container gardening

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10 Easy Plants to Grow From Seed

It’s the end of May here in Connecticut, and how is your garden doing? Things here are painfully slow going here. We’ve had a wet, cold spring and in between rainstorms, we’ve been busy rebuilding the yard and changing some things around for easier maintenance. We’re not as young as we used to be and its time to transition the gardens into the next phase of its life. More perennials and fewer annuals.

To add insult to injury, this winter’s brutal polar vortex combined with the wet, cold spring has taken its toll on our garden. Many trees, flowering bushes, and lavenders didn’t survive. My hubby has been busy digging up the deceased and replacing with new softwood bushes and flowering plants. I’m amazed at the extent of the damage. Mother Nature can be so cruel!

I’ve been surveying the raised bed area and figuring out what new perennial herbs I can plant that will survive our crazy winters. My big experiment will be seeing if I can grow old fashioned big bush roses. I’m planting them in the largest raised bed we have. Winter freeze will be a huge concern since the beds are above ground. Will the roots overwinter in a raised bed? I don’t know, so stay tuned…

In the greenhouse, we ripped out the aquaponics system and reverted the 2 beds back to dirt. I planted more rosemary and experimenting with scented geraniums. The variety I’m starting with is “Rose of Attar”. The leaves really do smell like roses! If they survive the winter, they will be a wonderful addition to my herb garden.

Time Well Spent!

The good news is, the time spent waiting for storms to pass and temperatures to rise has been productive. I’ve been working on the last bits of my garden book. It will be published sometime this summer titled “My Garden Journal” (although, the title may change…I’m currently playing with different titles).

I started journaling my gardens 20 years ago to remind me what worked and what didn’t from one season to the next. Gardening is a journey – your yard is an ever-changing ecosystem and I found that journaling gave me a higher success rate.

My personal journal evolved over time. It wasn’t fancy, just a list of plants and comments in the margins of how things went during the growing season.

However, when I was teaching children how to garden, I discovered by accident, my journals were a great teaching tool. My simple journal pages made the perfect outline for the curriculum I was creating. I took what I learned from these very talented students and reworked the format. The results were a simple easy to follow garden journal for children (and adults too!)

In addition to the journal pages, I also added other useful sections. For example, Parts of a Plant, Themed Gardens, How to Make Compost Tea and 10 Easiest Plants to Grow from Seed. These sections were designed to give young gardeners basic tools to be successful in their first years of gardening.

Excerpt from “My Garden Journal”

Here is the section from the book on the “10 Easiest Plants to Grow from Seed”.

1. Arugula

Arugula is a small leafy green that has a peppery taste. It makes a perfect addition to salads and pasta recipes. To get ideas on how to prepare this green, do an online search. There are lots of recipes to pick from.

Arugula can be direct seeded into the ground and prefers to grow in cooler temperatures and is best grown in early spring and late summer into fall skipping the hottest part of the growing season.

2. Basil

Basil is an excellent herb to grow. Basil does not do well if direct seeded into the soil.  Start your seeds indoors in small containers and then transplant outside when it’s warm enough.

When the plant gets big enough, pick the leaves off to add to a fresh tomato salad.  Dry the leaves and save them for your herb and spice collection.  There is nothing better tasting than homegrown basil in spaghetti sauce!

Basil prefers hot weather and full sun and best-grown late spring through the hottest part of the summer. Make sure the flowers are pinched off frequently for a bushier plant, which will produce more leaves.

If you are growing this plant in a container, water frequently.  Plants grown in containers dry out quicker than plants grown in the ground or in raised beds.

3. Microgreens

Microgreens are 5 to 10 day old baby plants that you can harvest and eat. Don’t confuse them with sprouts which are seeds that have sprouted in water and then eaten. The difference is to grow microgreens you must plant them in potting soil or some sort of growing medium sprout them and then harvest the plant.

These baby plants are high in nutrition and can be grown on a kitchen counter with no sunlight. They are the perfect plants for a kitchen garden.

The easiest microgreens to grow are:

  • Kale
  • Arugula
  • Broccoli
  • Spicy mustard greens

4. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a gardener’s summer favorite. Make sure you have plenty of room to grow these plants; they like to spread their vines everywhere.  Do an online search

to learn how to save space by growing up.  There are many ideas on how to build simple trellis’ using materials such as long sticks and twine. 

