ACL Letter #23 - April Garden Update

April Garden Update

Morgan has really been enjoying being in the garden more. She's taken the lead role and so far it seems to suit her well. Currently, in the garden we have the final holdouts from our plantings in the fall - Brussell sprouts, red clover, garlic, bulb onions, and green onions. This spring, Morgan has planted potatoes, parsley, arugula, kale, tomatoes, and a few flowers. So far, only the kale and tomatoes were started indoors. She seeded some lettuce, basil, and peppers indoors and they did pitifully. I'm currently running a side by side trial trying to figure out what happened. More on that below.
 

Here are a few pics of the garden.

Potatoes are looking strong. We haven't been mounding like we are suppose to be. Need to do that!

Onions doing well on the left. Parsley on the right.

This is Red Clover. (Not Crimson Clover) There are many reasons that make Red Clover an excellent plant for gardeners to incorporate into their garden rotations. It has a long tap root that helps break up hard pans and increase water infiltration. It's a legume and fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. It has a flower that insects, including honey bees, love. These flowers also make a great herbal tea! We will collect the flowers and add them in our hot and cold teas throughout the year.

Garlic growing well. This is one of the bigger ones.

Seedling Trouble

I mentioned above that we have had some trouble raising seedlings this spring. Unfortunately we changed quite a few variables so I am unsure what is causing the seedlings to do so poorly.  Before starting our seeds indoors in February, I changed out the flourescent lightbulbs because it had been a few years (4+) since I started using them. I accidentally bought "warm" lights and not "bright white" lights like I had previously used. After some research (primarily from this site) I decided to go half warm and half bright white.
We also changed out the seedling soil mixture. In the past, I have always made the seedling soil mix myself. I'd mix in peat moss, compost, some organic fertilizers, and a few other things here and there. I never measured. Since I am now trying to help others by providing guidance, I decided I needed to find a more straightforward solution and a ready mix that others could buy at the store instead of going through the trouble of mixing it themselves. But now I'm worried the local seedling mix I got is no good. This is what I am testing first.

There are two tomatoes on the right. Blurry, but you can still see how pitiful they look. 

A disgruntled gardener and his pitiful seedlings. One variable I've yet to mention is that it's been MORGAN raising these seedlings. It would be funny if I run the trials and all of the seedlings turn out great. 

This is some of the stuff I add into my seed starting mix. Compost (in the back) bone meal (phosphorous), and blood meal (nitrogen). If I have it on hand I will also sometimes add rock powder (micronutrients) and mycorrhizal powder (benefecial fungal innoculant). It's always changing and sometimes does better than others... But doing it like this isn't great if I am trying to teach or help others with it. 

Homemade seed starting soil mixture on the left and store bought mixture on the right. The white pebble-like substance you see on each side (and more on the right) is perlite. It's used in potting soils and seed starting mixes to improve drainage, aeration, and keep the soils from getting too compressed. 
 

This is what I've been using to fertilize in the garden. I've had the fish fertilizer since my market garden days (~7 years) and the mollasses I bought at a nursery 3+ years ago. It was going out of business and the owner was practically giving it away. The fishe fertilizer has some nutrients in it, but its also feeding the microbes in the soil. The molasses is almost solely used for feeding and increasing bacterial populations in the soil. This bacteria is beneficial for my garden plants and helps them access the nutrients available in the soil.  I put a dab of the fish and a dab of the mollasses in an old milk carton, add non-chlorinated water from my Berkey (so I don't kill any microbes) and then drench the soil around my plants. I use in the garden and to fertilize my berries and fruit trees. 

She so purdy :) If praying is your thing, please pray for us as Morgan is going to deliver #4 any day (hour) now! 

If praying isn't your thing, you should try it! 

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