Late December Gardening. Seedlings, Kitchen Garden Prep, Raised Beds, Lime. 12.28.13

Okra Seedlings

Seed and Cutting Setup

Today didn't do much.  In winter garden work can be when I feel like it.

Noted the okra seedlings have germinated.  That's 4 days.  See warming mat makes a big difference.  I had soaked them 1/2 day before planting.  That probably also helped.

I don't know how they will do inside.  That's why it's an experiment.

Chili pepper seeds have not germinated yet.

Opened fig cutting bags 2 days ago, and rinsed them.  Anticipate doing the same tomorrow.

Today -

1.  Spread lime in raised beds and around trees and shrubs.  I calculated the amount as 1 pound per 4 X 8 raised bed.  I estimated the area around the trees and shrubs, and orchard trees, and applied similar amount.  Two 25 pound bags.  Will need another later.

2.  There were some garlic plants and perennial onion volunteers that I pulled out a week or two ago when I cleaned up that raised bed.  I had set them aside.  Today I separated them into individual plants, and planted them.  They did not look the worse for wear despite sitting outside a week or 2.

3.  Spread blood meal around onion starts.  Something has been eating them.  Maybe the blood meal will be a deterrent.  The amount is the recommendation of nitrogen supplement.

4.  Cleaned up the strawberry raised bed.  Removed the fencing.  Raked out the deteriorating straw.  Pulled the few weeds.  Did not cut off dead leaves.  That can be later.  Plan:  Mulch this winter with compost.  Later this winter build a better fencing system, maybe a hinged box with chicken wire sides.  Wait until growth starts, to add straw again.

That's about it.  Sounds like a lot, but non of it was difficult and none took very much time.

More kitchen garden planning. 12.28.13

Image source:  vintageprintable.com

This is a table, template originating from about.com.  I edited out the vegetables I don't want, added others, changed for family of 4 to the 2 of us, and made some other changes.

In the raised beds, one row is 4 feet.  A bed is 4ft by 8 ft, a half bed is 4 ft by 4 ft.

Over-planning but have been sick and this makes me feel better.

Beets	1 row	Spring + Fall plantings.  Trying again. Protect.
Bush Beans	1½ beds	Succession Plant.  Experimenting with varieties.
Pole Beans	½ bed	Single Planting.  Northernmost bed due to height.
Carrots	1 row	Succession Plantings.  Experiment with varieties.
Swiss Chard	1 row	Re-Grows after Harvesting Outer Leaves
Sweet Corn	1 row?	If there is room.  Needs deer protection deer.  Needs to be on north side so not shading other plants.
Cucumbers	1 row	Single Planting.  Experiment with varieties.  Pickles + fresh.
Mesclun	1 row	Spring + Fall Crop for greens.
Lettuce	1 row	Succession plantings.
Onions	1 bed	Winter onions already planted for winter growth + scallions. Perennials are June harvest, October re-plant.
Snow Peas	1 row	Succession, Spring and Fall plantings
Okra	1 bed	Multiple varieties, experiments.  Needs soil warming method.
Garlic	1 bed	Already planted.  June harvest, October re-plant.
Sweet + Chili Peppers	½ bed	Multiple varieties, some known + some experiments
Winter Squash + Pumpkins	5 hills	Outside raised beds due to sprawling vines.  Multiple varieties.
Radishes	1 row	Succession Plantings
Summer Squash	½ bed	Multiple Varieties.  3 hills.  Bush types.
Tomatoes	1 bed	Multiple Varieties. 1 to 2 each.
Turnips	1 row	Spring + Fall plantings.

Some Old Botanical Illustrations. 12.26.13

These are selected images I liked from vintageprintable.com public domain downloadable images. The illustrate the topics very well.

Onion

Pelargonium, zonal geranium

Peppers

Red Mulberry

Fig

Soil pH for various plants. 12.26.13

Image source - vintageprintable.com

After having the soil tested, and reading the recommendations, I looked up what a number of my garden plants require.   According to the info I could find, many would tolerate soil pH in the range of my soil, pH 5.05.  Which must make sense, because they grew in it last year.  However, if I lime the soil, maybe some or most will be more vigorous, or more productive, or produce earlier.

From this site - the gardenhelper.com  I edited out vegetables I don't grow and don't plan to grow.

