Seeds, Seeds, Seeds, When Will it Warm up?

Friday, May 20^th, I got the front 15 feet of the garden mapped out with string and stakes. Here is basically how the front of the garden will be planted. 

After all the mapping I was able to get a few plants and seeds planted, five strawberry plants, in an area that will get approximately 5 hours of direct sun a day and is approximately 2 feet by 4 feet. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 onions were planted from tiny plants and another 20 or so were donated to the neighbor or I would have had to rearrange the entire garden to make room for so many onions. I allocated an area approximately 12” wide by 6’ long for the onions. I finished up with Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas in an area 2’ x 5’ then Royal Burgundy Beans also in a 2’ x 5’ space. These are large and easy to plant seeds that are used by grade school students ,so I PRAY they come up or I might be shown up by mere children.

Saturday May 21 was typical Seattle area rainy weather. That said, I could reach and plant the carrots without stepping on the soil in the garden. I read that you shouldn’t walk on a wet garden, as it compresses the soil too much.  I believe it too, because when I was doing the heave hoeing to mix the soils to the original soil, I can attest that it was quite compacted from the walking we did on it while removing the sod when it was wet. I used a zig zag row to get a few more carrots in the area that is approximately 4’ x 18”. I think it’ll look interesting too and I’m just not one for straight rows. It’s my garden, and I hope the garden police won’t arrest me.

Sunday, May 22 was a little drier so I was able to step carefully into the garden away from existing plants and get a few more seeds planted including Squash, Spinach and Swiss Chard. I also decided to plant 6 small marigold plants.  My Mother-in-Law, who is a wonderful gardener, and grew up on a farm, suggested I plant them to help discourage various pests. I decided there was nothing to lose and it gives me some landmarks while I am in the garden or I might pull out the germinations as weeds.  Ugh.

Monday May 23 I took the day off.  The forecast was for rain and my injured wrist was really bugging me.  What was I thinking?  Seriously, what was I thinking with this project?  It didn’t rain as it turned out, but the garden seems to have retained some moisture and I don’t want the seeds to rot so I didn’t water.  The whole thing with watering has me totally discombobulated.  I’ll probably either kill the plants by letting them dry out too much, or I’ll keep them too wet, and drown them.  I love the gentle drizzle that we get here because it takes the onus off me to do the proper watering. 

Tuesday May 24, again forecast for rain, but alas, none.  I was bummed too because I could have played tennis outside, but elected not to with the forecast.  Could they just get it right?  Well, I decided to plant the beet seeds then watered the garden very gently. 

I only have one more seed packet to plant; Lemon Cucumbers which sound just delicious but the temps are not warm enough yet.  I also am still babying these tomato plants.  Keep your fingers crossed that we get warmer weather here soon.  My apologies to any readers suffering in blistering heat, terrible tornados or drought. I’ll try not to whine, seriously I will. 

Below is the facts spreadsheet that is indispensible to me in this project. 

Garden Facts Seeds from Territorial Seed Co in Oregon

Plant	Ph	Soil Temp to Plant	# Days	Seed Depth	Plant Date	Germination Date[1]	Harvest Date	Row Width	Thin spacing	Fertilize/ Soil Needs
Strawberries	Acidic	Perennial			5/20/2011 plants			n/a	n/a	Lightly when planted again when fruiting, everbearing consistent light fertilize
Tomato – Sweet Million Early Girl (I think)								2’ sq ea	24”
Cube of Butter Squash		60°	50	1 – 1 ½”	5/22 seed	5/27-6/19	Proj 7/19	24”	24”	Good fertile soil
Teton Spinach	6.5 – 7.5	45-70°	45-50	½”	5/22 seed	5/28 – 6/12	Proj 7/6	12”	3-6”	High Nitrogen
Bright Lights Swiss Chard		50-75°	60	½”	5/22 seed	5/28-6/8	Proj 7/29	18”	10 – 16” when plant is 3” high	When plant is 6” high fertilize
Chioggia Beet		55 - 70°	65	½”	5/24 seed	5/29 – 6/10	Proj 7/28	12” – 16”	3-4”	Moist rich- work in 2-3” of compost
Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas		40-75°	70	1 – 1 ½”	5/20 seed	5/28 – 6/14	Proj 7/29	18”	1”	Side dress when plant
Mokum Carrots	5.5 – 7.0	55 - 80°	56	¼”	5/21 seed	5/27 – 6/11		12” – 16”	1-3”	Not excessive nitrogen
Lemon Cucumbers		65 - 90°	70	½”				3’ square	1-2 plants in each hill	Under each group of seeds
Royal Burgundy Beans	5.5 – 6.5	65 - 85°	60	1”	5/20 seed	5/28 – 6/5	Proj 7/19	2’	2-3”	Not high nitrogen
Cortland & Walla Walla Onion					5/20 plant			4-5” apart	n/a	Regularly

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[1] Replace with actual germination date when it occurs – the range is to help me so I know when they should be showing their little heads J

Plant	Sun/ Heat	Watering	Other Notes:
Strawberries	Full sun		Mulch to protect berries and hold moisture – mulch deeply before winter, rake off in spring. Pinch off earliest blooms each year (all flowers cut off at planting time), pinch off all runners to get smaller numbers of large fruit or leave runners for smaller fruit but higher quantity. Rainier is June bearing, Tribute and Quinault are everbearing.
Tomato	Full Sun
Cube of Butter Squash	Full Sun	Just barely damp soil to germinate	Can rub male flowers to female flowers to aid pollination. Hill the soil and plant 3 seeds in each hill then then to 1 -2 plants per hill.
Teton Spinach	Sun but not too hot		For baby – harvest when leaves are 3-4”
Bright Lights Swiss Chard	Partial sun
Chioggia Beet	Full Sun	Keep soil moist to prevent crusting over	Prefer rich, deep moist soil – then when 3-4” tall
Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas	Full Sun	Frequent ground watering, cool water, keep soil moist – mulched at planting	30” tall, spread out planting 6-8 days, use support on plants. I’ll put in seeds where some failed to germinate to spread the season – otherwise planted entire row on 5/20
Mokum Carrots	Full sun	Even soil moisture at all times, irrigate well just prior to harvest to ensure roots have absorbed maximum water.	Very smooth soil – work in lots of compost – clumpy soil will make crooked roots. Add 1-3” of soil when plant has 7 leaves or so to prevent tops of carrot to be green. These carrots need to be hand harvested carefully.
Lemon Cucumbers	Full Sun		Plant several seeds in a hill and thin to 1-2 plants in each hill
Royal Burgundy Beans	Full Sun	Mulch around shallow roots to maintain moisture – did at planting, can add as plants emerge	Plant a few days apart for different cropping’s 24” tall plants, one row. I didn’t plant on multiple days but can put seeds in the missing spots where they failed to germinate.
Sweet onion	Full Sun	Need moisture near surface	Harvest when tops are yellow and begin to fall over Walla Walla and Cortland. Walla Walla are closest to the street