2006 seedlings - spring is coming!

[Tania]

Now I feel the spring is coming... it is getting warmer for sure, and it is no longer dark when I get back home from work before 5 pm... never mind all this rain... at least last Saturday we saw some sunshine, and I've decided to bring my babies outside to spend a day in a cold frame:



Here are the lettuce and spring cabbage seedlings ready to go to the garden (although I thought lettuce was ready to go to salad too, so it was a tough call :




And here is me, planting potatoes and getting my first sunbath of the year:



Garden in early March - not much out there, but there are lettuce and kohlraby, radish, parsley and green onions growing in the cold frames:

[jerseyjohn61]

Nice looking set-up Tania. I love the look of all
that "black gold" laying on the soil top.
Have a great growing year....JJ61

[MsCowpea]

Tania, can I ask how you grew your lettuce transplants--they look so perfect? Very nice garden too.

[Tania]

Thank you folks!

MsCowpea - I start lettuce seeds in a soiless mix in 4 gal milk containers, and grow then under lights until they reach approximately this size -



These are ready to be transplanted, and I will be moving them into into individual 3" containers this weekend.
When potting up, I use top soil + composted horse manure + pea moss mix (1:1:1); the seedlings stay in pots in a cold frame on the deck until the weather gets warm enough (frost-free nights)... then they go to the cold frames to the garden (if we haven't eaten them by then :-)) You can see the trasplanted lettuce seedlings in the pictures in the 1st post

[MsCowpea]

Tania, thanks for the tip. I always way over-seed directly in the garden and sort of do a 'cut and come again thing" but knew I should figure out the easiest way to do transplants and let them grow big.

One more thing, you're right -those lettuces look just like the organic baby leaf lettuce sold in the stores for lots of $$ so you could eat them right now . I have been meaning to stagger plant a bunch of small containers like that and harvest them when small--you have inspired me to do that too. Best wishes, farkee (MCP)

[Tania]

Not sure about Thuja because I wouldn't have recognized one if I saw it :wink: - these are the trimmings from the cedar trees hat are on the right hand side of the picture

Now I regret we didn't make salad out of these lettuces - we've got about 20 cm of snow last night and the temp were slightly below freezing... ALthough the lettuces in the cold frames look OK, I am not sure they appreciate the weather...

This is the picture of the garden 5 days after my happy potato planting:



This is by far the strangest weather I remember (being in Vancouver area for the last 8 years...) - we had snow in November , then i was very warm and rainy in January, and snow again in March! The weather changes really fast, which shouldn't have been the case given the coastal climate. Hmmm... sign of global warming??

[Rena]

That soil looks like black gold!! Very beautiful. I was thinking the same thing about eating that lettuce. I would kill to have that kind of growing space!-Rena

[dokutaaguriin]

Looking great Tania.....I liked your idea about the lettuce and think I may try something similar.
Sorry, but I did chuckle about the snow you guys had. Didn't Vancouver completely shut down
Jeff

[Tania]

Jeff,

I am not sure if Vancouver was all shut down because we couldn't get out of our place because of all this snow and ice on the road - still have lots of snow today.

Checked my lettuces and cabbages, and they seem to be happy and grew quite a bit since last Sunday! -




...first time for me gardening in the snow

[dokutaaguriin]

Tania,
Your lettuces look great.
Where or how did you build your cold frames?
Jeff

[Tania]

Jeff,

my father-in-law built the cold frames (this is his own design, my specifications :wink: ) We use some cheap untreated wood, and very good GH anti-fog 4 mil plastic, which is supposed to last. The wooden parts are painted with exterior marine paint, which would protect it from rotting, and it is also easy to take it apart if needed or put it back together. The materials cost us about CAD $100 per 4x22' cold frame (3 sections, 4' high), or about CAD $150 per 4x22' (3 sections 5' high), which I consider quite reasonable - and the best part the labor is free for asking (he enjoys the activity )

All we have to do is to put it onto a raised bed, and also wash it in spring and fall, to keep clean. I think I can grow quite a few things in it through the winter (which as you know is very mild here) - such as lettuces, cabbages, kohlraby, and broccoli

I am thinking about growing peppers and eggplants in the 5' high cold frames this summer - and perhaps I could stick a couple of determinate tomatoes in it too!

The 4' high frames are great for melons in summer and brassicas or lettice in winter/spring/fall.

[dokutaaguriin]

Hi Tania,
Thanks for the response. I do have a few more questions:
Where did you purchase the GH plastic? Price? How many years will it last?
What size of wood did you use (2"x2")?
I don't suppose you have a sketch of it (post a pic of your sketch)?
I see that your garden is quite sheltered but do you need to tie down the cold frames so that the do not blow away?
Jeff

[Tania]

Jeff,

The plastic is the Dura-film(R) 4 Thermal AC Plus, from a local AT Plastic distributor, $240 per 24'x100' roll. SUpposed to last 4 years

We used hemlock 2x4"-8', but we cut it into 2x2" - that's the less expensive option (rather than buying 2x2"s)

No need to tie the cold frames - they are heavy enough, and we hardy get any winds around here - the 'usual' is 0-5 km/hr, last week we had a 'storm' up to 70-90 km/hr, and these didn't move.

I'll try to figure out the sketch thing - I will check with my father in law if he had one :wink:

[Sherry_AK]

Tania -- Everything looks so nice (well ... except the snow!). Is that heat cable under the lettuces in the milk jugs?

I'm also hoping for a sketch of the cold frames. I could really use a couple of those!

Sherry

[Tania]

Sherry,

thank you for your comments!
No heating cables - this is my laptop cable on the desk in the laundry room, I put the lettuce on it temporarily to take a picture (My laundry room serves as my home office and seedlings nursery )

My father-in-law had a sketch, but he is not sure where he put it... he says he'll try to find it

The basic measurements for each section are 8' or 6' long, 4' wide, and 4' high at the highest point - we put 3 sections per raised bed (4x22'), two 8' and one 6' sections.