What's Growing: Spinach, Beets, Radishes and More

I saw on one of the videos above that one way to start beet and spinach seedlings is just to fill a flat tray with soil. I did that. The spinach caught up with my ground planted spinach and the beets have grown past my ground planted beets. They had a 10 day start in the ground too! I am assuming the trays heat up nicely on the deck and that helped.  The top picture is spinach and the bottom picture is beets. I will transplant them to the garden this weekend.

All my radishes came up including the 2 year old seeds. I just looked at them today and they are ready to be thinned. Here is a picture from a week ago.

These are the rows of old radish seeds. They all germinated for the most part and need to be thinned.  You can see the spinach to the right of them and the beets to the left. The ones in the above trays are larger. Even the carrots are up far left.

Pictures of my transplants. There is kohlrabi, chard, Chinese cabbage, kale, lettuce and something called Chinese broccoli.

Killing Slugs with Iron Phosphate: Green to Keep the Green

This will be a Google Knol article. Here is the draft. The main point is NOW is the time to attack slugs and snails in your garden. I like Iron Phosphate because it is safe and it works.


The article in draft form:

Killing Slugs with Iron Phosphate: Green to Keep the Green

I know I have written about slugs and snails in another Knol. They are that problematic that a second Knol is needed to give a gardener a helping hand. Iron phosphate is the focus for this very green Knol. The warm weather is coming and the green of the garden is rising. Now is the time to shake some Iron Phosphate onto the garden beds, while the slugs and snail are looking for food.

Metaldehyde versus Iron Phosphate:

Metaldehyde works by dehydrating its victims. The problem is that it is toxic to all that consume it. It is deadly to snails and slugs but also can be deadly to birds, frogs, and pets. It has been on the market since the 1930’s and it does work. The question is do you want to kill or harm things that might also help you manage the snail and slugs. Birds and amphibians are great natural enemies to the slimy guys.

Iron phosphate occurs naturally in the soil. So, when the bait breaks down, only iron phosphate returns to the soil. That is a good start for considering iron phosphate for slug and snail control.

Iron phosphate is ingested by the slug. It comes in granular form, wrapped in a very tasty bait or so I am told. Slugs and snails eat the tasty bait and ingest the iron phosphate. It basically works by disrupting their digestive process. They stop feeding and crawl off and die in a 3-6 days.

Iron phosphate can be found at local home improvement centers for $4.99 to $7.99 a shaker can. It is easily found on-line. The baits are rice like but more cylindrical. The can has a shaker top that can be adjusted. Just shake and wait for the slugs to find the bait.

When and How to Use Iron Phosphate:

Spring! Spring! Spring! is the time to start the endless war on slugs and snails. The eggs will be hatching soon, the little guys will be hungry, the adults will be hungry and your garden greens are just starting to grow.

Get the iron phosphate into your garden now. It is best used SHAKEN and not PILED. Do not make piles. Slugs and snail move slowly. You want to scatter the baited iron phosphate all over your garden surface. This method is on the product directions but I want to stress, not piling it. Scatter it so there is more of a chance of the bait, sitting in the paths of the snails and slugs.

The iron phosphate pellets can last 1 – 2 weeks even in the rain. Now if you have crazy rain, then you will have to go out and re-bait your garden. I suggest baiting just when the green is coming up. Hostas should be poking up. Daffodils should be in bloom. The lettuces and greens in your garden should be up and a few weeks from maturity. This is the same time the slug and snail life cycles become active. Get the bait out now to disrupt their cycle.

In my area of Maryland, I hit the slugs and snails in mid April. I will hit them again the first week of May and again in the last week of May. This should kill a lot of adult slugs and baby slugs. You are trying to decrease their numbers when they emerge.

After the first wave of attack, you can sprinkle the bait 1x a month. Try and do it when you will have 7 days of dry weather. In June, July, and August your garden gets one application during a 7 day sunny stretch. This second wave of attack is aimed at getting as many as you can.

Come September the snails and slugs will be laying eggs and getting ready to repeat their cycles of life. Sprinkle the bait September 1st and September 15th and you should have effectively disrupted the cycle of snail and slugs in your garden without targeting or harming the beneficial insects and predators.

