I’ve also moved some of the plants outside into the garden. Six cucumber plants, four lettuce plants, two zucchini plants, and two lima bean plants. They haven’t been hardened off as much as I’d like, but the plants are outgrowing the grow light and container, so I need to move some of them outdoors. I’ve made some make-shift greenhouses out of milk cartons to cover the cucumbers, and I have a plastic sheet covering the lettuce, zucchini, and lima beans. The temp is supposed to drop to around 37 tonight, so we’ll see if I have any survivors in the morning (fingers crossed). If they don’t survive, I have backups for all plants except for the pickling cucumbers. If those die, I’ll either plant the White Wonders I have growing…or start more plants from seed quickly.

Here are a few photos of the new raised beds along with my little greenhouses.

Zucchini, Lettuce, and Lima Beans

Cucumbers

New Look

Last year I used some crappy trellis netting that I bought from Burpee. It didn’t even make it half way through the season before falling apart. This year, I’m using some thicker twine tied to the tops of my two trellises, with another piece across the bottom to use as an anchor.

I also sowed herb seeds outside in containers for a small herb garden on my deck. Last season I planted herbs in the garden, but I’m keeping them separate this year…no particular reason, just trying something different. The herb garden consists of five pots growing oregano, sage, thyme, basil, dill, and peppermint.

That’s it for now…let’s hope my plants are still alive in the morning!

Bean Plants

The pepper and tomato plants seem to be the only plants I can leave under the grow light. This may be from the late start they had or just because they grow a bit slower than the other plants…not really sure, but they are no where near the size of the bean plants.

Tomato, Cucumber, and a bit of Zucchini

As for outside, we’re finally back to normal temps for this time of year…no more 86 degrees, we’ll have a high of around 50 today (frost warning this morning). I finished building and installing the raised beds a few days ago. Now I need to find the best deal on topsoil, peat moss, and compost to fill them..probably around 20 cu ft of material. Once I have that in place, I think I’m going to take a gamble with some of the bean plants and put them in the ground, covering them at night until it warms up a bit. They can’t stay under the grow light much longer.

Bean and Zucchini Plants

Since the transplant, I’ve also been watering the plants from the bottom by adding water directly to the tub rather than watering from above. I add just enough to cover the tub’s bottom to make sure all plants can get a drink. This definitely seems to improve plant growth. I noticed a bean seed that I thought was a goner has almost sprouted overnight. And I now have eight visible pepper plants and 24 tomato plants. Some of the leaves on the lima bean plants are definitely growing in size as well.

Lima bean leaves

Several cucumber plants are starting to get additional leaves.

Cucumbers

And the zucchini plants are progressing nicely.

Zucchini

Overall, I’m very pleased at this point. All seeds have sprouted and look healthy. The next step is to begin to harden off the larger plants. This process can take anywhere from six days to several weeks. I’ll be following this simple outline I found here:

Day One: Pick a mild day and put your seedlings outside in a protected area out of direct sun for a few hours. Less is more here, you just want to give them a taste of what is to come.

Day two through five: Increase sun exposure gradually, while keeping plants protected from cold and wind. At the same time, also gradually reduce the amount of water you give your seedlings (boot camp isn’t supposed to be fun) and don’t fertilize them until they are completely hardened off.

Over the next six to ten days: Lengthen the time your plants are outside, until they can stay out all day and night. You may still need to protect your plants even after they are hardened off in the event of high winds, sudden downpours, or freezing temperatures.

Hardening off can be a bit of a logistical nightmare. I find the easiest way to do all of this plant schlepping, is to put my seedlings on wagons and garden carts. Then I can simply wheel them in and out of the garage.

Along with hardening my plants, I’ve already started conditioning the soil for this season. I’m in the middle of building the raised bed boxes I mentioned in my last post. I should have these done this weekend and filled with dirt some time in the week so I’ll have photos coming soon.

'Maters!

Still no progress from the pepper plants other than some signs of an initial root from some of the seeds. I may end up replanting these to see what I can grow before it’s time to transplant outside.

The rest of the seeds are doing well. I’ll be transplanting some of the bean and zucchini plants into larger containers this weekend.

Bean plants ready for transplant!

Zucchini and cucumbers ready too!

