Head Start on Seed Starting

The first year I had a vegetable garden in Seattle (2009), I was very nervous about how long it takes to get warm out here, so I started all my seeds indoors. I set up a rig with flourescent lights on a timer and trays full of seedlings in the kitchen where I could monitor them constantly. I planted a little bit at least once a week for proper succession planting and I ended up with pretty good results. But the amount of energy that I used for this method seemed excessive.
So last year I built a cold frame:

All in all it was decent, but I had a hard time getting the moisture levels right. Things got too wet and the soil turned green, and then they got dried out and the seedlings got all spindly. So in the fall I installed an irrigation system (sorry, no photo) with misting heads set up on a timer. The only problem I had with this is that the excess water collected in the trays in which my seedlings were placed, and they ended up pretty waterlogged. That and the slugs...

This spring, I filled the bottom of the cold frame with pebbles and I will put my little guys right in there, allowing the extra water to just drain off. I also got some diatomaceous earth and sprinkled that around the perimeter to try and keep the hungry little slugs away.

This week I put in the following seeds:

Several varieties of lettuces including:

• Cooks Garden All-Seasons Butterhead Mix
• Territorial Merlot

Raddicchio

Arugula

Curly Endive (Frisee)

I hope to get some peas and radishes into the ground shortly and to start some greens soon too!

The Early Bird Gets the Worm!

Here it is, the first week of February, and I am starting to make progress in the garden already. The days are getting a little longer, which means I have a smidgen of daylight left when I get home from work in which to throw on some dirt-clothes and get a little digging in.

Our last frost date is technically in the first week of April, 2 months away. But the industrious gardener can get a good head start on these sunny days we've been having. Here is what I have been working on

PREPARING THE SOIL
The first thing I did in the garden this year was conduct a soil test. I used one of the basic pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash(Potassium) test kits

The results of the test indicated that I had a pH of about 6.5, Depleted Nitrogen, Sufficient Phosphorus and Sufficient-to-Surplus Potash.  So my pH and Phosphorus levels are fine and my Potash levels are more than fine, but I really need some Nitrogen up in there.
There are several good options for high-nitrogen. low-potash fertilizers including Feather Meal (12-0-0), Blood Meal (12-0-0), Bat Guano (10-3-1).

I decided on feather meal as my primary nitrogen source (12-0-0)
The reason I chose feather meal was kind of an accident. The price on the sticker was listed at $3.97 for 6lbs, a steal compared to $14.95 for 6lbs of bone meal. But when I took it up to the counter it turned out that the price sticker was wrong and it was supposed to retail for about the same as the blood meal. But they were willing to give me the listed price, so I ended up with a heck of a deal. If the prices had looked the same, I may have chosen a different fertilizer (probably the least odorous one), but for this application at least, its feather meal.

I did not plant a cover crop last fall (which would have helped with the nitrogen levels) so when it came time to prepare the beds, I just needed to turn in the straw that I mulched with and mix in my fertilizer.
An overwintered bed in these parts is pretty waterlogged, so the turning was hard work, but that is one of my favorite parts of gardening, so I am not complaining. After mixing in the feather meal, I set up a plastic cloche over the beds to help dry out and warm up the soil a bit. After a few days I will add some steer manure to the top, and right before I plant in it I will mulch with compost.


I also decided to dig a new satellite bed for growing corn this year. I am not going to make it as big a production as digging the raised beds was. For those I pulled up the sod, double-dug the area, built a 12" deep wooden bed and filled it with several tons of compost and garden soil from the nursery. Since I am not going to be growing any root veggies in this plot, I am just going to remove the sod, sift the soil, mix in some fertilizer and manure, and get started.

Since the bed is intended for corn, I will share the things I have learned about growing corn here:

1. Corn is wind-pollinated, so it is best to plant it in several rows at least 2 feet apart. Evidently it can easily cross-pollinate, so its not a great idea to plant several varieties in close proximity.

2. It is beneficial to grow legumes in the soil prior to planting corn. Legumes have very low nitrogen needs and help to fix the nitrogen in the soil, making it readily available to my baby corn plants. Legumes also have shallow roots, so it won't matter that I am not building raised beds for these dudes.

Welcome!

I have decided to give blogging another try.
Hopefully having a topic that I love will help, but that remains to be seen.
Here we go!