March 2007 Archives

this weekend mostly saw me do maintenance and preparation work instead of anything fun like sowing or harvesting (unless you count the overwintered cauliflower, which ended up slightly bitter, but still tasty). As I walking past the new carrot bed i noticed a bud of leaves attempting to break through the top layer of compost. Upon pulling it out, I was startled to find a five inch section of rosebush branch, presumably from my fall pruning, that was magically sprouting young leaves in the spring sun, even without any roots to draw nutrients!

I marveled at the resiliency certain plants seemed to have. It's one of the many things that rewards me in my efforts. Then I looked down and saw another emerging leaf bulb. I pulled it out to find a similar situation, but this time with a Hydrangea branch. Crazy.

Growing vegetables can be fun for many reasons, of course, but one of my favorite parts is getting a seed or a volunteer and not knowing exactly what the finished product is going to be like. Last fall I planted a number of cauliflower and broccoli seeds into an old recycling container filled with a mixture of soil out of my garden space, compost, and potting mix.

Portland has pretty mild winters, so you can grow many things through the winter and harvest them in spring, as long as you plant far enough in advance. Throughout the winter, i kept an eye on my two final candidates, one sprouting broccoli, and one Purple Cape cauliflower, but they showed only little activity until the daylight started increasing in February. And now, come to find out, the Purple Cape cauliflower begins to resemble broccoli soon after the head has set. Looks like I'm a bit late in harvesting this one, but i think it will still taste just fine.

Growing your own transplants early in the year is a wash for just about everything except the summer heat lovers, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Because the plants do most of their growing when the days get longer, a six week head start in planting only gets you around 2 weeks of gain at harvest. so you might as well wait until April and plant directly in the ground.

For the aforementioned heat-lovers, I've started mine kind of early, in the second week of February. I filled four plastic planting pots 4" square with potting soil, placed my tomato seeds in the top half inch or so and thoroughly watered them.

As I've read from Steve Solomon, the most important thing in getting a seed to germinate is temperature. the seed needs moist conditions, but watering the growing medium every day lowers the temperature. One of his solutions, which i've employed, is to let the water drain out from the pots, and then place them in a ziploc or otherwise airtight bag and set them on a windowsill or well lit place for a few days. The bag will keep in the moisture, and the daylight sun (whatever there is) will help keep the temperature close to 70 degrees. The seeds are activated by the initial watering, but as long as the medium remains moist, they won't need daily waterings.

My house is unheated during the day and probably hovers in the mid to low 60's, and my seeds were still able to sprout, so you have some leeway. Once the first leaves (cotyledons) have emerged, take them out of the bag and start watering them when the soil is dry.

After about a week, you should thin them down to the 3 healthiest seedlings per pot.