Cucumber seeds can be direct seeded into the ground in late spring, or can be started indoors (early spring) in small containers and transplanted into the garden when it’s warm enough.

5. Green Beans

These are one of the easiest plants to grow, and you get a lot of beans in return for your work.  They can be direct seeded in the ground late spring. Beans like to grow in direct sun and love hot temperatures.

When researching seeds, make sure you know which kind of beans you’re buying. There are bush beans and pole beans.  Bush beans don’t need any trellising.  Just plant and watch them grow and harvest them when big enough.

Pole beans need a trellis to climb on.  

6. Green Onions

Green onions are tall, green and white stalks and they are fun to grow.  Patients will be essential, because they may take most of the growing season before you can harvest them.

Green onions grow well in containers but need frequent watering during hot weather. They are a perfect vegetable to grow if you have a spot that has partial shade.  Direct seed in early spring and keep watering.  Onions take many weeks before they sprout.  So be patient.

Onions also do well if left in the garden over winter. Once the garden bed is established, they will self-seed (the seeds drop into the garden bed after they flower), and new plants will grow the next season.

7. Kale

There are many kinds of kale to grow, so do your research on which varieties will grow well in your area.  Kale likes cooler temperatures but will tolerate some heat if the plants are well established.

Kale is another plant that can be stared in early spring and late fall and will tolerate colder temperatures until a hard freeze or even snow.  These can be direct seeded into the ground.

Dinosaur Kale is a good recommendation if you are looking for tender leaves, which are perfect for salads.  If you want to grow big leaf varieties like Red Russian Kale, their leaves are perfect for making crispy kale chips – which are like potato chips.  Yum!

8. Peas

Peas are another early spring and fall plant to grow and can be direct seeded into the ground.  My peas never make it to the kitchen because I eat them right off the vine while working in the garden.  They make a great snack!

These plants require something to climb on otherwise they will grow in a heap of strings on the ground. 

9. Tomatoes

There is nothing more satisfying than a fresh picked homegrown tomato! They are gardener’s pride and joy! Do your research on what kind, or color you want to grow.  There are hundreds of varsities to pick from and you need to know the difference between an Indeterminate and Determinate tomato variety.

For beginner gardeners, I would recommend not growing tomatoes in the heirloom (or determinate category) until you are an experienced gardener. Heirloom tomatoes taste great but can be very temperamental if the plants don’t get an even amount of water and sustaining hot temperatures.  They are also prone to disease and fungal problems.

If the plants get stressed this results in what is called end rot or blossom rot.  The tomato is not ripe enough to pick but instead starts rotting on the bottom of the fruit and the falls off the plant.  Once a plant starts producing rotten fruit the problem cannot be fixed. The plant must be pulled out of the ground and thrown away.   

I recommend varieties like “Big Beef” or “New Girl” for a nice evenly round healthy tomato and are perfect for sandwiches or salads.  These varieties are what is called “Indeterminate” hybrids and are not prone to disease or fungal problems.

There are smaller tomato varieties you can grow too.  Grape and cherry tomatoes produce a lot of fruit and are fun to grow.  Make sure you share with friends and family if you have too many.

Tomato Definitions:

Indeterminate Tomato: Tall plants that require staking for trellis and will keep producing fruit up until first frost.

Determinate Tomato: A bush variety that is low and compact and doesn’t require staking. These plants grow a certain number of fruit and then the plant stops growing and dies.  Unlike the indeterminate tomatoes where the plant continues to produce fruit until it’s too cold.  Heirloom tomato varieties are determinate plants.

I recommend you start your seeds indoors in small containers and then transplant into the garden in late spring. Do not direct seed into the ground the seeds will have difficulty sprouting.  Tomatoes need full sun and plenty of hot temperatures.

10. Sunflowers

Sunflowers are beautiful and can be a showy centerpiece to any garden. The good news is sunflowers now come in many different sizes.  These are a perfect plant to direct seed into the garden.

There are shorter more compact varieties that produce multiple flower heads that are smaller. These are great for flower bouquets.

The tall varieties like Royal Hybrid produce one big flower and need lots of sun.  Make sure your seeds are organic if growing these flowers for bird food and don’t spray your plants with pesticides or herbicides. Chemicals hurt the birds and wildlife that will live among your plants in the garden.

