Hardening Seedlings for Transplanting

Garden Update Week 19

There’s been a fair amount of activity in the garden this week. The seeds are popping through the surface now. Many of my flower beds are coming to life. And of course, the weeds are coming to life too.

I planted them a little over two weeks ago and wrote up my procedure here. I wait until I see the seeds pushing through I remove the wooden frames protecting them. I find if I don’t remove them right away they get “leggy” as they try to grow above the frame. At this point the greatest danger is more wood chips or mulch getting pushed in and, unfortunately, cats that like to dig in the nice, loose dirt. (I’ll be reseeding my salad onions.)

I also did my first weeding and removal of all the fall rye grass. I talk more about the fall rye in the same update linked above. So far it appears to have not impacted germination of the seeds. It also doesn’t seem to be doing much for weed suppression. I put some in with my garlic and have left it there. The garlic in the fall rye appears to be growing as well as the stuff without it. The weeds are less advanced in the area with the fall rye, but they are still there.

I’m in a cover crop group, and in it this week I learned about work in K State that tested different varieties of fall rye (or cereal rye as they call it) for the allelopathic chemical that suppresses weeds. Not surprisingly there are varietal differences — sometimes up to 10x the concentration. Risa from Grasslands Oregon tipped us off on this work. This could explain why I’m not seeing much weed suppression from this fall rye.

The hardening off procedure of the warm season crops continues. I’ve got them acclimatized to a half day in the sun and a full day in the wind. The cool season native plants are staying out all night as well. I’ve had problems with cats playing with my seedlings. I tried old dishwasher racks turned upside down, but then it just turned to a game where they pawed in between the wires. I upped the ante with a motion activated sprinkler. I haven’t caught it in action yet, but I know from experience last year that it only takes a few days to train them

This week I did a big clean up of my desert bed. This area is near the sidewalk and gets full sun all day every day of the year. When I tried augering it once to check moisture, there’s gravel only 10" down. I planted it to hen & chicks and creeping thyme three years ago. Last year I neglected the crabgrass and am paying for it now. I watered it one day, and the next morning I got out my garden fork, trowel, and gloves and went at it. I never thought to get a picture before I started. I divided the thyme and hen and chicks to fill in the empty spaces and watered it in. It looks a little ragged now, but I think it will liven up in the next month or so.

Finally, the tulips are in full colour now. I divided these in the fall of 2016. Last year they didn’t bloom — only leaves. I know now that I should have done in the summer as soon as the foliage died down. It turns out they start growing in late August and put down new roots and shoots. By pulling them up and replanting then I stress them a lot. Luckily they survived and are beautiful this year.

Until next week,
Scott.