[garden] Seed-starting
Mar. 10th, 2009 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7First off, a little list of the oddness going on in my life:
My knee is steadily better. Still not great, but better.
I found my keys yesterday, in the pocket of my rain slicker. WTF. I lost my keys last summer after practice-- I had worn a jacket with shallow pockets, and assumed, sadly, that they must have fallen out at Ava's (the bar where we drink) on the one night Z came with me. (Any other night and I wouldn't have been able to get home, right?) No one there ever saw them-- I asked them to keep an eye out but nothing ever turned up. I was bummed.
So for over six months I have been getting by without keys. Not an immense deal, since we only have one car, but Z resolutely refuses to hang his keys on a peg by the door. I had to go looking for them every time I wanted them-- usually in his coat pocket, but sometimes on the dresser. And several times, he left me the car, and went off with whoever, still carrying the keys in his pocket. We had a spare valet key, which worked in the ignition and driver's side door but could not open the trunk-- I used that more than I care to remember.
So yesterday I found my keys in the pocket of a coat I hadn't been wearing when my keys disappeared. WTF.
I guess it's good. I hadn't gotten around to replacing them. It would've been over $100 for the car key fob alone.
In other bad news, a teammate sprained her knee so badly she can't walk, at our bout; then she got home and found her pet rabbit had died. And her job, which involves being on her feet all day, couldn't find anything for her to do that she can actually do while her knee is healing, so she's on disability, which she can't really afford. So that sucks immensely. Her car died and she's trying to save up to replace it-- she lives in the suburbs, so it's not like she has any options of any kind to get around without a car. So it's like a big pile of suck.
And then another leaguemate, one of the girls on the travel team, who I had such a nice conversation with on the bus-- 22 years old, amazing athlete, very funny and sweet girl despite being a total badass-- apparently fell during practice last night, in screaming pain. They took her to the hospital and discovered she has a congenital birth defect in her spine, and also a herniated disk.
So that's awful, and who knows what it means-- besides roller derby she's also involved in amateur pro wrestling and a drug-free rave scene, so she's extremely active.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kkattowll just had herniated disk surgery and had her activity level sharply curtailed, so I know it's not something they can just fix and you jump right back into all the stuff you used to do.
So there's just suck everywhere.
But my knee is getting better so I'm going to hope that it doesn't know about this suck bandwagon.
It is very hard to type because Remi is giving herself an exuberant bath all over my lap. I don't have a big lap. Remi is not small. Well, she is, but not that small.
Anyway.
Gardening obsession!!!
What I've done is I've written down all the seeds and plants I've bought/saved/acquired for this season, and separated them into categories of what has to happen to them, and then written the dates beside them of when whatever has to happen is going to happen. Then I've put things onto a calendar the town sent me. Important dates are highlighted. Everything's on Thursdays because that happens to be when the average frost-free date for this region is.
I'm being optimistic with a lot of this stuff and planning on setting it out on the AVERAGE frost-free date, not the GUARANTEED frost-free date. In Buffalo, NY, which is USDA Zone 6A (warmer than much of NY, because of the Oasis Effect off Lake Erie-- keeps winters warmer and summers cooler, delays first frost, delays last frost), the AVERAGE date beyond which no more frosts occur is April 30th. Most years, we have no frosts in May. But about 50% of the time, we do; therefore, the GUARANTEED frost-free date, beyond which there has NEVER been a frost, is May 17th.
The plants Burpee is sending me will arrive between May 1 and May 14, so they too are more or less gambling that there won't be a frost that late. (I don't think Zone 6 usually has frosts so late-- the zone thing doesn't take Lake Erie's thermal mass into consideration, quite.)
So anyway, here's everything I'm growing, sorted chronologically by when I have to deal with it. What can I say? The more time I spend thinking about it, the better I feel. Some things will be on the list twice, since I have to first plant them, then transplant them.
Winter-Sow:
Threw a bunch of seeds in pots in early Feb, almost all saved seed.
Tomato, pole bean, peas, butternut squash (grocery store seed), basil, dill
Indoor Start:
8-10 weeks before frost-free = March 5th:
Hot peppers (saved seed)
Sweet peppers (purchased seed)
cherry tomato (purchase seed)
lavender (purchased)
rosemary (purchased)
Butternut squash (saved grocery store seed)
Sugar Snap Peas (last year's purchase)
4-6 weeks before frost-free = March 26:
head lettuce (purchased)
cucumbers (purchased)
butternut squash (saved)
acorn squash (purchased)
thyme and chamomile (purchased)
Outdoor Start
"As soon as ground can be worked" = before last frost = probably March 20 or so
peas (saved and purchased)
head lettuce (purchased, as rest of below)
spinach
turnips
beets
radishes
= plant all of the above in beds B4, F1, F2, B7, and somewhat F3, which are mostly prepared already. Do prep work on other beds.