At the end of the season, cut the flower heads and dry them. The birds will appreciate a nice snack when there is little food to forage on during the cold winter months.

 

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Flower & Garden Show 2015

If you have cabin fever from all this snow and extremely cold weather come on down to the CT Flower Show and warm up by thinking about spring! Starting today through Sunday I will be at the CT Flower & Garden Show. I will have a sampling of my best selling soaps plus, lavender sugar scrubs, lavender body sprays and herbal salves.

Flower Show

PLUS! Show offer only!  Interested in turning your backyard or small plot of land into cash? Off is only good during the show get $50.00 off my next full day SPIN Farming workshop March 14th from 9 – 4 in South Glastonbury. Show price $150.00 normally $200.00.

SPIN Workshop Flyer

 

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Waiting for Spring

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It’s been a cold and icy winter here in Connecticut and we are making the best of it with warm cozy fires in the evenings and bundling up with layers of sweaters and wool socks if we have to go out.  On the other hand, my poor cat has had it with the cold temps that keep him inside more than he wants to be and we start hearing about it from him when mid- January rolls around.  We’ve learned how to speak cat during these cold winter months.  He is very vocal and expressive when he’s not happy.

However, I happen to love January, especially the last week, because this is the time when I begin to implement my growing plan for the upcoming season.  I begin to start my seedlings in the greenhouse for an early spring crop.  If you are thinking about starting a garden, now is the perfect time to start planning.  A well planned garden will make planting and care both easier and more productive.

1047918-Royalty-Free-RF-Clip-Art-Illustration-Of-A-Cartoon-Construction-Worker-Digging_thumb[12][1]Before You Dig

Here are some basic things to consider:

  • Soil – what kind of soil do you have? Is it loose, level, well drained? Is it sandy or hard clay? Plants will not grow in either of these soil types unless lots of organic matter like well-rotted compost is added.
  • Sunlight – how much sun does that spot have during the day? You need at least 10 plus hours of sunlight per day for high quality vegetables.

 

  • Shrubs and Trees – they will compete with the sunlight if they are near your garden.   Monitor where the shade pattern is during the day and place your garden outside of the shaded area. In addition, their roots tend to choke out tender vegetable plants, so the further away they are the better.

 

  • Water – How close is the water supply to your garden? Gardens require frequent watering during the growing season. If you must carry water to your garden or haul a long hose, place your garden nearer to the water supply.

 

  • Location, location, location – garden placement is the most critical piece to growing. If your garden is too far away, chances are it will be neglected. Gardens need to be cared for daily, which means, planting, weeding, pruning, watering and harvesting (which is the best part of all). If your garden is on the “back forty”, chances are you will never reap the full rewards of your hard work.

th0HRWLZVBCreate a Garden Plan:

Once you’ve confirmed that you can meet the above basic conditions, the next step is to plan out your garden on paper.  This will be your map to building and maintaining your garden during the growing season.    This plan doesn’t have to be fancy – I find the simpler the drawing and/or list, the easier it is to implement and to later adjust.

My garden has 22 raised beds numbered 1 – 22. When I create my garden plan, I tend to plant a single vegetable type in one bed.  For example, beds 15, 16 and 17 contain arugula and beds 7, 8 and 9 have lettuce etc.  I’ve tried fancy garden software but it didn’t work well for me because I have several beds of varying size and conditions (i.e. some beds are part shade).

When creating your plan, consider the following:

  • Size / Cost – How big is your garden going to be? Obviously, the available space you have will dictate the size. Remember there are upfront costs to consider when starting a garden and the bigger your garden is the more it’s going to cost.

 

  • Vegetable Location – Are you planning an entire row with one vegetable or are you planting half with one thing and half with something else? Are you planting in the ground or in raised beds?

 

  • Row Length – This is important to determine how much seed to buy. How many plants can you plant per row? The answer to that question will be in the seed description.

 

  • Inter-Row & Inter-Plant Space –   A foot wide path between rows is a good rule of thumb. You don’t want your rows too narrow as weeding becomes very difficult. Conversely, you don’t want your rows too wide as this wastes space and requires more weeding. Ick!

 

  • Planting Dates – You need to figure out the approximate date of the last frost in your area. I start turning over my soil and prepping as soon as the ground is defrosted and warmed up. It could be a few weeks before or after the general frost date for my area.