Unfortunately, one of the bean plants have succumbed to mold, with two more possible victims. These soil pellets are tricky when it comes to giving them enough water to keep the plants happy. I’ve noticed some really dry cells and others saturated with water, yet I’m giving all cells the same amount of water. The seed basically rotted. The other two have some mold on the outside of the seed shell, but the plants seem to be doing ok, so these two might make it. I’ll see how they look this weekend. At the rate that these bean plants grow, I shouldn’t have any problems reseeding some if needed.

Two days ago

And here’s another photo taken this morning:

This morning

Hard to tell from the photo, but that pole bean plant is about 4 inches tall. I’ve had to hang my grow light on a slight angle to compensate for the growth spurt. I guess the lesson to take away from this is to expect pole beans to grow fast. The lima beans aren’t far behind.

Lima Beans

One of the zucchini plants has finally shed its shell and is doing nicely.

Zucchini seedling

I also have some signs of life from the tomatoes. I noticed a Supersweet (cherry) tomato sprouting this morning, although I’m still a bit concerned about both the tomatoes and peppers.

A side note, I’m thinking of adding walls to my garden to make raised beds using 2×6 boards. I think this will help to create a richer soil and promote better water drainage. The plans are in the works right now for two 12′ x 20″ frames and one 4′ x 16″ in order to create a “path” through my tiny garden. I’m hoping to work on these this weekend, so I may have photos posted by next week.

Trays on the Left

Trays on the Right

Since I’ve never planted these from seed, I’m wondering if they just take a little longer or if we indeed have a problem. The seeds have been in the ground about seven days now, but the seed packets say 7-10 days for germination, so I’ll give it a few more days for any signs of life.

The cucumbers are doing the best at this point, followed by the lettuce and pole/lima beans.

Pole Bean Seedling

My Grow Light

I’ve read all sorts of things about the different types of lights, temperatures, etc. I decided to use T5 fluorescent bulbs, mainly because they came with the lights, but also because they’re much more efficient (and smaller) than your standard T12 flourescent bulbs. After all, they’ll be on 18 hours a day, so efficiency is a good thing. I couldn’t find any 24″ (approx) lights that had a plug and reflector…everything I saw in this size had to be hardwired with no reflector, so I improvised. I have a box of monitor cords in the basement, so I used a couple of these to fashion my own plug for each light (very easy to do). For the reflector, I bought eight pieces of aluminum flashing from the local Home Depot and screwed them to the sides of the board to keep as much light on the plants as possible. The frame is made out of your standard 1 1/4″ PVC tubing, elbows, tees, and caps. I added the plastic tub to keep things tidy…no worries about dirt or water getting out.

While this was in the building stages, I ordered my seeds from a company called Park Seed. This is the first time I’ve ordered anything from them, so I hope I’m not disappointed.

I sowed the following seeds on March 4, four days ago, so technically that was “Day 1″ for the 2012 season.

• 8 – Squash Contender Hybrid (zucchini)
• 8 – Tomato Supersweet (cherry tomato)
• 8 – Organic Tomato Moneymaker
• 8 – White Wonder cucumber
• 8 – Cucumber Homemade Pickles
• 8 – Pepper Merlot (purple bell)
• 8 – Pepper Sweet Spot (think big banana peppers)
• 12 – Lettuce Green Ice
• 8 – Garden Bean Blue Lake (pole bean)
• 8 – Lima Bean Eastland

The rest of the garden will be sowed directly outdoors in a month or so when the soil warms up and frost isn’t a factor. For you those of you that live in Michigan, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about…frost?…this winter?…yeah, right. This was a VERY mild winter..hardly any snow and only a handful of really cold days. If I knew it was going to be so mild, I would’ve left my leeks in the ground last season to let them plump up a bit.

On to today, Day 4 of the season. At this point, I’ve noticed two White Wonder cucumber shoots so far. Everything else is still dormant. I didn’t do anything special (soak the bean seeds) before sowing these seeds…I just put them in the soil, added water, and now I wait. I don’t think I was adding enough water the first couple days..I noticed the soil was really dry the next morning. So yesterday I gave each plant a shot of water…today they still look moist, so I topped them off.

