Shine On Part 2

Yeah! It is raining. I love the rain. It tells me that I don't have to water this week. The gardens are really starting to look good. Silverton is a bit slow to start but I am confident it will pick up in the next few weeks. I was hoping to have some stronger spring crops by May but there are a few reasons that it isn't as strong. In Silverton the straw has not fully composted yet and I didn't remove it for planting. Straw can suck out the nitrogen from your plants in its decomposition so I believe this is happening along side the fact that the bed is a bit rough for seedling germination. I haven't removed anything because in 3 weeks we will be planting most of our summer crops as transplants and they won't have a problem. Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Peppers, etc. We are also planting cucumbers, squash, and sunflowers. In Linden the garden is looking fabulous. With a different soil composition and warmer temps the Linden garden is growing strong. Last week we picked and thinned a bunch with the kids. We ate all of our thinnings ofcourse! Our radishes, spinach, salads, and peas look great there. We built a mudman out in Silverton. A mudman is very similar to a snowman but made with mud. His hair is made from sod and his arms are made from bamboo. He will grow and change throughout the season, eventually "melting" back into the ground.

Our plants will be delivered to Silverton and to Linden with the ACS Plant Project tour. I will be delivering the plants by bus to the center. It will be a great day!
Our Adult Container Class is coming up soon. We will have more information this week about when and where it will be taking place.

Things to do: Dance in the rain. It's fun.
Take kids on a seed walk. Put some yucky old socks on over your kids shoes. Go for a walk in the park, on the trail, or in your yard. Be sure to have your child run and walk all over the weedy areas. Come back inside and take off those socks. Inspect them for seeds and plant what you find.
Gather up some rain water in a bucket for your plants. CONSERVE
Split up your worm bins and gather their much desired castings for your hot crop starts. Place some in the hole you transfer to for some boost and lessened shock.
Eat all of your thinnings.
Eat all of your rosemary flowers. Pick them off and use them as a great decorative and flavorful flare to your dishes.
Take your neighbor's or friend's dog out for a walk.
Begin hardening off your starts and transplants. They should have at least 2 weeks of time spent outside for a short portion of the day.
Save up that space in your garden. You might want to hold off putting anything down if it will just be moved or shaded by your hot crops. Plan accordingly.

Good luck and Get growing.

Garden Guru Katz

Shine on: Colors of Spring and Stronger Plants

It was a warm weekend for us in the Willamette Valley. Warm days with filtered sunlight and some of the first nights around 50 degrees have converted our gardens from seedlings to vegetating plants. Our seedlings are growing well. In Linden, the soil has much less straw and the seedlings are growing faster. We used cardboard for sheet mulching in Linden. In Silverton (which is a bit colder on average than Linden) the seedlings are still emerging. The peas in both locations look great and I am expecting some bigger plants by the end of the week. The weather is looking pretty good and I won't have to water this week. I am hopeful for some decent spring crops unless the deer get them in Silverton. I have got to get that deer fence up!
I believe most of the crops should be ready by mid May and into June. In May we will be harvesting most of our garden space. All of the food will be cooked in the scratch kitchens and what is not cooked will be used for investigation with the children. We will be replanting the beds with summer crops like beans, tomatoes, cucumber, squash etc. The children just had a lab lesson and scavenger hunt last week. We did a lab observing plants as they rested in different colored water in pots. This week we will be studying 6 plants in differing conditions exploring water variables, light variables, and nutrient variables. There will be extensions throughout this lesson to follow the children's interests. We are also beginning the grow and eat your salad project again. It is a short month long lesson involving growing salad in small pots with our OPK programs. At the harvest, the teachers and children make several salad dishes and serve them to each other. Our seedlings from ACS seem to be doing well. They are starting a long term hardening off process by visiting the harshness of life outside the greenhouses several times a week. At this stage in the year, our greenhouses are producing plants that will be too big for our resources and space. It is a good thing May is around the corner.

What should you be planting out there: Get out there and start planting some carrots, radish, beets, chards, salads, mustard greens, kale, asian greens and cabbages, broccoli, cauliflour, and cabbage. Keep what you can but save some space for your bigger crops like tomatoes and squashes.

Good things: Salads and onions enjoy growing close. I have seen carrots and green onions do well together too.

Stay away from this: Don't plant your onions next to your beans or peas.

Idea for the day: Got some extra sod? Got some extra materials around the garden? Why don't you make a mud structure. Mud structures can provide a lot of fun for any garden. Mud structures can be anything from small huts to giant faces. I am hoping to build structure for Silverton out of removed sod and extra rocks. I will be building a simple living tower. It will end up looking like a mudman (like a snowman but with mud instead of snow) and have plants growing for details like the face and hair.


The pics above are from a trip to the Tulip Festival. The children were all smiles the whole time. What a fun experience.
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