Planning for our vegetable gardens

Well Katye, you're right. Since we started talking about tomatoes I have been craving them. I have been very good this winter about buying local in-season produce, but now that it appears to be spring in our gardens I am starting to glance at those beauties from "exotic" places - like grapes from Chile and strawberries from Oxnard, Ca. I confess to buying some of those grapes for a fruit medley that I served for dessert last night at a family dinner.

I hope they were really good & that everyone enjoyed them. Sometimes the produce is hit or miss. Love it when it's good. Flavourless toms end up in a 1 minute saute' with other veggies & feta. That way I'm not too disappointed about the $$ i spent for hope!

The fruit medley was good - I made a sauce of sweet dessert wine, honey, and lime juice. And we had chocolates with the fruit. We had a hearty meal of braised lamb shanks and mashed potatoes so the fruit was a good ending. One of the produce experts in New Seasons market gave me a few grapes to try before I committed to buying them - then he gave me taste samples of all the apple and tangerine varieties. I was no longer hungry when I left the market!

In my opinion, money spent for hope is money well spent. :)

I have been binging out my frozen strawberries the last few months, and it is like having a bit of Summer on the breakfast pancakes.

What kind of strawberries are they? I want to get some but didn't know what to get. But then our weather is so different than yours. I wrote to Raintree and asked them and she wrote back that Tristar would be best in my area.

Most of the ones I froze are Rainier, which are a very vigorous June bearing strawberry, great for freezing or fresh eating. I do have some Tristar plants as well, but I made the mistake 5 years ago of planting them both in the same bed (opposite sides) and the Rainier took over with its numerous runners. Tristar is a great tasting berry too, is everbearing, and it does not put out nearly so many runners. This really is a plus in their favor. The rampant Rainier runners can get overwhelming to deal with (though I will never lack for new plants).

Do you remember where you got the Tristar?

Yes, Tristar is a great tasting berry! Another one I like is Mignonette - a small wild strawberry, really, really tasty! Grew well in an earthbox.

I got mine in a bundle from a nursery in Olympia. I have seen them available in bundles of 25 at mail order places like Burnt Ridge Nursery. I was just looking at blueberries on their site. It has a lot of information about the different plants.

I'd like to try some wild strawberries as ground cover. Mignonette has such a lovely name!

I started some wild sb s for my moim several years ago, but they were not edible I don't think. They sure did spread fast tho.

I'm going to put strawberries in big pots this year - maybe it would be easier to keep the slugs away1

Good idea. I bought a strawberry pot at an estate sale last fall. It has never been used. I don't think I have ever been able to grow anything in those. They seem to dry out. Do you know, maybe a sealer I can use on it that would keep it from doing that? Years ago I thought I was so smart I used a roofing tar. LOL, well it never got dry. It was always tacky. I didn't know it would do that.

The pink panda strawberries are also beautiful groundcover. I have wild strawberries here. Used to have them all over the place until I eradicated them.

I have two strawberry jars. One terra cotta plain and one painted grey on the outside. I have sedums and lewisia in them. No problem with them drying out because it doesn't matter.

This message was edited Feb 26, 2010 4:06 PM

I was thinking about using regular pots that are very wide instead of the strawberry jars. That's a good idea to put sedums in those!

I was just reading through this thread and came upon Michael Z's post. I know we didn't know him well, but thought it might be nice for us to do something to remember him this season. Actually, it would be nice to do something to remember three of our PNW members who have left us in the last couple of years: Michael Z, Ned Hudson, and Robert Dokka.

Any ideas? I was thinking that we could all add one plant or simple decoration to our vegetable gardens so we'd think of them as we passed by . . .

I 'talked' to Ned but don't know the others.

I was thinking along the same lines, Kathy, and I am going to look for a source of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes to plant in memory of Michael Z. Ned was into various kinds of herbs and calendula. One of my goals this year is to re-claim my circular maze herb garden which I let revert back to weeds a few years ago when recovering from an injury. I don't know what Robert's gardening style was in plants. I remember seeing some amazing garden art/construction that he did.

This message was edited Feb 27, 2010 2:15 PM

I could use a bunch of calendula. I'll do that.

I met Robert one afternoon the summer before last. He had eclectic taste - a great variety of plants, as I recall, and was always working on stained glass projects. I do remember that he had Hollyhocks . . .