"After danger of frost" = right around May 1st, to start off:
more of all the above, in now-prepared beds
thyme and chamomile
basil
marigold
nasturtium
cucumber
a few squash
sage
beans
Transplant started plants:
peppers
tomatoes
rosemary
lavender
basil
"When Burpee Order Arrives" = between May 1 and 14. If earlier, all plants will be set up with plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out covering them as frost covers/ soil warmers.
Tomatoes in bed B6
Peppers in bed F1
daylily in F3
"when soil is warm" = around May 20: Rest of beds should be prepared by now
morning glories
zucchini
acorn squash and butternut squash
another planting of peas, spinach, lettuce (looseleaf, saved seed), radishes
wild flax
remainder of nasturtium and marigold
poppies (purchased on sale yesterday)
Then all that will be left to do is, well, maintenance, which is a lot, and a few more succession plantings, until August.
I want to have an autumn garden, so I have to get some things in the ground to ripen before first frost.
AVERAGE LAST FROST DATE: October 25th
I haven't worked out the dates of the autumn plantings, but I know I want to plant turnips, beets, spinach, radishes, peas, and lettuce to autumn-ripen.
I have tentative plans for a cold frame, which I'd have to get in place by August.
My knee is steadily better. Still not great, but better.
I found my keys yesterday, in the pocket of my rain slicker. WTF. I lost my keys last summer after practice-- I had worn a jacket with shallow pockets, and assumed, sadly, that they must have fallen out at Ava's (the bar where we drink) on the one night Z came with me. (Any other night and I wouldn't have been able to get home, right?) No one there ever saw them-- I asked them to keep an eye out but nothing ever turned up. I was bummed.
So for over six months I have been getting by without keys. Not an immense deal, since we only have one car, but Z resolutely refuses to hang his keys on a peg by the door. I had to go looking for them every time I wanted them-- usually in his coat pocket, but sometimes on the dresser. And several times, he left me the car, and went off with whoever, still carrying the keys in his pocket. We had a spare valet key, which worked in the ignition and driver's side door but could not open the trunk-- I used that more than I care to remember.
So yesterday I found my keys in the pocket of a coat I hadn't been wearing when my keys disappeared. WTF.
I guess it's good. I hadn't gotten around to replacing them. It would've been over $100 for the car key fob alone.
In other bad news, a teammate sprained her knee so badly she can't walk, at our bout; then she got home and found her pet rabbit had died. And her job, which involves being on her feet all day, couldn't find anything for her to do that she can actually do while her knee is healing, so she's on disability, which she can't really afford. So that sucks immensely. Her car died and she's trying to save up to replace it-- she lives in the suburbs, so it's not like she has any options of any kind to get around without a car. So it's like a big pile of suck.
And then another leaguemate, one of the girls on the travel team, who I had such a nice conversation with on the bus-- 22 years old, amazing athlete, very funny and sweet girl despite being a total badass-- apparently fell during practice last night, in screaming pain. They took her to the hospital and discovered she has a congenital birth defect in her spine, and also a herniated disk.
So that's awful, and who knows what it means-- besides roller derby she's also involved in amateur pro wrestling and a drug-free rave scene, so she's extremely active.
kkattowll just had herniated disk surgery and had her activity level sharply curtailed, so I know it's not something they can just fix and you jump right back into all the stuff you used to do. So there's just suck everywhere.
But my knee is getting better so I'm going to hope that it doesn't know about this suck bandwagon.
It is very hard to type because Remi is giving herself an exuberant bath all over my lap. I don't have a big lap. Remi is not small. Well, she is, but not that small.
Anyway.
Gardening obsession!!!
What I've done is I've written down all the seeds and plants I've bought/saved/acquired for this season, and separated them into categories of what has to happen to them, and then written the dates beside them of when whatever has to happen is going to happen. Then I've put things onto a calendar the town sent me. Important dates are highlighted. Everything's on Thursdays because that happens to be when the average frost-free date for this region is.
I'm being optimistic with a lot of this stuff and planning on setting it out on the AVERAGE frost-free date, not the GUARANTEED frost-free date. In Buffalo, NY, which is USDA Zone 6A (warmer than much of NY, because of the Oasis Effect off Lake Erie-- keeps winters warmer and summers cooler, delays first frost, delays last frost), the AVERAGE date beyond which no more frosts occur is April 30th. Most years, we have no frosts in May. But about 50% of the time, we do; therefore, the GUARANTEED frost-free date, beyond which there has NEVER been a frost, is May 17th.
