Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Prepped Beds and Snap Peas

Alan has kindly prepared all the beds for planting. He turned the soil and added a wheelbarrow full of compost as well as a bag of additional compost. They look great and are just waiting for some seeds & starts. Thanks, Alan!

Just planted 2 packets of Oregon sugar snap peas in the garden. You'll see the tomato cages in bed #4 waiting for pea vines to grow. So look forward to these treats in approximately 70 days!

heather

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Lettuce take this advice

Here's some good advice Ginger gave me on growing lettuce:

Well, I am cautious in the early spring, but all my books and catalogs say it is fine to start lettuces right now.  Most state that a day temperature of 55 or higher is best for germination.  We are close to that now.  You risk freezing, but then just plant again. 
Here is some info and some varieties to try early.
Plant some now, wait 2 weeks, plant another row – so space some out and leave room for a few extra rows to be planted in 2 weeks, then 4.  That will give you harvest over the extended period of time.  You can keep planting lettuces up to day temps of about 80 – quite a while from now.  Dill can go in now too.
 
Things that can stand lower temps include:
Endive-frizee
Any Asian mix or just mizunas, pak choi’s
Cress – upland varieties – 35-40 days
Try mesclun mixes – good to eat in 21-25 days
A little slower are romaines, buttercrunch and bibb
If you grow something like oak leaf or most leaf lettuces you can cur and it usually will come again. 
A good rule is when a lettuce starts to bolt – eat it asap, but taste the leaves before preparing, some get bitter right when they start to bolt, some not until they flower.