Monday, May 13, 2013

Gardening Progress

Today I transplanted the last of the plants into the community garden that will be going in this month.  I still don't quite trust the weather, so I'm not putting my cucurbits in until June.  Actually, I may go back later this week and seed some anyway, since I've started transplants of my own to get a head start.  It would be interesting to compare the rate of growth outside where it has been rather warm as opposed to indoors under my inadequate lighting.  I desperately need better conditions for starting my own seeds indoors, but at the moment I'm not getting them, so I guess I'll have to tough that out.

The plants I put in today were the 'Green Goliath' Broccoli, the 'Snowball' Cauliflower, and the 'Cour di Bue' Cabbage.  Of those three, the cabbage had the most vigorous seedlings, so I'm hoping at least one of these Brassicas will work out.  I don't seem to have good luck with them in general, though.  It may just be the climate here- we tend to have VERY hot summers and with short spring/fall seasons, it doesn't work out all that well for cool-weather vegetables.  It might also be that I need to just keep experimenting and start even earlier next year.  We'll have to see.  Gardening is a continual learning process for everyone- even people with tons of experience can be taken by surprise.

I will admit that the broccoli thing is kind of discouraging, though, because all I hear everywhere is how "easy" it is to grow.  Yet I've never been successful!  I'm not one to give up, however, so I'm trying not to let it get me down.

I've had to re-evaluate the planting plans for the house a bit- I am thinking now what I will do is have my brother-in-law weed whack/mow down everything that is next to the house and then lay down soil bags to plant the melons and whatnot in.  Then at the end of the season I can pull out the plants and turn the soil under, and put everything under cardboard to kill down grass/weeds/perennials that might still be surviving.  I'm also not sure I'm going to be able to grow the 'Glass Gems' corn this year- which is REALLY disappointing, but I am hoping the seeds will keep until next year when I can do a bit more work.

Overall I am really just trying not to take on too much at once, because I can't do most of this stuff all by myself- I don't have the energy!  So I have to rein it in a bit and take baby steps.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

St. Lawrence Nurseries

If you live in Zone 3 like I have for most of my life, then you understand the pain of trying to find fruit trees and shrubs and such that actually are hardy enough to grow in your area.  Most varieties of fruit thrive in Zone 5 or higher, and even the trees sold by traditional garden supply stores that supposedly are OK for the colder areas can have problems- they may be grafted on a NON-cold-hardy rootstock.

So what's a north-dweller to do?  Check out St. Lawrence Nurseries!  They're located in Potsdam, NY and have a huge selection of fruits and nuts that are very cold-hardy, being that the nursery itself is located in Zone 3. 

I should note that I have a personal connection with this nursery, as I grew up in St. Lawrence County- Bill MacKentley helped to coach the 4-H Horticulture team every year I was on it, and we'd take many trips to his nursery to practice plant ID and learn little tidbits.  I was also friends with his daughter, who is my age.  I really have nothing but great memories of those times, and I know that their family are, well, "Good people" as my in-laws like to say.

Now, for this year I missed the ordering deadline, and I'm not sure if we really are ready for any kind of permanent fruit trees or anything here at the 'new' place.  I might put in raspberries or something next year.  But I would absolutely order from here- and if you live anywhere chilly like I do, you should, too.

One thing to note- and this is in their catalog- but they do not offer the popular "dwarf" style of apple that is standard these days.  They use standard rootstock- this is for cold hardiness.  You can prune your trees (you'll need to do it fairly aggressively, so if you go that route make sure you research research research) to keep them somewhat in check, but they will get big enough that you'll probably need a ladder to harvest things on the top, and it'll take a bit longer before you get a big amount of fruit.  So keep that in mind.  You should be pruning every year anyway (for ALL fruits, though please research the particular item because it is different for each kind) for maximum fruit production.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Yukon Gold Potatoes

 Purchased from: Fisher Garden Store for $9.95/10 premium seed potatoes
Type: Potato

I was starting to get a bit antsy about whether or not my order had gone through at Fisher's Garden store, but I was happy to see this came in the mail yesterday!  They *did* say they'd mail when it was time to plant, so I guess that means this weekend I need to get down to the community garden and plant these.  Because I've realized that Yukon Gold is apparently not a good variety to use for the
"Potato tower" method, I am instead planting these in one of the Pea Pods community beds.

 The seed potatoes themselves were packed nicely in a paper bag, labelled with contents.  They smell earthy- which isn't surprising, but is a bit of a change from all my 'sterile' seed packets.  Underneath the bag was a pamphlet put out by MSU Cooperative extension that detailed potato illnesses in Montana and ways to keep things like Potato Late Blight from becoming a big issue.  I know if we get hit with Late Blight in the community garden, we're going to really be suffering because it WILL jump to other Nightshades like Tomatoes.

 The pamphlet also emphasized sourcing potatoes from within Montana, which I'm more than happy to do in the first place.  I don't know if there are strict regulations because I didn't dive into it that closely, but I do know that Gurney's won't ship seed potatoes to Montana.  Another nice thing was a little rundown of how to plant potatoes, which I didn't really need, but is definitely nice for a beginner who might not be super comfortable with searching around on the internet.  We all know I am, though, so that's a moot point as well.

Curious as to what the seed potatoes actually looked like?  Well, they look just like small potatoes!  They're meant to be planted whole according to Fisher, but their catalog said that you can cut them in half, you just have to let them cure for a day or two before planting.  Since I only have a 4x4 area to plant them in, I'm going to just plant em whole.  I'm not entirely sure how much of the harvest I'll get my hands on, since they're going in a community-run bed and I'm just going to "adopt" the care of it, but you know what?  As long as I get to taste a few, I think I'll be fine :)

As usual, the experience with Fisher's was great- they always include a quick little hand-written thank-you in the  order, and everything is prompt once it's actually shipped, and I just overall feel really good about supporting a local business, especially one that actually bothers to stock items that are meant for growing here.  I think that's really important, and a little later on I'll be featuring a nursery I know from New York that specializes in cold-hardy fruit trees.  Exciting!

click here to learn about my experience with Fisher's Garden Store and to learn how to get a catalog of your own.