The plants Burpee is sending me will arrive between May 1 and May 14, so they too are more or less gambling that there won't be a frost that late. (I don't think Zone 6 usually has frosts so late-- the zone thing doesn't take Lake Erie's thermal mass into consideration, quite.)
So anyway, here's everything I'm growing, sorted chronologically by when I have to deal with it. What can I say? The more time I spend thinking about it, the better I feel. Some things will be on the list twice, since I have to first plant them, then transplant them.
Winter-Sow:
Threw a bunch of seeds in pots in early Feb, almost all saved seed.
Tomato, pole bean, peas, butternut squash (grocery store seed), basil, dill
Indoor Start:
8-10 weeks before frost-free = March 5th:
Hot peppers (saved seed)
Sweet peppers (purchased seed)
cherry tomato (purchase seed)
lavender (purchased)
rosemary (purchased)
Butternut squash (saved grocery store seed)
Sugar Snap Peas (last year's purchase)
4-6 weeks before frost-free = March 26:
head lettuce (purchased)
cucumbers (purchased)
butternut squash (saved)
acorn squash (purchased)
thyme and chamomile (purchased)
Outdoor Start
"As soon as ground can be worked" = before last frost = probably March 20 or so
peas (saved and purchased)
head lettuce (purchased, as rest of below)
spinach
turnips
beets
radishes
= plant all of the above in beds B4, F1, F2, B7, and somewhat F3, which are mostly prepared already. Do prep work on other beds.
"After danger of frost" = right around May 1st, to start off:
more of all the above, in now-prepared beds
thyme and chamomile
basil
marigold
nasturtium
cucumber
a few squash
sage
beans
Transplant started plants:
peppers
tomatoes
rosemary
lavender
basil
"When Burpee Order Arrives" = between May 1 and 14. If earlier, all plants will be set up with plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out covering them as frost covers/ soil warmers.
Tomatoes in bed B6
Peppers in bed F1
daylily in F3
"when soil is warm" = around May 20: Rest of beds should be prepared by now
morning glories
zucchini
acorn squash and butternut squash
another planting of peas, spinach, lettuce (looseleaf, saved seed), radishes
wild flax
remainder of nasturtium and marigold
poppies (purchased on sale yesterday)
Then all that will be left to do is, well, maintenance, which is a lot, and a few more succession plantings, until August.
I want to have an autumn garden, so I have to get some things in the ground to ripen before first frost.
AVERAGE LAST FROST DATE: October 25th
I haven't worked out the dates of the autumn plantings, but I know I want to plant turnips, beets, spinach, radishes, peas, and lettuce to autumn-ripen.
I have tentative plans for a cold frame, which I'd have to get in place by August.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 05:16 pm (UTC)But they heal "within six months."
Which is a helluva lot of time.
Especially while in excruciating agony.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-10 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-13 05:44 am (UTC)As regarding your keys: simple answer. Malevolent house fairies! Am told leaving a saucer of warm milk out at night will help. :D Of course, will also help all felines in area... or could it be milk lures felines who in turn hunt down evil house faires? Hmmmm....
Your garden plans are much better laid out than mine are currently. I've got the indoor/transplant/outdoor planting times down on the calendar and some seedlings started indoors. Have been bad recently and not gotten out to ammend or till the soil yet. Somehow all my onion seedlings are playing silly buggers and just growing tall and thin and collapsing onto the dirt. Seriously, they look like trampled, overgrown grass. I need to take a cue from you and get this all written down at some point so I know what all I've got going into the dirt and where.
Thanks:)
Date: 2009-03-29 10:18 pm (UTC)Re: Thanks:)
Date: 2009-04-01 01:28 pm (UTC)Well I'm glad some of my info was useful!
For general-purpose Buffalo usefulness you might want to add
Actually there's a woman on there [
Good luck with your garden! I am a middling novice at gardening-- I grew up in a very gardeny household but until a couple of years ago never had a yard. Last year's garden was a disaster, in that I didn't spend any time in it all year so it just was all weeds, but I'm making the best of things this year. I'm trying to go organic, but mostly because I'm cheap.
Now is a good time to plant your peas and beets and radishes and lettuce!
I'm unemployed and fairly broke at the moment, so I'm hoping to save money with the garden-- at the moment I'm eking by on frozen produce, which is much cheaper than fresh. It's just a pain to make room in the freezer!
At least, being unemployed, I have time for the garden. :)
Well, anyway, welcome to LJ and I'm glad I could be useful. Funny that I show up in Google like that! And good to know!