Monthly Archives: April 2014

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In the Vegetable Garden: Early April Seeding

April 10, 2014 \ by Keith Nowakowski

It’s April in the Chicago area, and it’s time to stop dreaming about getting outside and scratching around in the vegetable garden and start doing some planting! While there are plenty of vegetables that can be sown directly into the cool spring soil, I generally have a somewhat limited pallet and they include carrots, beets, lettuce, sometimes kale, spinach, and other greens. I’ll also plant onion sets, if I think to buy some, but usually rely on my shallots to carry me through – and those were planted last fall. Also in the next few days, I’ll get my potatoes planted. It’s starting to get busy around here.

As a kid growing up in the 1970’s, one of the shows I’d watch religiously was Jim Crockett’s Victory Garden on PBS Public Television, running from 1975 until 2007. Jim had a no-nonsense approach to his garden instruction – he knew what he was about and he told it like it was .. clearly and enjoyably. It was like having a grandfather in the garden, showing you what to do and what to look out for. The show had many hosts after his death in 1979, but the show was never as good as when Jim was there. Thankfully, Jim wrote “Crockett’s Victory Garden”, published in 1977. The book is invaluable to anyone wanting to grow vegetables in their backyard. Each chapter in the book outlines the garden activities for a particular month ..if it’s April, it’s time to get the potatoes in the ground, plant carrots, plant out that apple tree, etc. I still remember buying my copy in the bookstore more than 35 years ago.

In the book, Jim included instructions on how to make a planting board. This year, I finally decided to make one for myself, and it’s pretty useful – surprise! My planting beds are 46 inches wide, so I made mine to fit, rather than the specified 48″ – I shorted my spacing of notches to 5.75″ from the 6″ in the book to account for this shorter length. I used the planting board the same day it was made a few days ago, when I planted lettuce, carrot, and beet seeds in my vegetable garden.

To make my planting board, I used some wood that I had pulled from a trash bin and had lying around the basement, a 1×4 piece of lumber is what is needed:

This piece of scrap wood, destined for the landfill, came in handy

The board was cut to length and marked every six inches where the notches would be cut out

The finished product, ready to go into service for many years. I only question is: “Why did I wait so long to make one?”

The edge of the board was cut at an angle, allowing it to be used to make furrows for planting seeds

The raised beds of my garden allow the soil to drain well and warm up sooner in the spring, than if I didn’t have raised beds – the poorly drained soil in this part of my yard necessitated the raised beds, so they are not just a luxury. Last fall, I prepared one of the raised beds for planting out garlic cloves. The middle of the bed was left vacant for early spring planting of other crops.

The soil was raked smooth, then the planting board was used to make shallow 1/2 inch deep furrows, spaced about ten inches apart, for the seeds.

Pinching a crease in the seed packet allows for more control when shaking out the seeds.

The process went quickly and the angled edge of the planting board worked well in making the furrows consistent. Trying to avoid too much thinning in a few weeks, the seeds were spaced about 1.5 inches apart. From each seed packet, I was able to plant four, 4ft rows. The cost of each seed packet was five cents – yes a nickel each, thanks to a sale at The Home Depot of 20 packs of seed for a dollar. After the seeds were planted, a steel garden rake was used to tamp the soil down and then the plot was watered and will be watered every day, until the seeds come up, and as necessary after that.

Tamping the soil down around the seeds help them to make good contact with soil moisture – if the soil is allowed to dry out before the seeds spout – they may never appear.

Indoor Seeding

A few vegetables need warm soil (and a long season) to sprout and ultimately produce fruit. If planted outside in April, the seeds would sulk until soil temperatures reached the 70° F mark, by then, it would be too late to get a harvest from the plants. For that reason, I start my tomatoes and peppers indoors with bottom heat. I also planted some parsley, ground cherry, and broccoli this year, since I had room for these as well.

For bottom heat, I use a 14″ by 36″ rubber heat mat made by Bird-x of Chicago. The mat keeps the soil at about 70° F, perfect for starting seeds. Once the seeds have sprouted, I’ll unplug the heat mat. The heat mat is set on rigid foam insulation so that more of the heat goes into the soil, rather than into the room.

I used a commercial potting mix specifically for vegetables and outdoor flowers to fill my flats primarily because it’s weed and disease free – very important when starting tender seedlings. A mix of compost, peat moss, and perlite could be used as well, if it is pasteurized at 180° for about a half an hour in an oven or outdoor grill.

A pencil makes for a handy tool when creating furrows in the seed flats.

I used a wooden seed flat, because the heat transfer is better, the soil stays moister longer, I can get more plants in small area, and I find it quicker to plant than plastic cell flats. But since I earlier started some Spanish peanuts in a plastic tray, I also planted some tomatoes seeds in the unused portion as well.

Everything is labeled as to species and date of planting, These labels follow the plants later in the season as they get planted out in the garden. After watering everything thoroughly, plastic wrap is laid on top of the soil to retain moisture in the soil until the seeds sprout. Once the seeds come up, the plastic wrap is removed, and the seedlings are watered as needed.

The moist soil is covered with plastic wrap until the seeds sprout, when it is then removed.

In the past, I have tried to grow seedlings under artificial lighting (florescent tubes), without much success. No matter how close the lights are to the plants or how long I leave them on (using a timer), the plants always got spindly and mostly fell over and died. This year, the east facing window will have to do, and as it gets warmer outside, I will slowly begin to set out the trays where they can get more light.

