Grow Your Own – Ready…Set…Wait For It…
by John Weckerle
As the sprouting vegetables continue growing and requiring larger pots, we turn our thoughts briefly outdoors again with a longing eye turned toward the coming Spring. With that in mind, I decided to prepare the next experiment – a mini-greenhouse made of plastic wrapped and taped over the existing PVC hoop and chicken wire structure. To do this, I simply set the roll of plastic sheeting on the ground at one end and pulled the plastic up over the other, leaving a little extra on each side, and made a straight cut along the edge of the roll. Then I unfolded the plastic, and voila! – perfect fit (whew). A little folding, a little tape, and a couple of rocks, and we have a tiny greenhouse that, in theory, should allow me to plant earlier than would otherwise be the case. One modification – a little observation/ventilation flap in the top – remains to be completed, and I need to pick up a thermometer for monitoring purposes. The entire enterprise took about 15 to 20 minutes, with just one person.
Why so early? Well, the thyme, sage, and salad greens in this bed have actually survived the winter (so far), although they have definitely been limping along. If these begin to flourish with the new greenhouse and some more water, that will tell me that it’s time to start thinking about planting the other cool weather veggies – lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, green onions, snow peas, and so on – in that box.
As for the sprouting, the green bell peppers are finally coming up. These are the last of the “first sprouting,” which included:
- Arugula
- Basil
- Bell peppers
- Swiss chard
- Kale
- Snow peas
- Yellow squash
- Brussels sprouts (big failure last year, apparently due to the shortness of the growing season)
- Basil
- Cilantro
- String beans (bush)
- Green onions
- Beefsteak tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Snow peas
Of these, the green onions will probably have to be redone; only a couple came up. The snow peas have reached the top of the dowels they’re climbing – but I noticed some leaf yellowing this morning, and that’s a little disturbing. The string beans, arugula, and lettuce have been transferred from their 3-inch starter pots to larger containers. I started a new sprouting Friday evening, including:
- Parsley
- Oregano
- Dill
- Spinach
- Flowering Kale
The next set of items to be sprouted – in a couple of weeks, if I can put some of the veggies out in the mini-greenhouse – will be flowers. The first round will include salvia and zinnia (the hummingbirds seem to love both); cosmos; coreopsis (for the bees); petunias and impatiens (for hanging baskets, and at least the hummingbirds show an interest in the petunias); and cosmos (because they look good). We’ve found that growing petunias or pansies either in the ground or in regular pots is a useless enterprise – the squirrels come through, wipe out all the flowers, and then start working their way down the plant until there’s nothing left.
We are also considering making some solitary bee nesting blocks (some references here and here). With all this plant activity, we can probably use all the pollinators we can get. On the other hand, we know that we have leaf cutter bees here, and that can be an issue for some of the plants we have growing for future bird, bee, and butterfly populations.
5 Responses “Grow Your Own – Ready…Set…Wait For It…”
Maybe test for adequate iron regarding the yellowing of the leaves.
Very good. but it is colder than a well digger’s rear in the Klondike (at least it seems so to me).so, for now I’ll hitch a ride on your experience and be a vicarious gardener.
seriously, thanks for the article. I’ll look for the next.
That was my first thought, too, but it’s brand-new Miracle Gro potting soil. I’ll have to pick up a test kit just to make sure. It looks like it’s limited to a few leaves, and the new growth looks good and healthy. I may have to pot the snow peas and grow them indoors; they’re already well over two feet tall and have outgrown the dowels I gave them to climb.
I’m forwarding this one widely – community garden folk, local gardeners, and so on. Otherwise, like Chuck’s, my participation is vicarious.
What is the followup on the snow pea yellowing leaf problem? I’ve got this issue too and the closest description of the problem that I can come up with is that it’s Near-Wilt or Fusarium disease (fungi causing root rot); but, the characteristics don’t match up exactly, just the basics of the yellowing leaves: my leaves curl up rather than down.
I’d love to hear from someone who can help. My e-mail address is mdnagel [at sign] hotmail.com.
Oh, new soil. Seeds were inoculated. Plants are in containers with, I believe, sufficient drainage.
Thanks!
Our snow peas, and the string beans, turned yellow after having some sort of small aphid attached to the leaves. They looked like potato aphids. Once we got rid of them, some of the plants began putting out new leaves, although the damage was enough that we decided not to try and bring them back; we also didn’t want to put them in the outdoor beds and risk an infestation.
Our leaves turned downward, and I strongly suspect that the aphids were the problem. The only thing I’ve found with upward curling was powdery mildew, but you didn’t mention any powdery white substances.