Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Start Cabbage Seedlings


Addendum - March 18, 2011 - Cabbages like it cool and will stop growing when the weather gets hot. Also Cabbages require 2 inches of rainfall or equivalent watering a week.  Using shade cloth could lower the temperatures and also save you on water. If you can't find it locally, there are several gardening catalogs where you may acquire it. Check your local gardening outlets first. If that doesn't work, do a search on "Shade Cloth" I found Home Depot as a source when I did a search.
How to start Cabbage Seedlings


Today here in the South Central Midwest (zone 6) I started new Cabbage seedlings. Follow along and I will show you how to start your own cabbage plants. When we are finished, we should have about 50 plants for your garden, farmers Market or just to give away to family and friends.
List of Materials:
 A Small bag of Perlite
 A Small bag of Vermiculite 
A Small bag of Cheap Potting Soil
A bucket or plastic dish pan etc
About one half quart of warm water
2 Dollar Store Metal Cake Pans with Plastic Lids
(I spray paint mine to prevent rust)

                               

1.     Sift or pick-out the sticks, stones, and other large matter  out of the Potting Soil, that might hurt the roots of a new plant. This can be easily done with my Hand Sifter. See Blog Article on how to build it.
2.     Dump about a half coffee can of Sifted Potting Soil into a bucket or other tray.
3.     Add  a half  coffee can of Vermiculite.
4.     Last of all, Add a half coffee can of Perlite.
5.     Mix thoroughly and wet down the mixture with warm water.

NOTE: Vermiculite is usually fairly dry and doesn't like to take on water readily. That's why we use warm water which vermiculite absorbs faster. The final mixture should make a ball in your fist but start breaking apart in large chunks. If it holds its form, add more dry vermiculite to absorb the extra water. Otherwise, you new plants may drown or the roots could very well rot in a soppy mess. \



6.     Divide the seeding mixture you just made between the two cake pans and level off evenly. Each tray should be about an inch deep. No more is necessary because when these plants come up and have their first true leaves, you will transplant them into pots are much deeper trays until you set them out in the garden.  Firm lightly with the flat of your hand and poke around the edges with your fingers to tighten the soil. This prevents edge separation of soil and cracks around the edges of the pans. Causing the soil to dry out faster.

7.     With your little finger poke a hole about 1/4  inch deep with your finger. The recommended depth to plant  Cabbage Seeds


8.      Yes, they are small.

9.     Gently fold soil over onto each seed and lightly press it down with  the fingers.  When all the holes are filled and pressed, use your palm and  lightly firm the whole tray with your fingers


10.             Set the plastic cover of the cake pan on.  The lid actually helps to keep cold drafts from reaching the new plants and keeps them warm. The biggest and fastest killer of newly hatched plants is "dampening off". Sometimes overnight! The little plants literally keel over at ground lever. If the soil is the least bit soggy, take the top off until it dries out a little. About a quarter inch air space should do. In fact, you should open the lid a little for an hour every day to allow fresh air in. Fresh air kills fungus. Leave a slight air space for an hour, then snap the lid down again on the cake pan .


11.             Put the seedling trays in a warm place to sprout. I set them in a small closet warmed constantly by a 100 Watt Incandescent  light bulb.  Do not use Florescent bulbs! You want heat. Florescent bulbs give off hardly any heat at all. You want the room kept at about 75 degrees or better so the seeds will sprout. If the room is cool for a long length of time, the seeds won't sprout and will just rot in the ground.  Do not use a loose hanging bulb on an extension cord that might start a fire in a closet.  Use the regular light socket provided. Make sure it is not close to anything. Make sure the Bulb you use is not to close to anything noncombustible and the socket is rated for that wattage.  Check out your procedure carefully several times during your first day or two to be safe and not start a fire.



 The biggest and fastest killer of newly hatched plants. Sometimes overnight! The little plants literally keel over at ground lever. If the soil is the least bit soggy, take the top off until it dries out a little.I built a simple little cabinet big enough to fit in a small space and hold several Cake Pan trays easily. It sits at one end of the closet.


                   And don't forget a cheap 2 dollar Thermometer. 

Check the temperatures regularly - do not allow the surface of the soil to become completely dry. Us a mister to apply a fine spray on the soil whenever necessary. A Dollar Store $1 sprayer should work fine.

3 Days Later


                     

Give them Air!
As soon as a few pop out of the ground, remove the lid for good unless you anticipate cold drafts that can harm your baby plants until they grow  sturdier. Put you plants under plant lights right away. A good average to start with most plants is 12 hours a day.

Give them Light!
Put you plants under plant lights right away. A good average to start with most plants is 12 hours a day. Do not let them on constantly 24/7 because like all babies, they need there rest and and they need time to make food for themselves after the lights are turned out.

 Set your lights on a timer for convenience. The hardware store has an ordinary timer that works just as well as one from an expensive nursery for about $10. Used ones can be found in Thrift Stores for $1. 


Growing your own seedlings (transplants) can be very rewarding as you will see when the seedling start popping out in the trays. As soon as the seedlings have true leaves, transplant them into pots or deeper trays with more space and fertilize lightly. Gradually, accustom these plants to full 8 hours of light. When it is about  8 to 10 days before you can actually set them out in your garden and it is warm enough, with no danger of frost;  gradually allow them to get more and more sun every succeeding day. Start in total day shade for a couple of days to start and gradually move your seedlings out into the sun starting with only one hour a day. Then increase the exposure to the sun a little every day. Warning. To much sun at the start will burn them to krispy critters.  

