Spring Update

Here's a quick snap shot of how spring is going in my basement.

Kale & Kalads

Kale is an awesome vegetable. It's hardy enough to go the distance in the late fall and early winter. With proper watering, it tolerated the hottest of our NJ summer. 

It's also an extremely fast germinator. The picture shows my kale, which sprouted 3 days after planting. 

Last year, when the spring lettuce ran out, kale was the green that carried up through the summer, until the next batch of lettuce grew. My small kids all loved it, and we even made a few batches of kale chips in our oven. We called our salads, "kalads."

The true value in kale comes from its' nutrition. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, and rich in calcium. Kale is a source of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties.

So, if you have not tried to garden with kale, it's good for you, tastes great and tolerates the extremes of weather. Do it up!

Low Tech Low Cost Germination

I love to piece projects together with existing materials. This is a quick pic of my plant growing area, in the corner of the playroom. Last year it was in the dining room and made a big mess (wife not happy), so now we've got a bigger area and everyone is happy. All I needed to buy was four $12 shop lights from Home Depot, while the rest came from home. This $50 investment will yield large dividends of garden veggies, far exceeding the initial price tag.

Germination Station

Germination stations don't have to be fancy or cost $20. In fact, these are chinese take out food containers resting on top of my fridge. They are sealed to keep the seeds and soil moist. I also have germination happening in open containers too, but I need to spray them daily or they'll dry out. My friend has a container on top of his hot water heater, to speed up the germination process, says it works quickly. Regardless of your method, high or low tech, expensive or cheap, nothing beats seeing those little seedlings emerge and come to life! You should have seem the amazement on my kids faces when they saw the new growth! #priceless

First Sprout

It's official, we have our first sprout of 2013. This little dude is a Persimmon Heirloom Tomato. He only took a few days to wake from his slumber as he germinated on top of my fridge. If all goes well, this dude and others will be planted in the garden in early April, one month ahead if schedule, sheltered inside a hoop house.

Including the Kids

Including the Kids

Kids see everything. They recently helped me construct a new shelving system to grow plants on. When they caught me getting some seeds going without them, there was a small protest. So, the picture posted here is their plantings from earlier today.

I have 3 girls younger than 7, and each tray in the picture represents their planting of choice. One wanted tomatoes, another lettuce and last basil. They have their own space on the shelf now, which we'll monitor each day. I have a little spray water bottle they can use to care for their plants. It's exciting to watch my little gardeners passionate about their garden. For me, it was time with my kids, and I know that with that time together, we planted more than just seeds today.

Littlest Pet Shop Invades

Growing Plants in the Playroom

This is what happens when your grow light system is in a corner of the playroom. I have 3 little girls and they are my garden buddies too. They helped me plant these radishes and I guess they thought the radishes needed some guards to protect them from their little brother. Some people have garden gnomes, I have garden pet shop guys.  Well, looks like I just got about 20 more little garden buddies.

Hoop House at Night

Night Falls on the Hoop House

I love this photo! It's a trophy of sorts, as I never expected to grow lettuce beyond Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, an early NJ Nor'Easter collapsed a section, but thankfully, no spinach was damaged. This is my second hoop house. It's made out of painters plastic and metal electrical conduit which I bent. Last year I made one from PVC, but I now prefer conduit. The cool looking light was all the heat I need to keep the spinach warm on our cold nights. Two grow lights were set on a thermostat, to turn on at 32 degrees.

After battling the cold through mid January, I decided to pull the plug on the hoop house. The yield was diminishing and the bulbs were working overtime, even during the day too.  I harvested all the spinach (a few salad spinners), covered the remains in hay and leaves, and wait for new growth in a few weeks.

The light bulbs were transferred to the sunken cold frame to help on a really cold stretch. I can't wait to see how this hoop house returns to growth with the emergence of spring in a few weeks. I'll be taking pics and making a post for sure :) Thanks for reading, and share a comment if you can. Peace.

Sunken Cold Frame

Sunken Cold Frame Experiment

Fresh, organic WINTER lettuce and spinach on January 19, in NJ! I laugh just thinking about it. Never did I believe that an August planting of lettuce would be picked in February, the middle of the winter!

It should be no surprise that this is my favorite experiment / nerd project of the year. I couldn't believe how well the sunken cold frame worked out!   By this time we had weathered some snow and hard frosts and even Hurricane Sandy. Survival of the fittest cold frame . The veggies were planted in August, and new sprouts were still coming out in February!

Protecting the cold frame was easy, but still took some creativity to keep it warm. At first, I covered it with a sheet of plastic, hoping to stop those pesky drafts! Stage 2 was adding a blanket on the single digit nights. Lastly, and also most nerdy (I am a nerd), I eventually added a light bulb to give extra warmth to keep my greens going the distance.  Here's the nerd part, I set the light bulb on a thermostat, so the light bulb would turn on at 32 degrees. Yeah, who doesn't have a thermostat laying around the house?  I love nerding out in my garden. It made winter gardening worry free and hassle free too, and just funny knowing the thermostat was saving me trips outside.

The sunken cold frame was such a success that I excavated and sunk another one! I'll probably use the new one, (on the right in the picture) to harden off my spring seedlings. So, I'm not sure right now if I'll add topsoil to it and plant it for this spring, but it will be planted next winter.

Best of all, the cold frame project didn't cost a dime :)  I used stuff laying around or given to me, piecing it together. Unfortunately, I broke a window tossing a trowel in the wrong direction :( and I learned a physics lesson about projectile motion.

The experiment ended when the greens ran out, so who knows how long it would have gone on. My last pick, was in early February.  I cut the greens near their base and covered them with some straw and leaves to keep them warm. In a few weeks, they'll be sprouting all over again. I can't wait to see my little green buddies again. I peeked in the other day and they are still there under the hay, just waiting for some warm days to begin their emergence.

Tomato Time Begins!

Seed Time Begins!

It's tomato seed time again! This year we are getting an early jump on things hoping to plant an early crop of tomatoes. I'm going to plant some early NJ heirloom tomatoes in a hoop house hopefully in early to mid April. The old seeds were stored on the same paper towel that I dried them on over the summer.  

Here's how we dry the seeds

• We generally will take the seeds from the nicest of the heirloom tomatoes
• Dry them on the towel
• Pack them up for next year 

Starting Seeds (Heirloom)

• I bought some miracle grow seed starter soil from the Home Depot to use as my soil. 
• I made a muddy mixture of it by adding some tap water 
• Placed a small layer in some left over chinese food containers! 
• Dropped in the seeds
• Covered with a little soil
• Sealed the container
• Placed it on top of the refrigerator to germinate. 

In about a week, we'll have little tomato dudes sprouting again! From there, the action begins and my first transplants will happen. Tune back in then!