Posted in: Blog Posts, Projects, Vegetable Garden \ Tagged: "Jim Crockett" "James Underwwood Crockett" "planting board" "The Victory Garden", "sowing vegetable seeds" indoors, April, beets, carrots, Chicago, Illinois, lettuce, outdoors, peppers, tomato

Spring Clean-up in the Garden, Meadow, and Woods

April 7, 2014 \ by Keith Nowakowski

Tools of the trade, pruning shears and a steel garden rake

The Prairie Garden

With rake and shears in hand, along with a pair of leather gloves and a plastic tarp, I was ready to tackle some spring clean-up chores around the yard. First on the list was the front yard prairie garden. For most of the winter, it was buried under a few feet of snow:

The prairie garden to the right of the driveway in February

So by the time April came around the garden was looking more than ready for a trim:

… two months later, in April, it was time to clean things up

The prairie garden is a mixture of colorful, sun loving, Midwest natives, including Blue Baptisia, Orange Milkweed, Paradox Coneflower, Pasque Flower, and Purple Milkweed, along with Little Bluestem, Big Bluestem, and Prairie Dropseed grasses. The dried remnants generally look interesting throughout the winter, but this winter, the snow came early, and stayed late. To begin the clean-up I laid out the tarp and started raking the loose debris on to the tarp. The grasses held tight, so they were cut back with a pruning shears.

All of this debris was hauled back to the wire bins for conversion to compost:

A pair of 5ft by 5ft compost bins made of 4ft high wire fencing and metal fence posts

After about an hours worth of work, the front garden is ready for spring:

The prairie garden in early April

The garden doesn’t look like much right after its trim, but in another week, or so, the Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris, or Anemone pulsatilla, or A. patens) should be in bloom. I purchased my Pasque Flower at a garden center, so I’m not sure if its parentage is North American or Eastern European, but its a great early bloomer, no problems, and interesting fluffy seed heads in late May and June. The native Midwestern form and the European form look similar to my eyes.

Pasque Flower in April

The prairie garden is quite lush in June, as shown in the photo below:

The prairie garden last June

The Orange Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and the Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida) really pop, against the blue-green leaves of the Little Bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium, or Andropogon scoparium.)

The Meadow

The meadow at the end of a long snowy winter

In the backyard a meadow of Midwestern prairie plants commands the attention of the viewer. The meadow is always alive with the activities of birds and insects, including butterflies, dragonflies, and others. The meadow gets mowed once a year, towards the end of March. This keeps the brush, such as blackberries, Silver Maples, Grey Viburnums, and buckthorn from taking over, that and hand application of herbicide, as needed. Normally, I have used a heavy duty brush cutter to do the job, but that wasn’t wanting to start this year, so my 15hp Craftsman lawn tractor was called into service. It did a fine job as well.

A brush cutter was made for this job, shown here in 2012.

The result is a clean slate, not only is the brush kept in check (not killed mind you – that’s where the herbicide comes in later, or before, depending how you look at it) but the smaller plants are not competing with last years growth. There is nothing that says spring more than a green swath of Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) with violets blooming among its bright green grass-like leaves.

This year, the 15hp lawn tractor did alright – a clean slate for new growth

The meadow, right after a March mow

The meadow is awash with color during the growing season, always something new throughout the year, and changing, year to year.

The same view in summer

I’m always adding new planting to my gardens, and that includes the meadow. This year, I decided to spread some seed that I had stored in my refrigerator – collected from unmanaged wild areas, usually along railroad easements or forgotten urban parcels of land with prairie remnants. The seed was cleaned and placed in paper envelopes, labeled with date of collection, location, and species name. At the time that these seeds were collected, I was propagating plants to sell. I no longer do that, so I went through the seed collection, and chose plants that I wanted in the meadow, the others were planted near my parent’s property in the country.

Metal tins and Tupperware helps to keep the seeds viable longer

The packets were sealed with rubber cement so that they could be resealed over and over after opening

I gave the sites names, such as Rincker Prairie, an historic reference to an old farm family.

For the most part, prairie seeds need to go through a cold moist period before they will sprout, or at least more of the seeds will sprout, after going through this “stratification” process. This is the reason prairies are normally seeded in the fall or very early spring. Most seeds need 30 to 90 day of cold, moist, stratification. William Cullina has written an excellent propagation book called Growing and Propagating Wildflowers that explains the treatment that each species needs for propagation. Hopefully the seeds planted this past March will sprout this spring, and provide added interest in the meadow for years to come.

The selection of seeds that went into the meadow at the end of March

The Oak Woods

Piles of snow are still present as the flames do the clean-up work

Years ago, In my parent’s front yard I planted a small garden with a mix of woodland, savanna, and prairie plants. Over time, the plants have moved around and spread to form a larger garden. To help maintain the garden’s integrity and clean out last year’s growth, I usually do a spring burn. The garden is surrounded on two sides by lawn and by asphalt on the other sides. It takes all of about 15 minutes to complete the burn. This year, I was kept company by a Coopers Hawk nesting in a nearby Oak. I didn’t get a photo of the bird, but the nest can be seen in the center of the photo below:

In the summer the garden is wild mix of many species, coexisting in some form of harmony. Below, the this west facing garden is seen in early June, with the flowers of Tradescantia showing off their electric blue color.

In the town of Crete, Illinois, where I drop off my recyclables, the Lions Club has a nice display of the same Tradescatia (T. ohiensis) in front of its sign, right along with some red Knock-Out Roses and yellow Sundrops – a bright show of primary colors.

Blue Tradescantia with bright yellow Sundrops (Oenothera sp.) and daylilies

Out back the White and Red Oak woodland was getting invaded by brambles, including multiflora rose, gooseberry, and blackberry. To knock these back, this area was burned as well, mimicking what naturally occurred over the last several thousand years – burns help keep the woods open and healthy. Soon, the spring woodland flowers (spring ephemerals) will be up. Red Trillium, Jacob’s Ladder, Hepatica, Bishop’s Cap, Solomon’s Seal will all be showing growth very soon and the woodland floor will a carpet of green.