Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 1st, 2011. Comment. 
Start seeds of impatiens, achillea, petunia, wax begonia and gerbera daisy in flats. Plant anemone bulbs in a greenhouse for April harvest.
Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 2nd, 2011. Comment.
Save money and eat better by growing fresh fruits and vegetables year-round in your home garden, even if you live in the north! Fresh produce naturally tastes better than produce that was picked before it was ripe and shipped hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to your local grocery store. Fresh produce also has a higher nutritional value.
If you grow your own food, there is no need to worry about natural or man-made disasters that may prevent your local grocery store shelves from being stocked, nor do you need to wonder what chemicals or preservatives were sprayed on your produce.
Follow these 5 easy steps to start growing your own produce year-round now!
1.) The first step is select a sunny area of your yard to garden in. An area close to your home will make it easier for you to get to your fresh produce during the winter months, especially in the event of heavy snow fall.
2.) Prepare the ground by removing all the weeds, turning the soil and amending it with compost. Turn the soil by hand two to three times, digging to a depth of 24 inches, if possible. Be sure to allow the soil to rest in between turnings so the weed seed on top has a chance to germinate. It is best to get as much weed seed out now as possible. Be aware that many weed seeds can germinate after lying dormant for 7 years!
3.) Plant cool crops in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. Examples of these crops include lettuce, salad mixtures, endive, Swiss chard, kale, potatoes, carrots, spinach, turnips, broccoli and onions. There are many other varieties of vegetables that will thrive under cool conditions. The best way to know what works well in your area is through trial and error.
4.) Cover the seeds, or young plants, with a cold frame to protect them. A cold frame is nothing more than a box like structure with a clear glass or plastic top that allows light into the plants. The sides can be made of glass, plastic, wood, straw or a variety of other building materials.
5.) Cold frames are also useful for planting out warm weather crops a month (or more) before the last frost in your area. Many plants will survive in cooler temperatures as long as they are protected from frost. Use them again in the fall to protect cool weather crops that were sown in late summer so you can harvest fresh vegetables all winter long.
If you want to know more about year-round gardening, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, is a great book that covers all aspects of gardening indoors and out, all year long.
Filed under Vegetable Gardening, Year-Round Gardening by on Feb 3rd, 2011. 1 Comment.
Start seeds of tomatillos and moluccella (bells of Ireland) seeds in flats. Plant crocosmia tubers in the greenhouse for July harvest.
Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 3rd, 2011. Comment.
Start Moluccella (Bells of Ireland) seed in damp paper towels and refrigerate until germination occurs.
Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 5th, 2011. Comment.
Gardeners in cold climates need a way to protect the crops they are growing during the winter months. Greenhouses, tunnel houses and cold frames are all great choices for doing this, but what, exactly is the difference between the three of them?
Think of a greenhouse as a small room made out of glass or plastic. The walls and roof are generally clear, although this is not always the case. Electric fans, heaters and automated watering devices are usually an essential part of a greenhouse, although not always. The idea behind a greenhouse is that you control the temperature inside it making it possible to grow plants, such as orchids or other tropical plants, all winter long even in cold, northern climates.
A tunnel house is very similar in size to a greenhouse, but it is unheated. These tunnel-shaped structures are usually covered with clear plastic. Depending on the design of the tunnel house, the sides may raise and lower to allow adequate ventilation into the structure. Tunnel houses are the ideal structure for growing cool season crops all winter long because you can walk into them. This makes harvesting crops nicer.
A cold frame is the simpliest of these structures. It is nothing more than a box-like structure with a clear glass or plastic top. It can be square, rectangle or any other shape you wish it to be. Cold frames are easy to make at home using four bales of straw and an old window. These structures are unheated and used to protect cool weather crops over the winter. They are also useful for hardening off indoor grown seedlings. Hardening off is the process that occurs when seedlings or plants are gradually exposed to weather elements they are not accusomed to. If this process is done too fast, the seedlings or plants could die of shock.
Is it necessary to heat a garden structure during the winter months to keep the plants inside alive?
The answer to this question depends on what you intend to grow. Cool season crops and perennial plants do not need heat to survive the winter inside a garden structure. This is why tunnel houses and cold frames are such popular items.
Are garden structures expensive to buy or build?
Some garden structures run thousands of dollars, while others cost less than $25. The cost depends on what you want. It is possible to build a large greenhouse for under $1,000. That same greenhouse, bought through a greenhouse company, could run $5,000 or more.
If you want to know more about year-round gardening or gardening structures, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, is a great book that covers all aspects of gardening indoors and out, all year long.
Filed under Year-Round Gardening by on Feb 5th, 2011. 1 Comment.
Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 6th, 2011. Comment.
This is more of a personal list than anything else. This list contains all of the germinated seeds that I have potted up intending to put into the garden this year.
Vegetables
18 Container Lettuce Ruby & Emerald Duet Plants
41 Cauliflower Purple Cape Plants
40 Baby Cabbage Pixie Plants
18 Broccoli Purple Peacock Plants
28 Tricolor Cherry Tomato Garden Candy Plants
41 Signature Salads Wild Country Mesclun Plants
6 Ace 55 Tomato Plants
11 Cabbage Copenhagen Market Early Plants
1 pot Scallions Delicious Duo – need divided once they are old enough
29 Wild Kale Garden Mix Plants
65 Container Lettuce Sweet Baby Romaine Plants
19 Flat Late Dutch Cabbage Plants
22 Cauliflower Rainbow Mix Plants
19 Broccoli Long Harvest All Season Blend Plants
37 Broccoli Heading Romanesco Plants
9 Brussels Sprouts Seven Hills Plants
21 Beefsteak Tomato Plants
29 Spinach Bloomsdale Plants
7 Summer Lettuce Bouquet European Reds & Greens Plants
19 Heirloom Tomato Summer Feast Plants
9 Container Chard Pot Of Gold Plant
7 Mexican Tomatillo Two Color Fiesta Plants
1 Container Lettuce Garden Babies Butterhead Plant
1 Onion Spanish Utah Plants
10 Heirloom Tomato Rainbow’s End Plants
18 Kale Glamour Red F1 – 2011 All-American Selections
4 Tomato Sub-Arctic Plenty VF Plants
11 Tomato Terenzo F1 – 2011 All-American Selections
Flowers
11 Stock Giant Imperial Plants
9 Echinacea Powwow Wild Berry Plants – 2010 All-American Selections Winner
4 Bells of Ireland Antique Apple Green Plants
3 Hollyhock Pom-Pom Apricot-Peach Parfait Plants
17 Statice Plants
32 Geranium maderense Plants
6 Dianthus Allwoodi x Village Pink Plants
2 pots Snapdragon Tall Deluxe Mix – need divided once they are old enough
1 pot Amole – need divided once they are old enough
5 individual Amole Plants
3 Gaillardia aristata Arizonia Apricot – 2011 All-American Selections Winner
2 Stock 10 Week Bouquet
Filed under Gardening News, Gardening News, Seed Starting by on Feb 7th, 2011. Comment.
Filed under Seed Starting, Seed Starting and Cut Flower Production Calendar February by on Feb 8th, 2011. Comment.
Small shrubs from China and Mexico.
Flowers from spring to autumn in a range of colors. Those colors are red, pink, mauve and white.
Growing tips:
Abelia prefer rich well drained soil in an open site.
Abelia will tolerate some frost.
Prune after flowering.
Germination tips:
It is best to propagate Abelia from new growth cuttings under mist.
Filed under Plant Encyclopedia by on Feb 9th, 2011. Comment.
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