 

  • Succession Planting – What plants will follow when each vegetable is harvested? This is a space saving technique but you need to plan for it to work.

Vegetables – What to Plant?

What are you going to grow?  My advice is to plant what you like to eat and don’t over plant.  If you plant 20 squash plants your family is not going to be happy with you.  You are not going to grow everything so use the available space wisely, especially if it’s small.

Sweet corn is a perfect example of what not to grow on a small plot.  Corn needs to be grown in a large space (over 1000 sq. ft.) for proper pollination.  So choose vegetables that your family will enjoy and that make sense for the space you have.

    • Small gardens (less than 1000 sq. ft.) – think about plants with a high yield per plant, which include the following vegetables:
      • Bush Beans
      • Leafy greens
      • Tomatoes
      • Peppers (hot and sweet)
      • Squash (bush variety)
      • Mustard Greens
      • Collard Greens
      • Kale
      • Chard
      • Spinach
      • Carrots
      • Beets, Peas
      • Eggplant
      • Onions
      • Radishes
      • Turnips
      • Herbs

 

    •  Large Gardens (1000 sq. ft. or more) – larger gardens can obviously grow a larger variety of vegetables (including those that take up more space) but remember the bigger the garden the more work required and the higher resulting yield. If there are only two of you and unless you want to be super gardeners or love to be outside puttering around, I’d recommend downsizing to a small plot:
      • All the vegetables listed above
      • Melons (vining varieties)
      • Squash (vining varieties)
      • Pumpkins
      • Sweet Corn

039Growing Seasons

How will your garden grow?  Some plants (i.e.- lettuce and peas) are better suited to grow in the early spring whereas squash and tomatoes are heat loving plants that do well in high temperatures.   Make sure that your plan includes a seasonal planting schedule that correlates with your successive plantings.

Successive Planting 

Planting every few weeks provides a continuous harvest throughout the growing season.  To avoid gardener burnout, spread out your plantings to avoid a monster harvest all at once and instead have a steady flow of vegetables throughout the season.  For example, planting new lettuce every two weeks during the early and mid-spring seasons guarantees you’ll have lettuce until it gets too hot.

In addition, successive planting ensures the wise use of your space.  Planting squash in place of an earlier crop like peas will allow you to grow two crops in the same space in a single season.

January 3, 2015 085Seeds and Plants

Order seeds from quality organic seed companies now.  Don’t wait until the snow melts.  I don’t recommend that you purchase seeds from a large box store as their seeds tend to be of poor quality and have low germination rates.  In addition, don’t forget that there are GMO seed companies parading around as “your local friendly seed company” so buyers beware!

I’m not going to get into the details of the GMO debate but if you want to know more, just “Google” it.  This is a hot topic in the world of agriculture and gardeners and consumers need to understand how important it is to buy properly sourced seeds from non GMO companies.  To get you started, here is an article from Mother Earth News.

There are many organic seed companies, but here are a few that I’ve used personally and recommend:

lucille-surprise[1]  What? No space to Garden? Grow it in a container!

Yes, it is possible to have a garden even if you don’t have available land by growing in a container!  All that’s needed is good quality organic potting mix and a container – i.e. – an Earth Box or even a baby wading pool will work!  For DIYers, purchase a storage container (or baby wading pool) from a large Box Store.  It doesn’t have to be deep as about a foot of growing space is all that’s needed.  Drill a few holes in the bottom and sides to allow water to drain out of the bottom and air through the sides for the roots to develop.

 

 

Pictured below are some of the containers that I grow in.  Easy Peasy!

opening day 012   Baby Wading Pools

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

opening day 007  Fabric Grow Tubes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

opening day 010 Storage Totes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Earth Box

 

 

 

 

opening day 016  Large Grow Bags

 

 

 

 

 

If you have questions about your garden, please feel free to contact me.  Happy Garden Planning!!!

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Product Review: Topsy Turvey Upside Down Tomato Planter

 

Tomato-planter[1]

One of the great things about being a SPIN (Small Plot IN-tensive) Farmer is many of us like to share short cuts and new time saving products that we find useful. For example, one of our tools in the “tool kit” is growing vegetables in all kinds and sizes of containers. One of best ideas is using wading pools for toddlers. Drill holes in the bottom and sides for drainage and aeration fill it with a good quality potting soil and you’re good to go!

