Notes From The Potting Shed #3

The first thing you probably noticed is that I have changed the name of the weekly gardening post. Thought this name made more sense. Whether your potting shed is your kitchen table, your greenhouse, studio, she shed...

Mine is currently in the house but I will soon be able to move out to the studio, it is well on the way. Cannot wait to share that with you guys. The walls are painted, the shelves are going up, the lights are in... lots happening every day.

My Morden Midget eggplants from a few years ago. They fruit really well, are super tasty.

What I have been up to this week...

I started my snaps, seed dahlias, asters, thunbergia. Just as I was putting my tray of snapdragons on the heat mat, it slipped from my hands and fell to the floor. I scooped everything up but honestly not sure what will happen with them as the seeds need to be on top of the soil to germinate. Ugh! If they do not germinate, the only thing I can think to do, that might save the seeds, is to dump the soil thinly out in the garden. The seeds would get then get light.... Crossing my fingers that they do just fine.

The celery has been transplanted into it's own wee cells. I am growing Tall Utah this year. I have grown many types over the years, the pink and red heirloom ones always stay skinny, no matter how you grow them. They will not fatten up. The Tango and Tall Utah are always lovely with thick, tasty stalks.

I have started feeding all the seedlings with mild liquid seaweed water (fertiliser Fridays), everything looks really good, amazing even.

The other two eggplant varieties did not germinate after 2 weeks in the wet paper towel either. I contacted Revival Seeds, they are sending me new seeds, plus an extra variety to try. I will start the seeds as soon as they get here so that they have time (hopefully) to do their thing. The Morden Midgets are doing great.

I just started a bucket load of tomatoes seeds today, a bunch more than I need just in case my family and friends want some of the seedlings.

Oh, and this... Now is not the time to start cucumbers. I have noticed over the seasons that it is fairly common for folks start cucumbers and tomatoes at the same time. I am not sure why cucumber sowing is equated with tomatoes? Maybe because they both like the summer heat? Maybe because they are two of the most popular summer crops? I hear it every year though, and as you can guess, when I tell them they should throw those seedlings away and start anew later in the season, they are really not happy with me.

See the arrow to my little blue cold frame that is just bursting with cucumber plants?

There is a huge difference in the way the two crops grow. Unlike tomatoes, cucumbers germinate and grow very, very quickly, do not like their roots disturbed, and do not transplant well. They prefer to be direct sown into warm soil, where they quickly take off.

If one really wants to start them a bit earlier, to get a bit of a head start on the season, a cold frame is a really good idea. I used to have a small square cold frame (when we lived in Bon Accord, just outside of Edmonton) that I used just for cucumbers. It had a window pane top that could be vented with a stick (fancy, eh?) and then taken off once the weather was warm and the cukes started to outgrow the space. I planted 2 or 3 seeds in each corner. I did not separate, cut them out, or remove them if all the seeds germinated, just left them be. I have always done this. The cukes always thrive.

Alternately, if you are wanting to prestart your cucumbers indoors, do so just 3 weeks before you want to plant them out. Bigger is not better in this case, the smaller seedlings will transplant better, and root bound ones will never thrive, will stall out. How to transplant.. Dig a hole, tip the plant into your hand, drop it into the hole, tuck it in. Water.

I found a little rosemary plant so picked it up right away. We love rosemary at our house, they are not perennial here like they are on the west coast, so the sooner I get it going, the better.

I just now tossed some parsley and dill seeds in the raised bed on the south side of the house. This bed is always the hottest spot, where all the snow melts from first. It is under the eaves so gets little to no rain, is really dependent on me to give it a shot of water once a week in summer. In other words, herbs will thrive there!

I got my pots with trays in from Vesey's. These will be my tomato pots. I really wish I had bought another two trays! These are super handy, I have used them before. I will just wash them up and reuse year after year till they fall apart.

I also found these pots at Canadian Tire. These will be my eggplant pots. If you have tried eggplants in the past and they have not done well for you, try growing them in pots. They love the heat. I put the pots in the greenhouse, let them go dry between each watering, and then soak they really well. Water just once a week.

Yes, I found my seed potatoes already, too! Norland Red are my favourite potatoes. They are sweet and perfect all the time. The first time I ever grew Norland spuds, my dad came over for supper and was raving over how great they tasted. Being a Finn who had eaten spuds for dinner most every night all his life, it was a big deal for him to rave over a potato.

On the agenda for this week...

