Garden update 4/9/21

 3/29/21 Sorrel is growing well. This one that is surrounded by cilantro is not getting eaten by the rabbits.

3/29/21 Sage overwintered well. I transplanted it into the garden near the greens. It smells really good.

3/30/21 Planted shade, beneficial insects, butterfly humming bird seed mixtures and wild milkweed seeds gathered last fall into mini greenhouses.

4/4/21 Removed cloches from greens, then surrounded them with cut off kale stalks to repel rabbits. It has been very warm and sunny. Dandelions are growing really good.

4/8/21 It has been raining which is good because it has been very dry with high fire danger. Red raspberries are getting leaves. Wild strawberries are greening up. Sedum, creeping charlie, and clover are all growing good. Daffodils are blooming. Black raspberries that the birds planted do not have leaves yet. Rhubarb that I planted last fall is growing good. We love rhubarb. Hurray!

Also this week I moved some daffodil out of the middle of the lawn to along the fence and dug up some thistles. Along with a couple buckets of dandelions. (I only do a bucket a day.)

4/9/21 Planted alyssum from mini greenhouse into garden. Also one pot of carrots. Probably will be able to start eating greens from the garden in a couple of weeks. I pulled up and threw away some garlic mustard from lawn today. 

When it was really sunny I moved the mini greenhouses to the shade of the arbo vitae trees because they were drying out too fast. Overall I think the mini greenhouses are working pretty good.

There are a lot of worms in the garden. Lot of robins and sparrows. It's fun to see the sparrows hang upside down on the sunflower head. I can't wait to plant some sunflowers. It's still too early for warm weather crops. A lot of birds like our wild lawn and garden.

I was listening to Joe Gardener and Dr. Lee Reich talk about composting. I do have my two section black Miracle Grow composting tumbler and that's fun to use. However last year I alternated between putting grass/lawn clippings and wood chip layers on my garden. The lower layers seem to decompose so I imagine I'm doing a form of composting. 

Winter Sowing Experiment Started January 13, 2021, Update 3/28/21

1/13/21 I made a bunch of mini greenhouses using rectangularish lettuce containers. I used a drill to make holes in the top and bottom. Then put newspaper pots inside. Then I planted

• oregon giant peas, swiss chard, cilantro, mesclun, red orache ovation greens, cheap frills greens

1/15/21 I planted ovation greens and cheap frills greens in vinegar jugs. However vinegar jugs do not work as well as they keep blowing over. Plus it was hard to get the newspaper pots out when I took the sprouted plants out on 3/28/21 to plant under cloches.

1/28/21 Two seed packets came today. Claytonia and goldie ground cherry.

1/29/21 Planted claytonia (also known as miner's lettuce) in mini greenhouse. Garden cilantro weathered well under snow and is edible.

2/5/21- 2/16/21 Below zero weather 

2/20/21 Planted outside in mini greenhouses. Pretty heavy wet snow. 

• beets, carrots, elegant greens, easter egg radishes
• Sparrows? are enjoying the seeds from last years sunflower. 

2/27/21 Checking up on mini greenhouses. 

3/7/21 Planted some white clover along driveway edge near back garage. Winter sow grass seed on top of snow.

3/8/21 Moved mini greenhouses to snow by arbovitae trees. Cilantro that overwintered under snow looks good.

3/11/21 Moved mini greenhouses into mostly shady area by arbor vitaes that block the south sun. Walking onions are appearing.

3/13/21 Red Orache has sprouted in mini greenhouse so moved to garden under cloche. (Juice jug with holes drilled around top.) Birds are attracted to the seeds in the lone sunflower stalk left over from last year. Last year the birds and rabbits kept eating my sunflower and pea seedlings so only 1 sunflower survived in the back garden. This year they are going under cloches until they are too big to be pulled up by the birds. 

3/15/21 Got a little snow but everything is fine.

3/28/21 The following is sprouting in mini greenhouses so planted under cloches in garden.

• Claytonia, Elegance, Ovation, Frills, Radish, Mesclun

3/28/21 Sorrel is up but something, probably a rabbit, is eating it so I covered the 2 plants with cloches. Worms are moving sluggishly. Birds really like our garden and yard.

3/28/21 The following is not sprouting so left in mini greenhouses

• Carrots, peas, beets, cilantro, swiss chard

3/28/21 Planted

• Dill, Alyssum, Chamomile, Oregano, Thyme, garlic chives

3/28/21 Rhubarb is coming up. Last years grass and clover is greening up but no new clover and grass coming up.

3/28/21 Ancient pepper plants along with one Tabasco pepper plant have survived the winter indoors. Hopefully can put out in the garden in June. The average temperature in this room is 60F during winter and when it's really cold drops to 50F.

3/29/21 Still getting frost at night but plants are surviving under cloches. Chives are coming up. Also Daffodils and Tulips.

Notes: 

• Really would like to get potato onion/ multiplier onion/ I'toi, hill onion, mother onion, pregnant onion. They sound intriguing. Basically they are bulb onions that multiply under the ground.
• Might want to order fenugruk next year. This year they are only available as sprouts but I could plant them outside anyway.
• We are hardiness zone 5b

newspaper pots for sowing winter garden

Made quite a few pots. Pretty fast once you get going.

Learned from https://lovelygreens.com/quick-way-make-newspaper-plant-pots-origami-plant-pots/ video.

Here's my notes and pictures. Makes about a 3" pot from 1/2 sheet of newspaper about 22"x11".

Start out with a piece of newspaper about twice as tall as it is wide. (2h=w)

Fold in half bottom to top.

Then make crease down center and open.

Turn over and fold on other side.

Fold and tuck into pocket.

Next make creases for bottom of pot by folding tip (which turns into middle bottom) in both directions.

One more bottom of pot crease.

Open into pot shape.

It will be interesting to see how well these work.