Phaedra's 2021 Garden

[flowerbug]

Yes, these are mainly for the greens. However, I also want to see if it is practical to plant them inside the greenhouse and transplant them next spring. Last autumn, I planted some directly outside, but none survived. I don't know that's because they grew already too much before the frost repeatedly hit, or for other reasons, they were all destroyed after winter.

different varieties of garlic do vary in how much cold they tolerate. the type i grow is a hardneck garlic which doesn't need any protection at all from the cold we get here. i don't even mulch it. some other garlics would fail if treated that ways.

The greenhouse is without heating, so it is more like a cold-frame planting environment. It's an extension of the main building so that the temperature can be a few degrees higher than outside. Another advantage is to avoid too much moisture. Last winter we had so much rain.

as long as the garlic is alive and the soil is not going septic i've had no problem growing garlic here in our mostly clay soils. i do lift the garlic patches up a bit so there isn't any standing water on them, but otherwise they can be soggy for now until next summer and the garlic will do fine. again this can vary by variety as to how tolerant they are of such conditions.

eventually you may find types that you like and will survive outside without much worries.

also i think you might be familiar with green garlic as a vegetable and that is a whole different idea in terms of planting and harvest, but you can sometimes use the same kinds of garlic if you find some you like.

 

[Phaedra]

Heavy frost this morning - we are going to have more frosty days from now on. The end of November might have -7~-8°C at night. Whatever still grows in the raised beds outside should be frost hardy to a certain level, but all the raised beds are located on the west side, where we have the most sunshine hours from April, but the least in the winter. This is due to the structural constraints for this greenhouse - tall trees block the light for several hours, especially after 1 pm, and the sunset is earlier and earlier. It's difficult for the young greens I put on the west side to get long and strong enough light.

Today is a day with nine sunshine hours, and I removed the greens on the table facing the north. From 9 to 12 am, at least they can enjoy sufficient light during this period and no risk of frost.

Solar lights are also charging here. This table can be further extended to 240cm long - we bought it to ensure that we can host a lot of friends when necessary. Well, before that can happen (maybe another two years? We are encountering the fourth wave of COVID19 here), it can carry a lot of seedlings.

It seems that we will have a much colder winter this year. I have to speed up the preparations.

 

[Phaedra]

different varieties of garlic do vary in how much cold they tolerate. the type i grow is a hardneck garlic which doesn't need any protection at all from the cold we get here. i don't even mulch it. some other garlics would fail if treated that ways.




as long as the garlic is alive and the soil is not going septic i've had no problem growing garlic here in our mostly clay soils. i do lift the garlic patches up a bit so there isn't any standing water on them, but otherwise they can be soggy for now until next summer and the garlic will do fine. again this can vary by variety as to how tolerant they are of such conditions.

eventually you may find types that you like and will survive outside without much worries.

also i think you might be familiar with green garlic as a vegetable and that is a whole different idea in terms of planting and harvest, but you can sometimes use the same kinds of garlic if you find some you like.

Yes, I know the garlic I used to plant is the problem - I used the ones from supermarkets instead of seed companies. Most of the garlic available here comes from Spain, where the climate is quite different, so the chosen varieties won't handle the temperature conditions here.

Planting in the greenhouse should be no problem for the green parts - they are taken as vegetables with intense flavors and can create a unique aroma when we stirfry them with other ingredients.

As you advised, I will need to find a suitable variety to plant them outside in the winter and harvest the whole garlic in summer.

 

[Phaedra]

It is full-fledged, not what I imagined initially, but it turns out to be better and already a bit "fictional" for me, some.

I only want to plant leafy greens, so I set the LED for 6000K (white light). Now, I need to record and see how long they can provide extra light.

 

[Phaedra]

It was already the 3rd night with frost, and tonight an even stronger one will happen. All Dahlias are cleaned up, and lettuces are so hardy.

I stayed in the room that faces the pond this morning, read, wrote letters, had coffee, and enjoyed the sunlight. The temperature outside was relatively low, and the pond surface was frozen all day.

However, the inside is cozy and calm.

I love writing letters, and this belongs to the old-fashion part of me.

About 10 am, the sunlight will come in, and I share the same energy with my leafy greens.

The last thing today I have done in the garden today is finishing the 3rd tray of cuttings: box, lavender, willow, St. John's wort, euonymus, honeysuckle, and rose.

They finally changed the color!

 

[Phaedra]

The first batch of energy blocks for birds in the garden
oatmeal, raisin, chicken feed, dried apricot -- I put them in a cake mold and poured the mix oils: lard, sunflower seed oil, pumpkin seed oil, and some butter. As it's so cold outside in the morning, it will become solidified in no time.

Cut them into smaller chunks~

Made a feeder from the hedge cutting

I will do 2-3 more tomorrow. Such feeders are very welcomed in my garden by Paridae family birds, like blue tits, great tits, etc.