When to Transplant
The first leaves to appear are the "Cotyledons". These actually feed the tiny plant until the real leaves can make food for the plant. These Catyledons  (sometimes called "false leaves") often wither, die, and fall off the stalk shortly after the "true" leaves come in. It is then time to transplant  if you wish. Also they will need real light - real soon. 
Florescent Lights
 The new Florescent Spiral bulbs really work well for temporary light. They do not get so hot as to burn the leaves or cook  the plants as do old-fashioned incandescent bulbs. One 100 watt Florescent spiral bulb at 2 inches away from the top of the center plant, will be light enough for plants in a 12'' diameter circle. As the plants grow keep the 2 inch distance from the nearest leaves. Remember. If you Halve the distance to the plant with a light bulb, you Double the amount of light it receives.  Inversely, If you Double the distance, you get Half the light. A simple formula to keep in mind when figuring out how much light you plant needs. If it looks spindly and seems to be stretching toward the light, it probably neeeds more light. Transplants can do with 12 to 16 hours of light a day. 
Cheap Workshop lights
Cheap 2 tube florescent shop lights work fine too. Daylight is best. For flowering plants, One blue tube (daylight) and one yellow (indoor) tube will do.

Have fun folks!
Bob
GrandBob


Visit me at: http://GrandBobsGarden.Blogspot.Com for many more garden articles for Practical Gardeners and Beginners how to's. You also may wish to try my Mailing List - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HaysvilleFarmandGardenNews
- especially if you live in the South Central Kansas area or North Central  Oklahoma. To check out other articles along this line, just click on a keyword in the column to the right. Thank You. See you again real soon!
Cheers!
Bob Mader
GrandBob






Monday, March 14, 2011

Hurray! Garden Time!

This Just Out!
 
20 feet of Radishes Planted out Today!
 
Talk about the gardening bug. I have it bad! I hope to put out some Onions too in the next few days when I get up enough energy to dig up another raised bed. 
 
About 11:00 am this morning my "WeatherBug" program said that it was only 36 degrees out but it was Calm and the sun was shining. I thought, "Well, Burpees planting guide says that you can plant out radishes and spinach and such in our area. I Know that radishes can withstand a light frost and will survive under a blanket of snow even. Soooo...
 
I decided to do a little garden work. Mended the break in my unbrakeable Garden Hose...that I bought just last spring at a pretty hefty price. So much for quality. Must have been Quality China!
 
Dug up my #2  - 4 x 8 raised bed. A real feat for a man who has had almost no physical exercise all winter but sitting on a chair in front of my computer an messaging my behind all winter! And way over-weight! So, I dug up the plot with my garden shovel, added some Gypsum (to feed the clay in the soil), spread a couple coffee cans of matured cow manure and a small wheelbarrow level full of last years composted leaves and kitchen scraps. Then I borrowed my daughters neat little Fiskers brand hand twist tiller and quickly mixed all these ingredients in the bed.
 
By this time, I needed a distraction. I usually need to have at least 3 projects going at a time so I scientifically measured myself the exact height of a Garden Stool I needed to rest my butt on when I got tired for a few minutes. I had an old, Snap Lidded 5 gallon bucket sitting out in my garden. Sat on it. Didn't feel right. My knees were at a very awkward angle. The bucket was too low. So I found a couple of chunks of 2 x 6 lumber cutoffs and stacked them on the bucket. Ahhhh. Just right - almost. Found a chunk of 1 x 8 and put that on top. Ummm-Hmmm! Perfect. Went back in the house and found my tape measure.
17 and 1/2 inches exactly. Now I can build me a simple "'Cow Stool" kind of thing to sit on in my garden. Hope I can still keep my balance as I did when I milked those Gurnsey's as a 10 year old kid! Surely I haven't forgotten how?
I probably will pull one of those "Laugh-In" Old Man on a Trike things a couple times to start but it should be like riding a bike. Once you learn how... But I haven't ridden one of those Either in  the last 50 years! Oh well.
 
After finishing with the measuring and thinking about a plan in my head, I was ready to git off the bucket and  plant my radishes.
 
The sun was getting low in the West and I wanted to finish this job Today. So I marked off some rows using about half of the plot I had dug up and prepared and put the seeds in their furrows. I used two packages. The first package of radish seeds had about 30 seeds in it! I barely got started and got about 8 feet and they were all gone! And I had carefully planted them about 1 inch apart rather than just scatter them in and pick out the extra little plants to one inch apart as the packet recommended!
 
That pack would have planted about 2 feet using Their recommendations. (We know what That company was up to!)  These seeds were expensive! Dollar General had 3 packages for $1 mix or match! I could barely afford them.
 
Those $3.79 packages you find at Lowes and Walmart are meant for people who live on the Old MOney end of town! (You know where I mean). And I'm not even into the New MOney yet! My income is so low a snake couldn't crawl under it. I just can't afford fancy seeds that were probably repackaged for Dollar General anyway. Gourmet' Seeds? Who would have guessed it?
 
However, the second package of seeds was much better. About 50 seeds or so. I finished up with a respectable row of radishes and I was done except for watering them in. My daughter was talking Rain Barrels when we had a short conversation later about the price of water in this little town.  ( I hope she can afford them when she finds out how much the fixtures cost that you need). I wander if the city would let me put up a windmill for my garden. Probably not. To many Hubcaps hustling to impress the towns people being Big Wheels. Typical small town where 2 or 3 people run the whole town - and are the shadow government behind the City Council. But that's another story... wait till they get wind of the Windcharger in the alley! Maybe.
 
So my day is finished and I'm really ready to hit the sack. I wander what I have in mind for tomorrow? Cheers!
 
Bob
GrandBob