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However, there are some containers and gimmicks that are not worth the money or effort. I’m a firm believer of learning from other people’s experiences and this product is one of them. I have several good friends who purchased “The Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter” (“As Seen on TV!”) and were nice enough to share with me their experiences.

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Based on my interviews, this product gets my lowest rating which is a sad face. Their warning is buyers beware! This product does not live up to the expectations as advertised.

My first interview was with my neighbor’s Bob and Sue. Bob and Sue purchased their planter at a local discount store and put everything together themselves. The kit included the bag, basic instructions on how to fill and hang the bag and a packet of fertilizer. Soil and tomato plant were not included.

My friend Gail purchased her planter from a local farm and garden supply store in her town. It was already assembled and planted with a tomato plant. All she had to do was buy it and hang it when she got home.

Here is what they said about this product:

Brenda: During the summer we know you love fresh tomatoes and for years you grew tomatoes the normal way, in a pot, planter or in the ground with success. So why did you buy this product?

Bob and Sue: It was advertised that it was easy to use and could be put it anywhere in the yard. Our yard has lots of shade and we wanted to be able to move the planter around the yard to the sunniest spaces throughout the day.

Gail: I work a lot of hours and I don’t have time to garden anymore. I wanted something simple and care free. When I saw it all put together ready to hang in my yard, I couldn’t resist.

Brenda: How was it to assemble and install?

Bob and Sue: It wasn’t easy. Once I filled the bag with soil it was really heavy. We looked for weight requirements and there was nothing listed in the instructions. I wasn’t sure if I was putting it together right or not.

When I finally got it filled with potting soil and then planted the tomato plant, it was a big mess. Soil kept leaking out all over the place it was incredibly heavy.

Gail: I didn’t have any problems hanging it up. I just hooked it on the railing on my front door stoop.

Brenda: During the growing season, how easy was it to care for the plant?

Bob and Sue: It didn’t go well at all. The reason we purchased the planter was so we could move it around our yard with little effort so it can always have sun. The planter ended up getting so heavy we had to buy a heavy-duty shepherd’s hook hanger and anchor it to the ground with heavy-duty wire. Moving it around wasn’t an option anymore.

The other problem we noticed was that the plant didn’t grow straight down as they advertised. The plant wanted the sun and wasn’t getting it hanging upside down. Instead it curved up and grew up the bag.

When the weather got really hot the soil in the bag dried out and my plant started to wilt. Some days I had to water it several times just to keep it alive.   Then there was always the fear of the bag ripping or the hook breaking after watering because the bag was so heavy.

Then there was the question of what to do with the fertilizer that came with the kit. There were no instructions on what to do with it. Over all, it was a lot of work to keep that plant alive and very frustrating.

Gail: Honestly, I really didn’t pay that much attention to it. I had it hanging off my front stoop railing. I did notice a few times after watering that the weight of the soil and plant was putting a lot of stress on the bag, but I wasn’t too concerned about it. If it broke it broke.

 However, now that I think about it, watering was actually a problem. Watering from the top meant the water then flowed down and out the holes never reaching the bottom vines. Watering at the separate holes didn’t allow enough water for the plant.

Brenda: How did the tomato plant grow? Did it give you the quantity that you expected?

Bob and Sue: After all the work that went into putting it together and the amount of care it required the output of tomatoes was minimal. It certainly didn’t give us the bumper crop that they advertised in their commercials or on the box.

Gail: For the first few weeks my plant was producing enough tomatoes to satisfy me.   Then I ran out of tomatoes and the plant didn’t produce anything for almost 3 months. Then right before a hard freeze I noticed the plant flowered again and it looked like I was going to finally get more tomatoes. Unfortunately, the freeze came, and then snow and that ended everything.

Brenda: Did this product meet your expectations and deliver what it promised? And would you recommend it to your friends and family?

Bob and Sue: No and No. It was a waste of money and I’m concerned about how they advertise this product. I don’t think they are being truthful. My biggest concern is if an elderly person bought this product. How would they be able to manage assembling this thing and care for it.

Gail: No – I didn’t get a consistent amount of tomatoes as they advertised. And if you think about it, what plant can grow upside down? Mine, defied gravity and turned up and grew up the bag and it was in full sun all day. I don’t recommend this product – this is a buyers beware product.