Cold Frames, Tomatoes, Peppers

Posted on April 26, 2010 by cmf

IMG 0296 225x300 Cold Frames, Tomatoes, Peppers

It’s all about season extension up here in Montana, and these cold frames are one of my primary means of making the most of what I’ve got. I build them a little more than five years ago (Nina was pregnant with the twins, who are five now) and they work really well for a couple of reasons.

One is that they’re just outside the back door. This early in the season, I put flats out during the day, but bring them in at night. It’s just too cold, and I don’t want to risk losing the seedlings and having to start over. As it gets warmer, I’ll leave things out overnight, and I’ve been known to light a Virgin of Guadalupe candle out there to keep the temps above freezing. The other key to these cold frames is the double-wall plastic. I can’t remember where I bought it, just google greenhouse plastic, but because it breaks up the UV rays, it keeps the seedlings from burning up.

I need to get to work and start some other seedlings — flowers, broccoli, tomatillos, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe this week. Outside, I have tons of Chinese cabbages and veggies under one hoop house, and broccoli rabe, arugula, spinach, and komatsuna, my new favorite vegetable, under the other. Those are all doing stupendously and I’ve been joyfully eating my own greens for two weeks now. In the exposed garden I’ve planted peas, and onions — I need to get some turnips and beets and chard and carrots in, but the weather was wonky this weekend. Intermittently cold.

It’s funny, the first couple of years I was really driven by my veggie garden, and now I”m a lot more relaxed. I like it. I LOVE eating my own vegetables (I’m convinced part of the reason I was so sick this winter was that I wasn’t eating my own veggies). But I’m a lot less driven? uptight? insane? about the whole thing these days. Things will get planted. Things will get eaten. Another year, another revolution around the sun.

Hoop House!

Posted on April 20, 2010 by cmf

IMG 0294 300x225 Hoop House!

This is what I found when I opened the hoop house to water this morning — real greens! Greens I can eat! I am beyond thrilled with how well these have worked out this year. The binder clips have kept the plastic from blowing off, even in the worst winds Livingston has to offer (winds that cause them to close the interstate and run all the semi-trailers through town). The plastic has kept it warm in there through a couple of weeks of freezing nights. And I’m sure the fact that we’ve had three or four 70-degree days hasn’t hurt.

But after a couple of months of fighting off low-grade colds and then strep, I’m beyond thrilled to be eating my own greens again. I can’t think of anything that will restore your health faster than your own dark green veggies, some sunshine, backyard eggs, and nice long walks through town in the early evening with the dog.

I can’t wait to see how the hoop houses work for the peppers. They don’t like cool nights, which is what we almost always have. I wish they were prettier, but I’ll settle for effective.

Spring Greens

Posted on April 19, 2010 by cmf

IMG 0293 300x225 Spring Greens

I came back from my week in Seattle and found that the hoop houses have been a huge success. The photo above is my first batch of spring greens — arugula, broccoli rabe, komatsuna, and a few dandelions from the yard. I was just thrilled. There were enough thinnings that I’ve been eating my own greens, fresh from the yard, for the first time since last summer.

I have to say, I think part of the reason I came down with strep is that after growing my own veggies, the ones in the store, especially in the winter in Montana, look so sad and tired that I just can’t get excited about cooking or eating them. My greens, on the other hand, are vibrant and fabulous and bright green and were growing and alive just yesterday. This morning, I made my favorite breakfast, greens and eggs rolled up in a tortilla, and it just felt like everything is going to be okay again. I’ve got greens coming up. Spring is back.

It’s Spring and I Can’t Come Inside…

Posted on March 15, 2010 by cmf

IMG 0252 225x300 Its Spring and I Cant Come Inside...

Spring has sprung here in Montana. My computer is telling me it’s 57 degrees outside, and the sun is shining, and it’s making it very difficult to come indoors. Especially since I’m going to be returning to the Big Corporation part time, probably next week. So, I’m taking advantage of the weather, and the sunshine, and my last few days where I don’t have to be tethered to the computer indoors for specified hours.

Which means blogging might be a little slow this week.

IMG 0259 300x225 Its Spring and I Cant Come Inside...

On the other hand, I’ve been gardening up a storm. I added a second hoop house this weekend. This second hoop house looked much better than the first one. I think I mistakenly bought more expensive, bendier PVC than I needed the first time around. This second one I built using the cheapest 1/2 inch PVC that the hardware store had — 1.97 for a 10 foot section. It’s great. Very sturdy. So I went back and bought replacement PVC and rebuilt the first hoop house (I’m going to use the bendy PVC in the narrow beds along the back of the garden — my plan is to cut the 10 foot lengths in half, since those beds are only two feet wide).

IMG 0257 225x300 Its Spring and I Cant Come Inside...
There are even sprouts coming up in my hoop house. You have to look really hard to see them. God, I love arugula. It’ll grow anywhere. That photo was taken Saturday. By this morning the Komatsuna was also sprouted. The spinach and endives are a little behind, there were only one or two sprouts in those rows, and the mache, well, either there are a few mache seedlings, or those are weeds. I used fairly raw chicken straw manure compost, so I have a hunch it’s going to be a weedy year.

I’m waiting for my Asian vegetable seeds to arrive from Evergreen Seeds for the second hoop house. Right now it’s just heating up the soil in there. A couple of days of that aren’t going to hurt anything. I’m also about to go down in the basement and start the peppers and tomatoes.

Spring. It’s so beautiful. Like being let out of jail.

Hybrids vs. Open-Pollinated Seeds, Read the Labels

Posted on March 12, 2010 by cmf

sunflower field 300x201 Hybrids vs. Open Pollinated Seeds, Read the Labels

It’s that time of year, when we’re all buying seeds, and I just want to put a plug in for reading the labels. Seed saving is something I only came to a few years into keeping a garden, and I pretty much just save tomato seeds at this point, but with Monsanto being investigated for monopolizing seed stocks, it seems that seed saving is one place that backyard gardeners can really have an impact.

But the thing is, you can’t save seeds from hybrid varieties. So when you’re perusing the seed racks at your local garden stores, if it’s something relatively easy to save yourself, like tomato or squash or herbs, you’d do well to check the package. Seed Savers Exchange is a great source of heirloom varieties that individual gardeners have saved themselves, and they’ve got some good info on how to save your own seeds as well. Personally, I find that half the fun of having a backyard garden is growing things I can’t buy in the store. For the last few years it’s been interesting Italian greens and veggies from Seeds of Italy, and this year I’m experimenting with Asian greens I got from Evergreen Seeds. I mean, why grow the same old commercial hybrids that you can buy at the grocery store, when you can grow red bunching onions, or Rapa da Foglia senza Testa(one of my very favorite discoveries).?