Forgot to mention, for the soil, I’m using Burpee eco-friendly Seed Starting Super Growing Pellets. The Burpee site sells 72 for about $10. I bought mine at Home Depot, $3 for 36. I’ve never used these before, so we’ll see how they go. One thing I noticed, not all the pellets seem to rise to the occasion when water is added. Some expand nicely. Others need a little push to expand.

Overall, I think the SFG method worked rather well, at least as far as space is concerned. I definitely noticed extra room in the garden this season and I think I had a bigger yield than last season. The only issue I really saw was my tomato production, particularly the dazzleberries and rugters…only 11 and 10 respectively. Maybe it was the location of the plants, but I think squirrels played a part in this as well. Next season I think I’m going to grow two or three tomato plants upside-down from one of the trellises and see how that goes. Should be interesting to compare what kind of yield I get along with seeing how it might impact any pest/disease issues (squirrels!).

I also had issues growing beets. None of them really turned out all that great…basically leaves and a root, no meat in between. I’ll need to investigate this over the winter and see if I can improve next season. Same thing was happening with some of the radishes.

Something else I’ll be trying next season is to grow everything from seed. I’ll be constructing a seed tray this winter that combines a few different designs I’ve seen online. If it turns out like I think, should be a handy, no-mess contraption for indoor seed starting.

And I also never got around to planting a second crop for fall harvest. I wanted to plant radishes and a few other vegetables to see how they produced later in the season with cooler temps. Next season!

Here’s the final harvest count for the season.

* Radishes: 29
* Green Onions: 26
* Lettuce: 125 (leaves)
* Onions: 11
* Beets: 7
* Squash: 30
* Banana Pepper: 36
* Jalapeno Pepper: 57 (half frozen/dried)
* Super Chilis: 242 (majority frozen/dried)
* Pole Beans: 938
* Slicing Cucumber: 72
* Pickling Cucumber: 91
* Cherry Tomato: 344
* 4th July Tomato: 54
* Green Pepper: 15
* Carrots: 44
* Rutgers Tomato: 19
* Eggplant: 29
* Roma Tomato: 54
* Dazzleberry Tomato: 11
* Wild Cherry Tomato: 24
* Leeks: 8.5 (one small plant)

Squirrel Wars 2011 Victims:
At this point, these are estimations.
* Rutgers Tomato: 9
* Pickling Cucumber: 2
* Slicing Cucumber: 6
* Roma Tomato: 5
* 4th July Tomato: 1
* Cherry Tomato: 15+
* Strawberries
* Squash: 1

Pest Issue (occurs every year, but now I know what’s causing it)
* Green Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 2
* Jalapeno Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 2
* Banana Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 5

Since I still have a good amount of parsley, I’ll be pulling it some time in the next week to dry it for parsley flakes. Hopefully the leeks hold out until I have a chance to use them all (about six plants remaining.)

I pulled the wild cherry tomato plant today as well. There were still a lot of tomatoes on it…at least 30…not bad for a plant I didn’t do a thing with. Maybe I’ll plant another one in the same place next year (next to the house).

Harvest Count
* Radishes: 29
* Green Onions: 26
* Lettuce: 125 (leaves)
* Onions: 11
* Beets: 7
* Squash: 30
* Banana Pepper: 36
* Jalapeno Pepper: 57
* Super Chilis: 242
* Pole Beans: 938
* Slicing Cucumber: 72
* Pickling Cucumber: 91
* Cherry Tomato: 344
* 4th July Tomato: 54
* Green Pepper: 15
* Carrots: 44
* Rutgers Tomato: 19
* Eggplant: 29
* Roma Tomato: 54
* Dazzleberry Tomato: 11
* Wild Cherry Tomato: 24
* Leeks: 2

Squirrel Wars 2011 Victims:
At this point, these are estimations.
* Rutgers Tomato: 9
* Pickling Cucumber: 2
* Slicing Cucumber: 6
* Roma Tomato: 5
* 4th July Tomato: 1
* Cherry Tomato: 15+
* Strawberries
* Squash: 1

Pest Issue (occurs every year, but now I know what’s causing it)
* Green Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 2
* Jalapeno Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 2
* Banana Pepper (Pepper Maggot): 5

I still have tomato, eggplant, green peppers, sweet peppers, jalapenos, chili peppers, and leeks in the ground. We’ll see what survived the night.