Vegetable Optimal pH Beans 6.0-7.0 Beet 5.6-6.6 Broccoli 6.0-7.0 Cabbage 5.6-6.6 Cantaloupe 6.0-7.0 Carrot 5.0-6.0 Catnip 5.0-6.0 Chili pepper 5.0-6.0 Chives 5.0-6.0 Cucumber 5.0-6.0 Dill 5.0-6.0 Eggplant 5.0-6.0 Garlic 5.0-6.0 Kiwi 5.0-7.0 Lettuce 6.5-7.0 Mint 6.0-7.0

Vegetable Optimal pH Okra 6.0-8.0 Onions 6.2-6.8 Parsley 6.0-8.0 Peasmage 5.6-6.6 Peppers 6.0-8.0 Potato 5.8-6.5 Pumpkins 5.0-7.0 Radish 6.0-7.0 Raspberry 6.0-6.5 Rhubarb 5.0-7.0 Rutabaga 5.0-7.0 Shallots 5.0-7.0 Spinach 5.0-7.0 Squash 6.0-7.0 Strawberries 6.0-7.0 Sunflowers 6.0-7.0 Sweet corn 6.0-7.0 Swiss chard 6.0-7.0 Tomatoes 5.5-7.0 Turnip 5.0-7.0 Zucchini 6.0-7.0

From various websites,

Image source vintageprintable.com

Apple - 5.0 to 6.8
Bearded Iris - slightly acidic to almost neutral, about 6.8
Buddleia 5.5 to 6.5, another site states 6.0 to 7.5. They grew like crazy in my ph 5.05 soil. Cherry - 5.5 to 8.0 prefer 6.5; another site state 6.2 to 6.8
Chinese Haw - 4.3 to 7.3
Dogwood 5.0 to 7.0
European Ash 5.0 to 8.0
Figs - 6.0 to 6.5
Ginkgo - 5.0 to 8.0
Golden Chain Tree - 5.0 to 8.0 Iris - 6.5 to 7.0
Linden - 7.0 to 8.0 but another site states 4.5 to 7.5 and prefers 7.0; another site states 5.0 to 8.0
Lilac 6.0 to 7.5 but there is a massive lilac in our soil pH 5.05
Mulberry - 5.5 to 7, another site states 5.5 to 6.5
Okra - 6 - 8 Paw Paw - 5.5 to 7.0 but another reference states 5 to 6
Peach - around 6.5
Pear - 6.0 to 6.5 but tolerate 5.0 to 7.5
Persimmon - 6.5 to 7.5 Plum - 5.0 to 6.5
Quince - 6.0 to 7.0
Red Twig Dogwood - 5.0 to 8.0
Tomato - 6.0 to 7.0 better if 6.5 to 6.8
Weigela 6.0 to 7.0


Acidic, 4.5 to 6.0:
 Pieris, Rhododendron, Azalea, Camellia.

Not related to this topic, but thought about after looking for images to ponder for this post.  The vintageprintable image at the top does not give a source, but the caption states those are 3 year old black locust trees, form seed, in Kentucky.  About 1910.   That's a lot of growth in 3 years.  It makes me wonder - is it because they are from seeds?  Because they are a fast growing black locust?  Because the climate and soil in that Kentucky forest was super good in the 1900s?  All?  I think more people should try to grow trees from seeds.  We would have more diversity, the trees would be free, and if some achieve that size, that fast, then there would be faster biomass accumulation and faster shade.

Soil Analysis. 12.25.13

This report is very helpful. It changes significantly how I am going to supplement my garden and orchard soil this year.

I'm very impressed.  It is a well written, easy to follow report.  They were fast and thorough.  I am happy I sent them a sample and will make use of the recommendations.

The main points-

- My soil is very acidic.  They recommend lime.  That also increases the calcium.
- The iron level is super high.  I thought form the leaves iron was low.  I planned to supplement it.  Wrong thing to do.
- The recommendations include adding trace boron, trace copper.   For that, add a tiny amount of borax, and a tiny amount of copper sulfate.  The recommended amount is so small, I don't know if I will do anything about that.  Better to under-do it than over-do it.  Too much boric acid is toxic to plants.
- The recommendations include adding some epson salts for magnesium and sulfur.
- I thought the soil would need more potassium and phosphorus.  In reality, the potassium is high, and phosphorus is very high.  So just add a nitrogen source.  Fish emulsion might be a good source.