Patience, Provisions, and Planting for Beneficials

I.  TIPS ON TIMING

Love those early warm spells, but don’t be in a rush to plant warm season vegetables. Warmer soil temperatures are important for the success of veggies like corn, beans and squash.  If the soil is too cold and wet, germination will be slow and, worst case, seed may rot.  Tomatoes, peppers  and eggplant are really tropicals and prefer nighttime air temperatures consistently above 50 degrees.  Nighttime lows below 50 will slow, if not permanently stunt their growth, so there is really no gain in transplanting them out too early, unless you put considerable time and effort into sheltering the plants until night temperatures warm; usually with heavy use of fossil fuel based products.  (If you really feel compelled to plant them out early and build plastic tents, used wall-o-waters, etc. please wash and reuse the plastic product as many seasons as possible.  To ultimately recycle, the plastic needs to be relatively clean.  I put one piece at a time in with a load of laundry, then off to the recycler.)

Advice on Soil Temperature from the Oregon State University Extension Service

Crops that will germinate in the coolest soils (down to 40 degrees) include arugula, fava beans, kale, lettuce, pac choi, parsnips, peas, radicchio, radish and spinach seed.

Deborah Kean, an Oregon State University vegetable researcher, provides these hints to ensure further success with early season vegetable gardening:

• Wait to plant until the soil reaches the proper temperature for a specific crop.
• Buy cold-tolerant or short-season varieties.
• Warm the soil with plastic mulch, a cloche, a Wall-o’-Water, spun fiber or fabric “floating” row cover or cold frame.
• Be prepared to protect things if a hard freeze is forecast. Just because a crop has germinated and is starting to grow doesn’t mean it can’t be hit by a late frost.
• Prepare well-aerated soil with plenty of organic matter for a seedbed.

By: Carol Savonen
Source: Deborah Kean

Thermometers to measure soil temperature can be purchased at well stocked nurseries, such as Portland Nursery in Portland; The Gardener’s Choice in Tigard, or ordered via mail from Territorial Seed Company.

The Best Way to Plan Your Vegetable Garden

Our Vegetable Garden Planner makes it easy to draw out your vegetable beds, add plants and move them around to get the perfect layout. Either feet and inches or metric units are supported and any shape of garden can be created.

Whether you use traditional row planting, raised beds or Square Foot Gardening the Vegetable Garden Planner adapts to suit your gardening style.

Produce the Perfect Garden Plan

The Vegetable Garden Planner has over 130 vegetables, herbs and fruit and detailed growing information is just a click away. As you add vegetables the space they require is clearly shown by the colored area around each plant and it calculates how many plants will fit into the area.  Crop rotation is easy as the Vegetable Garden Planner warns you where you should avoid placing each vegetable based on what was in your previous years’ plans.

http://gardenplanner.territorialseed.com/

THE OLD FARMER’S ALMANAC:

The seasons are determined by changing sunlight (not heat!)—which is determined by how our planet orbits the Sun and the tilt of its axis.

On the first day of spring—the vernal equinox—day and night are each approximately 12 hours long (with the actual time of equal day and night, in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring a few days before the vernal equinox). The Sun crosses the celestial equator going northward; it rises exactly due east and sets exactly due west,

First Day of Spring: Vernal Equinox

Ah, spring! This season brings increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and the rebirth of flora and fauna.

The word equinox is derived from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” The spring and fall equinoxes are the only dates with equal daylight and dark as the Sun crosses the celestial equator. At the equinoxes, the tilt of Earth relative to the Sun is zero, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun. (However, the tilt of Earth relative to its plane of orbit, called the ecliptic plane, is always about 23.5 degrees.)

Growing Guide: Spring-Planted Bulbs

Our handy chart takes the guess-work out of planting bulbs.

Spring-planted bulbs usually flower in the summer.

For colorful bulbs all summer long, we’ve noted the blooming season (early summer to early fall).

Just remember: plant AFTER the last front date in your area.Consult our frost charts.

ENLARGE chart below. Click here.