The snow is melting fast, we are down to hard, crunchy snow and ice in the areas where the ground has not yet thawed enough to soak up the water when the snow melts. In other words, she is scary slippery in some areas of the yard.

We will empty out the greenhouse this weekend so I can prep it for spring planting and growing. In winter, it is our hold-all area for patio furniture, flower pots, wagons, all sorts of garden and yard supplies. Time to haul all that stuff out of there. I'll let you know if I need a small heater out there later, or if just using gutter cables will keep things warm enough. Not sure what I do with gutter cables, see that here.

Whether your greenhouse sits empty in winter or does double duty as a storage centre, March is the month to clean it up and get it ready for planting. Pick a nice, sunny warm day to get in there to dust out the dirt and cobwebs, top up the beds with a bit of compost if you did not do so in fall, hang up a rod or two for hanging baskets, set up your planting area soil, compost/manure, pots, trays, all that stuff. Get yourself ready to go. Adding a layer of bubble wrap or poly to the walls is a great idea for better heat retention.

We will be pruning our apple tree this weekend, or next, depending on the snow melt. We will do ours and then head over to my brother's farm to help him with his, as they have not been pruned since he moved in.

If you are following from the west coast, a much warmer zone, here is a mid March post of some more things you can be doing, sowing, and growing right now : )

This Week's FAQ's. (These are so fun, please keep sending them)

Brannan Min Max

Bluetooth thermometer

Min Max with remote sensor

Brannan Min Max (the one I use) / Bluetooth Thermometer / ThermoPro with remote sensor

*As an Amazon affiliate, if you purchase an item from one of these links, I make a teeny bit of money to support my blog. It does not cost you a penny more than it would if you went to the item on your own, without my link. Huge thanks : )

Question: a while back you posted an amazon link for a greenhouse thermometer. I cant seem to find it. Can you post that again please?? I've "inherited" a fiberglass 8 × 10 green house and I have no clue what I'm doing lol.

Tanja - Congrats on the greenhouse, oh the fun that you will have! It is very important to know how low temps go during the night so you know if you need to add a temporary heat source, or wait to bring your plants out there. The max is also very beneficial so you know whether you need to add shade cloth, etc... in summer. So many uses.

I pinned three up top that are popular with greenhouse growers. I use the first one, it sits in the greenhouse, tells you the temp now, high and low. Basic, easy.

The middle one hooks up to your phone if you want to keep track (kinda cool).

The third one has a remote sensor that you put in the greenhouse but read from inside the house. I had one of these many years ago, it was handy.

Question/Comment - I am in the garden pulling all the small green plants with white flowers to stop them “popping “ the seeds. I hear you in my mind when I pull them this time of year!

I wonder if you get them in Alberta. Take care!

Tanja- We do not have hairy bittercress here, not in central Alberta anyways. Probably does not like the cold. Fun fact, I had lived and gardened in Nanaimo for 5 years before I came upon this horrible weed! It came in by way of one of my roses, I actually brought it to the acreage in Cedar! Ugh, eh?

Question - Why are my pepper starts leaves going yellow?

Tanja - It sounds very much like they are too wet. Peppers like to dry out in between each watering. Either you have poor drainage, are watering too often, or they are sitting in water. Put a fan on them, remedy the problem by watering less often and transplanting into a better pot if the drainage is poor.

Question - I am confused. Some sites say to fertilise seedlings, some say not to. What do I do?

Tanja - While they are little/young and until you have some active growth going on, there is no need to fertilise your seedlings. If you mixed some compost, manure, or worm castings in with the potting soil, you do not have to feed them. If you feel that they need something more, you can give them a foliar feed (spray on) of liquid seaweed or kelp.

If you did not mix anything in with the potting soil, you can start giving them a foliar feed and water in with liquid seaweed/kelp once they have made true leaves. As they get bigger, you can give them a watered down, weaker feed with any liquid fertiliser. I like tomato food, but even a 20-20-20 is fine. Start with quarter strength and work your way up as the plant grows and requires more food. Too much food will make them get lanky, spindly, weak.

My onions in the cold room still look fantastic.

So, that is this week's recap. I am looking at starting brussels, cabbage, maybe basil and alyssum this week. Maybe. Maybe nothing else till I get the greenhouse cleaned up. Will let you know. Check out the onions in the cold room. They are still perfect, I have maybe a dozen yellows left, less than that of the reds. Probably not quite enough to take us through till this year's crop is ready, but doing great. These are Red Wethersfield and Yellow of Parma. Both highly recommended.

Till next week... happy sowing and growing, eh? ~ Tanja