I think it's a great idea to plant mortgage lifter tomatoes! And I can certainly 'assign' a patch of Calendula to Ned's memory.

I know they don't need us, wherever they are. It's just nice (at least for me) to remark on the people I've met along the way - and to do it in the garden, which is the thing that brought us together.

katie59, what a thoughtful idea. I have plants in my garden that were given by people that are gone and when I'm working in the garden it brings back memories of the days we were plant hunting at nurseries or other moments shared. Jim

I like the idea of recalling a friend when you are in your garden. It is a privilege to occupy space in another person's brain.

It's such a nice place in which to remember them. When I'm in the garden I fcan imagine that they're just on a trip and that we see each other again soon . . .

On Saturday I started a Bio-Dome (#2 for the season) with Toothache plant, Tarragon, Brunswick Cabbage, Basil (which I will try growing indoors on the windowsill, too early to plant out, I will start more later on for outdoor growing), Various Lettuce varieties, Chicory, Mustard, Italian Dandelion, Crinkle Cress, Fennel and Cilantro.

Yesterday most of the seeds had already sprouted! I love heat mats!

http://www.boelstoddard.com/the-heat-mat-speeds-things-up/

essentialplanet, the heat mats really make a huge difference, I've used them plus the heat cables for many years, I used to think it was me, that I had a huge failure rate, then I found out all I needed was to add heat and voila! everything sprouted. Jim

EP---What a great website you made! Do you remove or transplant the seedlings as they emerge or do they remain in their cells until all emerge? I have a heat mat in my basement and need to get them in my cool greenhouse ASAP to prevent legginess. Many times I am too late----such as tomatoes. I am looking for a different system and those big domes look interesting.

Sue

Thanks beebonnet.

"Do you remove or transplant the seedlings as they emerge or do they remain in their cells until all emerge? "

It depends on evenly they emerge - if all are up, but a few of them still have not germinated, then I transfer the cells to another block, and move that block under lights in the garage while leaving the rest on the mat a little longer. I have the luxury of doing that since I have extra blocks on hand.

The tomatoes work great in the dome. Growing the tomato seedlings under lights that are very close to the plants helps prevent legginess. Also, you have to transplant the tomato seedlings AT LEAST one time before planting to the garden, and when you do you bury the stems so only the tip of the plants stick up over the soil, thus allowing them to form a very strong root system.

See my whole method of raising tomato seedlings on my blog at:

http://www.boelstoddard.com/starting-tomato-seedlings/

Bump

I am trying to spot who put up Drunken Woman lettuce - many thanks just got my territorial seeds today!!!

I can't find the thread, but I think it was Azorina (Linda).

Well, let's thank her regardless - she always has interesting things to say. And if the true owner of the idea puts their hand up we will thank them too.

If they would fix the search engine you could find it.

Azorina (LInda) Post # 7571773 above:

"I love to grow lettuces organically, especially gourmet and butter lettuces. In fact years ago when we moved in, I removed landscaping for a vegetable garden along the walkway in front of the house. I grow just about anything I can find and have had great success with heading types as well. My recent favorite lettuces are:
Drunken woman's fuzzy- headed
Yugoslavian red butter head
Freckles - a delightfully sweet cos type"

They all sound good. Very descriptive. LOL. From reading this I think what sounds best is Yugoslavian red butter head. That sounds real good. They all do.

edited to add:

I'm assuming that means a head lettuce rather than loose leaf.

This message was edited Mar 20, 2010 12:50 PM

Thanks, Holly. I scanned through this and didn't find that post - knew it was Azorina or Thistledown Farms - one of our two Lindas.

OK, so this is my first try at broccoli.....I started seed in the greenhouse and it sprouted like what seemed like almost immediately. Is this too early???? What do I do with the seedlings besides transplant them? How soon can they be hardened off? Thanks.

I started broccoli, too, in my cool greenhouse. I have done it before now, and I usually let them get true leaves---a set or 2-- and then harden off, then plant. I grow them in individual cells so they are not over crowded. They transplant nicely and like cool weather. Good luck.

I grow an heirloom lettuce called French Heirloom Lettuce. It's so pretty and tasty, too. Grows easily and fast. It looks pretty growing along side red and dark green lettuces.

Thanks MHF

Not too early, Sharon!
Go Broccoli!
You might want to cover it for low night temps...don't know how you're affected in your microclimate, there.