Frost Chart for United States

Dates given are normal averages for a light freeze or frost (32°F); local weather and topography may cause considerable variations. The possibility of frost occurring after the spring dates and before the fall dates is 50 percent. The classification of freezing temperatures is usually based on their effect on plants, with the following commonly accepted categories:

Light freeze:

29°F to 32°F—tender plants killed, with little destructive effect on other vegetation.

Moderate freeze:

25°F to 28°F—widely destructive effect on most vegetation, with heavy damage to fruit blossoms and tender and semi-hardy plants.

Severe freeze:

24°F and colder—damage to most plants.

First Frost
Fall

I.  TIPS ON TIMING

Love those early warm spells, but don’t be in a rush to plant warm season vegetables. Warmer soil temperatures are important for the success of veggies like corn, beans and squash.  If the soil is too cold and wet, germination will be slow and, worst case, seed may rot.  Tomatoes, peppers  and eggplant are really tropicals and prefer nighttime air temperatures consistently above 50 degrees.  Nighttime lows below 50 will slow, if not permanently stunt their growth, so there is really no gain in transplanting them out too early, unless you put considerable time and effort into sheltering the plants until night temperatures warm; usually with heavy use of fossil fuel based products.  (If you really feel compelled to plant them out early and build plastic tents, used wall-o-waters, etc. please wash and reuse the plastic product as many seasons as possible.  To ultimately recycle, the plastic needs to be relatively clean.  I put one piece at a time in with a load of laundry, then off to the recycler.)

Advice on Soil Temperature from the Oregon State University Extension Service

Crops that will germinate in the coolest soils (down to 40 degrees) include arugula, fava beans, kale, lettuce, pac choi, parsnips, peas, radicchio, radish and spinach seed.

Deborah Kean, an Oregon State University vegetable researcher, provides these hints to ensure further success with early season vegetable gardening:

• Wait to plant until the soil reaches the proper temperature for a specific crop.
• Buy cold-tolerant or short-season varieties.
• Warm the soil with plastic mulch, a cloche, a Wall-o’-Water, spun fiber or fabric “floating” row cover or cold frame.
• Be prepared to protect things if a hard freeze is forecast. Just because a crop has germinated and is starting to grow doesn’t mean it can’t be hit by a late frost.
• Prepare well-aerated soil with plenty of organic matter for a seedbed.

By: Carol Savonen
Source: Deborah Kean

Thermometers to measure soil temperature can be purchased at well stocked nurseries, such as Portland Nursery in Portland; The Gardener’s Choice in Tigard, or ordered via mail from Territorial Seed Company.

Vermicompost is ready for harvest when it contains few-to-no scraps of uneaten food or bedding^{[citation needed]}. There are several methods of harvesting from small-scale systems: “dump and hand sort”, “let the worms do the sorting”, “alternate containers” and “divide and dump.” These differ on the amount of time and labor involved and whether the vermicomposter wants to save as many worms as possible from being trapped in the harvested compost.

While harvesting, it’s also a good idea to try to pick out as many eggs/cocoons as possible and return them to the bin. Eggs are small, lemon-shaped yellowish objects that can usually be seen pretty easily with the naked eye and picked out

Worms escaping

Having worms escape is one of the most feared outcomes for many new vermicomposters. Worms generally stay in the bin, but may try to leave the bin when first introduced, or often after a rainstorm when outside humidity is high.^[35] Maintaining adequate conditions in the worm bin and putting a light over the bin when first introducing worms should eliminate this problem.

Additional information available:

Cute vegetable garden ideas

These vegetable garden ideas, presented at Malvern Gardening Show are cute, funny, perfect for small space and easy to adapt. Potatoes in bags…

Herbs growing on the wall in recycled containers.

Raised beds of this edible garden, lots of containers, lettuce mixed with calendula – make the difference.

Lavender as border plant seems to be perfect – I am going to adapt this idea in my garden. I will rather choose L. angustifolia as it is more hardy and will survive winter in zone 6.

Old wheelbarrow with arugula, lettuce and parsley…