More Planting

Last weekend I started tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and radishes. The Tomatoes (Rutgers, Medford and Siberia -- all heirloom varieties which are not hybrids and hence not at the mercy of the corporate seed giants) were started in sterile starting soil under glass. Same for the broccoli and peppers. I planted the radishes outside in a SWAMP box. After 4 days, the radishes are the only ones that are up.

I also am preparing to start potatoes (Yellow Finn).

My first setback

It was bound to happen. THe first problem arose this week. I had filled two SWAMP boxes with potting soil from Cedar Grove which is a mix of sand and recycled yard waste. My wife planted lettuce, arugula and spinich seeds. I set the boxes inside in a south window of an unheated house and covered the soil with a thin black plastic mulch cover. After two days I peeked. The soil was overgrown with a quarter inch layer of fungus which looks like the fungus I used to see on starting plants which is associated with damping off disease. I expect to see that here also. I expect that the seeds either won't sprout or will die as soon as they sprout. Chalk one up to experience. That's why we're doing this. I will restart those plants in sterile potting soil.

A laboratory for Survival

I recently watched a great video -- The Power of Community how Cuba Survived Peak Oil. The video talks about how we all are facing the consequences of Peak Oil. It uses the experience of Cuba in the 1990's when Soviet Oil imports were abruptly halted as an example of how a nation can survive a sudden loss of cheap oil. It strikes me that we need many local laboratories all over the Unites States today to learn what we will need to know when we face Peak Oil.

First Planting

This weekend Jennie and I planted 5 SWAMP boxes. She planted lettuce, arugula and spinich. These were in the small 10-gal boxes and are inside against south facing windows.

I planted shallots and everbearing strawberries in 10 gallon boxes and radishes (both the round red kind and the long white kind) in a 14 gal. box. All three of these are outside against a south facing wall. I have some question about planting everbearing strawberries. I believe that these don't produce as much fruit as the regular strawberries. We will see. I expect that the radishes will produce early and be replaced by a fall crop like broccoli in June or so.

I plan to start some tomato plants from seed indoors this week. I will plant several of the non-hybrid types whose seed I can save.

Food Preservation for the Cold Months

I have spoken in the blog of raising all of the food that one can eat in a small area. But in the Maritime NorthWest of the US, we have short, cool growing season. How do we make our food last all year? The answer is that we re-learn some of the food storage methods known by our grandparents and great grandparents. We also adjust the foods we grow and eat to ones that will do well in a cooler climate. Let's look at food preservation first.

There are four methods of food preservation that I can think of. You may think of others.

Cold Storage -- this works for potatoes, carrots and other (mainly tuber) foods. All you need is a cool, dry place. The idea is to slow down the natural sprouting of these tubers to keep them fresh for several months.

Drying -- Some foods can be dried. Seed foods like beans and peas when dried will keep for years. Fleshy foods will keep for several months. We'll have a lot more to say about this later when the times comes to dry foods.

Canning -- I remember my Grandmother canning lots vegetables and fruits. My mother did less so, and mainly fruits -- and tomatoes. I have since learned that canning low acid foods is quite risky and the risk is primarily botulism, a very serious poison that can develop in canned food. High acid foods like tomatoes and most fruits can very well. We will also talk more about canning when the time comes.

Freezing -- Most vegetable and fruit foods can be preserved by freezing. It is easy and the food tastes good. Freezing requires a reliable source of energy to maintain the freeze, and it is proper to be concerned about that. We will also talk a lot more about freezing later.

Today, I am off to build more SWAMP boxes and to start sowing the first seeds of the year: lettuce, radishes, onions, and to start some tomato plants to use in demonstrations in April.

Garden Security

In the early 1970's I was active in a community gardening project in Columbia, MD. We leased vacant land on the edge of a developing town and subdivided it into 20 x 25 ft garden plots which we subleased to gardeners. We supplied water in tanks located in the center of the garden area,we kept the paths mowed and we published a monthly newsletter. Otherwise, the gardeners were on their own.

The major security problem then was people getting into the wrong plot in the spring. Usually someone would come to their garden to find it already rototilled and planted by someone else. In those cases I switched plots or tried to do something to satisfy everyone. I gave highest priority to protect the hard labor of the planter. We had NO reported cases of anyone stealing ripe vegetables.

In a more densely populated city, I would anticipate a more acute pilferage problem. We may want to enclose our Parking Space Gardens. Now, we also need to provide support for climbing -type vegetables, so a surrounding fence makes some sense.

I suggest that we construct mobile panels of woven fence wire and fir 2 x 4's. We could make a 4 x 8 ft panel for about $15 each (perhaps less). We could surround a 8 x 16 ft garden to a height of 8 ft for $180 or to a height of 4 ft for half that, or any combination in between.

Maritime Northwest Season Extender

In the Maritime Northwest we have a short and often cool growing season. This can be a problem when trying to produce semi-tropical crops such as tomatoes. This inexpensive ($250) greenhouse found at www.greenhouses.com can extend our growing season by several weeks in both he spring and again in the fall. I would propose that 6 ft of the 8x16 foot Parking Space Garden by occupied by this greenhouse. The greenhouse is self-supporting and is clad by a flexible plastic fabric which is resistant to UV damage from the sun.

Self WAtering Mobile Planter (SWAMP) box

There are several designs for do-it-yourself "Earth Boxes" floating around the Internet. They have somewhat varied materials and labor costs, but most are based on the Rubbermaid storage tub in sizes ranging from 10 gallons to 18 gallons. All of the designs will cost about $10 per box for materials and will require between 30 min. and 1 hr. to construct. The cost of soil will depend on the size of the box.

The larger box (18 gal) shown above is appropriate for 2 large tomato plants. It has sufficient soil volume to grow the really large and productive tomatoes. You could also grow any deep-rooted vegetable such as large carrots, potatoes, climbing vine plants like pole beans, vine squash, etc. I suggest building these boxes with a 6 inch water reservoir.

The mid size box (14 gal) would be good for moderate deep rooted plants -- broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, bush beans, etc. I suggest making these boxes with a 5 inch water reservoir.

The smallest box (10 gal) would be good for shallow rooted plants like lettuce, radish, scallions, most greens, etc. I suggest building these boxes with a 4 inch water reservoir.

The depth of the water reservoir can depend somewhat on your climate and how often you expect to be able to add water. In hot climates or where you can only tend the box 2-3 times a week, definitely, make the water reservoir larger. In cool climates like the maritime Northwest (N. Cal, OR, WA, BC), we can get by with smaller water reservoirs.

If you know that you will be away from your SWAMP boxes for extended periods of time like a vacation, and you can't get a neighbor to tend them, consider installing some sort of drip watering timer on a hose. Instead of running the drip irrigation system around your plants, just run the drip hoses directly into the watering tube of the SWAMP box. You'll have to experiment with how many minutes each day to run it.