Monday, February 14, 2011

Harvest Monday and a soil block experiment...

I don't really have a harvest to report; the salad greens I planted in January are coming along and large enough now to pluck as "baby greens", but I'd like to let them get a bit bigger.  But I would like to share a "Local Harvest"...FitzGyver and I will be heading down to Taylor Shellfish in a little while to pick up the first course for our Valentine's Day Dinner....

 


Mmmmmmm....oysters!

I'm joining other bloggers over at Daphne's Dandelions as we share our weekly harvests...it's fun to see what others are harvesting and what they are cooking up with it...check it out!

On the gardening front I have some news about using the mini soil block maker.  I'm loving this little tool!


This photo shows a mini soil block maker and the small wooden blocks I use to space the soil blocks.  It's easy to drop a seed or two onto the top of each block and then I just sprinkle them with a little vermiculite to cover the seeds.  Placed under lights on a warm germination mat it is amazing how quickly the seedlings are popping up!


I seeded this tray on Feb.11 and this is what it looks like on Feb. 14!!  Some of these are ready to be potted up or go into the garden.  It's easy to pick up one block (I use a pair of bamboo tongs I purchased at Uwajimaya, a large Asian grocery in Seattle).  I then settle the seedling into its' new pot...



and out into the starter house to make more room in the greenhouse...



 ...or straight into a garden bed...



And here is one of my covered raised beds planted with greens that were mostly started in soil blocks only a few days before...




Now for the experiment...the photo above showing the soil block maker and the wooden blocks...well, those are mostly carrots.  Conventional gardening wisdom says to direct seed carrots since they don't like to have their roots disturbed by transplanting.  I think that with these little soil blocks that there is so little disturbance of the seedling that it may be possible to get a head start on germinating my carrots in the greenhouse on a warm mat under lights...at least I hope so...I'll keep you posted!


And just one more little piece of housekeeping...if you are reading this post you know that I have a new Blogger web address.  I am trying to help my friends keep track of my two blogs...which until now had similar web addresses on blogger...as of now my Arts and Crafts Blog, From My Studio at Paradise Cove will be found at:

And my Home and Garden Blog, At Home On Paradise Cove will be found here....


Sorry for the inconvenience to those who have links to my blogs, but this was a change I thought would be better to make sooner than later...

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2 comments:

  1. RobinFebruary 14, 2011 at 3:25 PM

    I really think that next year I should invest in a soil blocker. It looks so much easier then the way I do it now.

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  2. Daphne GouldFebruary 15, 2011 at 3:48 AM

    I use thongs too for picking up soil blocks. I'm always surprised that the soil bock sellers don't sell them too. They are just too convenient.

    I hope your experiment works. I'd be worried that the root was trying to go down too fast to make them work, but you never know. And it would make germination of the carrots so much easier. Some years mine just don't want to come up.

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