bun looks amazing! By "buns", I mean bread. LOL. Yes, that darn groundhog lies. How do I know? Because I just had to spend over $500 bucks to get 4 feet of snow removed from my roof!
ReplyDeleteOh your onion seedlings look good! It's so nice to have something growing. You may remember that I tried multi-planting a few of my onions last year. I planted 4 per soil block. They didn't grow very consistently. Usually I had one large one and the remaining three were quite small.
ReplyDeleteJust had to come here. Everyone I know got their harvest tabulation from you. Wow, that's a ton of snow. I've had a frozen compost pile but never a foot of snow here in the Pacific NW. I'm hopeful your hoop cover is still standing, even if the poor plants don't have water. When I did my hoop covers last year, I was sick of watering in the rain.
ReplyDeleteMan I need to bake again. I've been making ice cream to use up the 2 qts of heavy cream we got for Christmas. Stay warm!
You are so far ahead of us, our onions are still in the seed packets. I had better get busy with them this next week I suppose. Your onions seedling look great.:)
ReplyDeleteYummy! Too bad I'm on South Beach! I love the onions- I was just going to email you about onions. I was wondering if you start them in the micro blocks? I was thinking of starting some and i've never grown them- I knew you'd be the person to ask. I also thought I'd sow some in the coldframe in the greenhouse but use Elliot Coleman's multi-plant technique. Have you tried that?
ReplyDeleteHope all that snow melts soon- stay warm!
All that snow looks scary...sorry about your tunnel :( ...reminds me to call my Dad again...he lives in Gardiner, MA and I've been trying to check in with him often during all of this nasty weather...he's almost 90 and has been climbing up on the roof to shovel the snow off...
ReplyDeleteLove your little soil blocks...I just got a mini block maker...my first batch didn't turn out well...do you mind sharing what soil mix you are using to make them?
Nartaya, me too. In fact I'm under my blanket right now.
ReplyDeletemichelle, I plan on hamburgers and sloppy joes. We love them both and eat them often enough.
Barbie, I should but I didn't. I just composted them. I will for some of the later cutting. But the first ones with the little seed hull on top I toss.
Holly, way too much snow. If it keeps up I'm sure we will set records.
EG, no you would be shoveling ;>
Karen Anne, I toss them. I use soil blocks and you can't transplant into soil blocks. If I used regular pots I might as they transplant easily enough. Snipping doesn't work well with onions. Sometimes the growing point is below ground and it just regrows.
Thomas, lol oh ick. We went skiing recently and as we went by I saw all the houses with ice dams in Carlile. Oh wow it was amazing. I've never seen it quite that bad. We saw lots of people up on their roofs shoveling too.
GrafixMuse, I multiplanted some of mine last year too. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. If I had a really large garden and I had to plant them all I might do it that way.
Sinfonian, I had to bash the ice off my compost pile yesterday morning. It was hard to break in since we had freezing rain after the last snow storm.
Mr H, Well they take 10-12 weeks to size up and I plant them in early April usually. So it was time.
Tessa, no I don't start them in micro blocks. I find the micro blocks dry out too fast and I have a hard time keeping them wet. then I'd have to transplant to the 2" blocks. I like the 1 1/2" blocks better. They don't take up as much space.
Deb, Well at least you don't have to worry about his roof collapsing. We keep hearing more stories about it. I used Coleman's mix for them. The fertilizer is a bit different but very close. You have to really smoosh the soil in to get them to hold together. I make sure they are good with my hands pushing down. I know I'm not supposed to have to but it seems to work better for me.
Thanks Daphne...that worked...I used the same mix but mashed it into the block maker harder...300 nice little blocks ready to go :)
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the micros drying too fast. I built some wooden flats that help with that though. I'm not sure if I have the 2" or 1.5"- I'll have to see!
ReplyDeleteThose onion seedlings look just about perfect. I sow mine in a flat pack and then just just "rinse them apart" as I transplant them into single seedlings. Your way probably produces a more sturdier seedling with better growth on it by transplanting time.
ReplyDeleteMy onions and leeks are getting long and unruly. Do you trim yours back? Somewhere I read 5" is good. Love my new soil blocker! Come on SPRING!
ReplyDeleteWow... that's a lot of snow! I hope that your tunnel is OK! I'm sure the plants are cozy with all that snow as insulation.
ReplyDeleteYour onion starts look good and the rolls look incredible!!!!
Tessa, if you have the micros you have the 2" ones. That is the size that the micros go into. I use the 2" ones for things like tomatoes and peppers. I use the 1 1/2" for things that don't get big by the time I plant them. Like my Asian greens and lettuce.
ReplyDeletekitsapFG, I've thought about doing it that way. Onions take transplant shock so easily. But I figured I try it this way this year and see how it goes. I can only hope they do better than before.
Kathi, yes I do trim them back. When they are very young it is usually to about 3" but as they age I let them get taller.
Toni, I think my tunnel is flat, but we will see if there were pockets that survived. Maybe. The snow insulation is a godsend for them though. That rock wall is a hard place to live. I'm a bit worried about putting figs there as they aren't all that hardy. But it is the only place I have for them.
Is it okay to start tomatoes in peat pots? I've never grown tomatoes from seed before. I was going to use a heat mat and tray with a dome lid. I start everything else from seed directly in my raised beds, but this year I have a polytunnel for tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
elizabeth, sure. I personally am not a fan of peat pots. I think they don't break down fast enough and restrict the roots of the plant. But a lot of people swear by them. I use homemade newspaper pots for them.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say they don't break down fast enough, do you mean you are transplanting them without separating them from the pots? I was thinking I would just grow them in the little 3x3 peat pot, until it was time to transfer or transplant, but maybe I should try plastic or foam? Maybe the peat would keep the tomato seedlings to wet? Trying to figure out what supplies I need to get get some healthy tomato plants started, I won't be using a light, but a sunny window.
ReplyDeleteYes that is what I mean. The peat takes a while to break down once planted outside. So the roots are stuck in there longer than necessary. I've used plastic in the past and it works well. If you use peat you might want to at least slit the sides before planting. Peat won't keep them too wet. In fact if anything they dry the plant out more. The peat wicks the water away from the roots. You have more "too wet" issues with plastic.
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