Good Luck!

To view the Knol Google article click here of course: Killing Slugs and Snails with Iron Phosphate Bait

Over-Wintered Kale is Doing Nicely

You can plant kale is August/September and get some good greens off of it before the hard frosts. It typically survives the Winters here in Maryland and you end up with an early Spring crop. It goes to seed quickly but you can eat the flowers in salads. Here is what mine looks like from early clean up through today.


A curled leaf variety:

How it survived over the Winter and looked before trimming.



Cleaned up and cut back weeks ago.

How it looked this week. The leaves will be ready in 1-2 weeks.

A broad leaf variety:

How it survived theWinter and looked before trimming

Trimmed up and cut back weeks ago.

The broad leaf is ready to eat now.

Asparagus is Up and Eaten: Tasty!

I am eating asparagus! Just picking and eating it. A great way to relax after work and decompress. Freshly picked asparagus in above and beyond the grocery store stuff. I really can't remember if this plot is in its third or fourth year... but who cares.

Growing Potatoes In Containers: Quick and Easy in Pictures

Potatoes are related to the the tomato family. Actually they are members of the nightshade family. The leaves are very similar. Potatoes grow beneath the ground and they send up lots of green stalks. The key to potatoes is to keep burying parts of the stem as they grow upward. Like tomatoes, the green stems will root when buried. The more green stalk you bury, the more new potatoes will grow out from the buried stems.

The potatoes you use can come from the grocery store, be purchased online or found at nurseries as seed potatoes. Sometimes grocery potatoes are sprayed to prevent them from producing "eyes" the buds of green growth. On the other hand,  I checked my bag of red potatoes in my closet and found some that were budding. I also bought some varieties from a local home improvement store.

You don't necessarily need your potatoes to have stalk eyes or signs of growing before you plant them. But it does add a bit of comfort knowing they have starting growth when you plant them. You can sit your potatoes in a bowl and wait for them to start growth if you wish before planting.


The Potatoes:

These red potatoes came out of a gourmet bag of potatoes I bought. You can see the eyes of the potatoes have buds. (click the photos to enlarge them)

The Containers and Planting:

I am going to show this in pictures. The theme is a large container that you fill about 1/3 or 1/2 the way to the top with a growing medium. You want lose soil and you can throw in a good amount of peat moss. Potatoes do like a bit of acidity. The potatoes get planted with eye buds up or just plant them if you don't have buds starting. They should be planted about 3 inches deep. That is it. You are leaving all the extra space in the container to fill later as the greenery grows large.

These are the containers I am going to use. They are large. The middle container is a 5 gallon bucket.  Make sure there are drainage holes in the containers you use or the potatoes will rot.

I mixed peat moss, my garden compost and soil off the blue tarp. You want it to be fluffy. Potatoes have been know to grow in compost piles just fine. Don't worry about the growing medium. Well, just not heavy wet stuff. Make a mix and fill the container to about 1/3 to 1/2.

You can see the potato spacing. I have habit of always over planting. Three to five potatoes will work for this size container. I sat them on top and will bury them to 3 inches by pushing them into the soil. You don't need a lot of soil between the potato and bottom of the container because you are going to add soil as the greenery grows up.

They are buried and placed in a sunny location. 

The five gallon bucket is planted the same way. It was an upside down tomato bucket.

Another container that used to be my strawberry container. The diamond cuts aren't for the potatoes they were used for strawberries.

Filling the Container to Half the Green Growth:

Now I don't  have pictures yet because these are actually plantings for this season. But you will fill the container by 1/2 the growth once the leaves and stalks break above your container. If it takes 12 inches of growth to break the top of your container, cover 6 inches of the leaves and stalk with new soil.  This is the first fill. If it takes 8 inches of growth, cover 4 inches of growth.

When the stalks grow another 6-8 inches above the rim of your container fill the rest of the container. Potatoes don't grow endlessly so use your judgement.

Harvesting:

After the green turns yellow and dies back, you can dump the bucket and eat them. If you are going to eat them immediately, which I will do, grab them as you wish.  If you are going to store them, let them sit about 2 weeks in the soil once the plant has yellowed back. Their skins will toughen up.

Enjoy!