Frost comes now almost every night. The west side of the garden always looks like this until noontime.

I can only do a little work in the afternoon, like piling up green waste directly on the flower bed of Lilies. I ran out of homemade compost quite soon. There are another two 900L bins, however, not yet ready to be used. So I just covered such beds with all kinds of green wastes after the harvest. As long as there are food and protection for the microorganisms, it's okay for me.

In the morning, I also did some "studies" while having coffee.

Gardening is the one main subject that keeps me learning German.

However, most of the time, English is still the primary language I use in daily life. The tulip "dreamboat" I saw in the book is so charming! (But this year no extra budget for tulip )

 

[Phaedra]

Boiler Room =Germination Room? It seems a good idea for me!

Many houses in Germany have such boiler rooms (most of them located in the basement), and the temperature inside is about 23°C, quite ideal for seeds to germinate.

As the germination needs no light, I started the experiment to use this space as my seed germination room. Compared with the low temperature in the greenhouse (no additional heating, just good protection from frost, rain, snow, and cold wind) or window sills with constrained space, I have a much better gut feeling for this space.

I sowed peas and broad beans for their shoots, but the low temperature means the difficulty of germination and a high risk of sitting rot. Both peas and broad beans are frost-hardy, so once they successfully germinate, the greenhouse will be an ideal stop for them to grow.

Some European farmers sow broad beans and spinach in the autumn, and these two vegetables can survive quite well. I just ran out of my spinach seeds but will plant some in the coming days once the new seeds arrive. If this works well, I will do the same in the future, for both spring and autumn sowing.

 

[Phaedra]

In just 48 hours, I can't stop myself thinking about how to maximize the outputs of our boiler room. This is a space we will never go in unless the heating or hot water supply has troubles. In other words, it's never a pleasant space.

However, the world is changing, so is our boiler room! The more important is, I always love to see what can be created from what I possess.

So, broad beans have excellent germination in a short time, and I have to move them to the greenhouse tomorrow, as their primary leaves are appearing.

"I need LIGHT from now on!" I understand what this seedling wants to say.

Here the problem is too dry - the humidity is always 40~43%. But compared with the temperature, the humidity issue can be easily solved by using a good mist sprayer.

The second candidate I chose to let grow here is the mung bean sprout. I used the upper part of a steamer pot, which has holes on the bottom, easy to drain after rinsing them every day. Those mung beans are soaked in water for one whole day beforehand.

To "help" the sprouts grow more robust, I add one big bowl onto the beans.

The bowl is empty today, but I will gradually add water to it from tomorrow. This method is to encourage the sprouts to become tough guys! Then I covered the lid and let the pot also stay in the room.

Tomorrow I will also clean this room a bit - I already plan to grow mushrooms as the next step. The humidity mushrooms need can be achieved with a plastic-covered shelf.

This week's weather is on the dark side of autumn - cloudy, gloomy, cold, with almost no sunlight. I spent some time reading gardening books or magazines and doing my plans. The pattern is reading for one hour and then doing some cleaning works in the garden for 30 minutes.

Farewell, beautiful leaves.

Just read an interesting method for greenhouse when the temperature is very low at night. They put a candle on the ground and then cover it with a lifted terracotta planter. Have you ever tried a similar method?

 

[digitS']

And, they are beautiful leaves .

Just like the person in the magazine, sometimes I have to say, "Dammit this greenhouse is too cold!" Okay I know that this spelling doesn't have anything to do with the German language . However, since mine is 180 square feet (17 square meters), a candle won't be "holding a candle to" the likely cold. I have thought of using my hibachi for heat, if necessary. It might be able to keep things from freezing and I have 2. I have had a regular routine of moving flats into the utility room during the coldest hours in the weeks before the greenhouse heater is turned on.

I have a basement with a furnace. It isn't as warm as yours, even in the room with the furnace and water heater. In some ways, I'm okay with that because I haven't done anything to keep the 2nd room cooler - where the potatoes, onions and flower roots are stored . It isn't really cold enough although it may be down really close to freezing during times when we have subzero weather (-18°C), day after day. I watch it carefully during those unusual days thinking that I may have to open the door to the furnace room.

Most of the year, I pay little attention to the basement. I once grew mushrooms from a kit down there. Even having those, I wasn't paying enough attention. It turned out okay but there were too many days there at first when I was going down and seeing nothing happening in the box. Plant starts require attention at least twice a day, in my experience. Therefore, they are started above my kitchen refrigerator where, even with turning the overnight heat down, the temperature stays closer to what the thermometer says in your picture.

Best of Luck with your adventure. I really have the expectation that you are a person with an ability to carefully observe what is going on in your projects.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

i've never heard of toughening up sprouts like that before so that is interesting to read about. have you done this before?