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More on Heat Mats

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Flat of Salad Greens

Geoff posted last week about the heat mat set up he is using to start some pepper plants, here.  I use a heat mat and grow-lights as well to start peppers, tomatoes, and other vegetable seedlings that need a jump start, and I’ve also found the set up useful to give some bottom heat to my sweet potato starts well ahead of the time I need to get my peppers started.  Since I don’t need very much space for the sweet potatoes, I use the mat and lights to grow some salad greens, too.

I’ve already talked a couple of times about the heat mat/grow-light setup I use.  Here I talk about the set-up, in general, and here about using the lights for salad green production.  In this post I’ll explain an inexpensive temperature control I use to regulate the heat output of the mat.

I’m just about ready to start harvesting some greens as you can see in the top picture.  I’ve got two flats that are putting out very good growth.  I’ve got a third flat into which I seeded a lot of cilantro and basil.  They are sprouting, but I think I got the soil in that flat a little too hot and dry early into the process and most of the germination has been toward the edges of the flat. There is a little bit of new sprouting showing up, so we’ll see how it turns out.

The heat mat I have has no thermostat. That appears to be the case for many of the heat mats being sold.  If they do have a thermostat, they are factory pre-set and not controllable.   They sell temperature controlling shut off devices with soil probes to control the on/off heat of the mats.  I just saw one in a catalog for $40.00.  I invested $7.99 at my local Ace hardware for a light timer and it works quite well in lieu of a thermostat.  I’m maintaining a temperature at the bottom of the flats at between 75 and 80 degrees by using the timer shut off mechanism to turn on the heat mat for 30 minutes every two hours.

Inexpensive Light Timer

Setting the timer is very simple.  There are 48 on/off buttons – down is on, up is off. So having every fourth one down has the mat cooking one fourth of the time and idle for an hour and a half out of each two hour period.  When I first started up the system I let it get too hot and I think I fried some of the cilantro and basil seeds.  As the cilantro is a free saved seed, it’s not too a great loss.

Thermometer, Sweet Potatoes, and Salad Greens

I’ve got the heat for the system balanced out, and now it’s very stable.  In addition to the three flats, I have a couple of sweet potatoes in jars that are putting out a lot of root and just starting to put out some leaf buds.  Hopefully, I’ll get enough slips for this year’s planting

About the end of February, I’ll move any greens that are left into the sun room inside my south facing glass patio doors.  I’ll start three new flats with onions, leeks, and shallots, and when those sprout, I’ll move them into the sun room and use the heat mat and grow-lights to start peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, some of my cucurbits, and whatever else I can fit in.

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BioMarkers win Green Thumb Award

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

We’re pleased to announce that our BioMarkerTM plant markers won a Green Thumb award from the Direct Gardening Association this year.

BioMarkers

Now in its 15th year, the Green Thumb Awards recognize the best new plants and gardening products available each year from gardening catalogs and websites. The Direct Gardening Association (formerly the Mailorder Gardening Association) sponsors the annual Green Thumb Awards.  For more information, visit the Green Thumb Awards page.

BioMarkers are easy-to-read, durable, and ecologically friendly.
Big and bold with easy-to-read weatherproof labels, the markers are made to last many seasons.  The weatherproof labels can be printed on a laser printer or written on directly.  They will last a full season and are easily replaceable for marking the next year’s garden.

BioMarkers are made in Iowa by MCG BioComposites LLC from Duramze™, a blend of tough recycled plastic and corn cob fiber.  BioMarkers are available in three colors, Light Stone, Medium Brown and Dark Green.  To learn more about the BioMarkers or purchase some for yourself click here.

 

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Heat for Hot Peppers

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Last year I skipped using a heat mat underneath the flat in which I started my hot pepper seedlings.  That was a big mistake.  I had a germination rate of less than 10%.  This year I picked up a new heat mat and have had great results.

It’s already time to start hot peppers in Austin.  They can be transplanted into the garden as early as mid-March and it takes 8-10 weeks from the time seeds are sown until the seedlings are ready to transplant out.

Hot peppers germinate best around 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  Since I don’t keep my house that hot they need supplemental heat.  There are fancy heat mats that come with thermostats and soil thermometers, but I picked up a less expensive one that simply raises the temperature of the flat 10 to 20 degrees above ambient temperature.  For my purposes it has worked fine.

In the picture you can see that I’m also using a plastic cover over the flat to both retain moisture and heat.  The heat mat does make the soil in the flat dry out more quickly; I have had to mist the flat daily.  One thing to watch for with the plastic cover is that it may reduce air flow and get moisture levels too high, creating conditions for fungal growth on the plants.

The covered pepper flat.

My flat has 72 cells.  I planted 6 varieties of peppers on January 2.  I first began to see germination on January 6, but some of the seeds are just sprouting now, on January 13, and I expect a few more to still germinate.  The seeds that I had from the 2010 growing season are taking longer to germinate than the seeds packed for 2012, but the slower germination may also have to do with the variety.

I sowed two seeds per cell to ensure getting close to 72 plants.  In the cells that have two seedlings I’ll use a small scissors to cut out the weaker plant.  I don’t want to pull it out as that may disturb the roots of the remaining plant.

Pepper Seedlings

Once the peppers grow their first set of true leaves I’ll transplant them into 3 ½ inch pots.  I like to grow a lot of peppers, but I won’t need 72 plants; so I’ll have a few to give to friends.

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Climate Change Brussels Sprouts

Friday, January 6th, 2012

January Sprouts

The weather in Wisconsin has been super freaky.  With highs of 50 yesterday and again today following a December with no snow and exceptionally mild temperatures, a lot of the locals are saying, “what the hey, this ain’t all bad!”  I have to say yes and no.  It’s kind of scary, and from a gardener’s perspective, in most ways not so good.

I love a deep snow cover on my garden beds.  The snow offers insulation and moisture.  And too many frost-free days can force perennial plants and trees to bud early.  If a cold snap does come after plants put out some tender new growth, serious damage can follow.  So while I’m enjoying the unusual warmth, I’m actually hoping things get back to normal.

An unexpected bonus of the warm weather was a January harvest of Brussels sprouts.  I’d given up for dead the mangy looking plants in the picture, but when I was checking things out in the garden this afternoon I found a nice harvest of sprouts in very good shape.  It did get down to six degrees a couple nights ago so I thought the sprouts would have succumbed to frostbite, but tonight we’ll enjoy fresh sprouts in January.  Hooray for global warming?

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Self Watering Strawberry Containers

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

In October I wrote about the project that I did with Save Our Youth making self-watering planters out of reclaimed five gallon buckets.  You can read the original post here.  I decided to modify the original design and turn it into a strawberry planter.

First a note about strawberries in Austin:  They are normally planted in the fall here and treated as an annual crop.  I’m a little late in my planting this year.  The plants fruit in the spring, but rarely survive Austin’s extreme summers, even with ample watering.  Therefore rather than spacing new plants further apart and allowing them to fill in via runners, a tighter spacing is used and runners are discouraged.

In the container that I built, I use a similar tight spacing, placing the bare root plants about five inches apart.  To build this container, follow the original steps for a self-watering planter.  See my post above or look at a video of Mike Lieberman’s original design here.

Make the markings for two rows of holes one about four inches from the top and another one four inches below the first row.  Mark the holes five inches apart in each row and offset the holes on the bottom row. This gives seven holes per row.  Use the same 1 1/8” hole saw used to cut the hole for the watering pipe in the original planter.  Since you will have to cut through both buckets, tape the buckets together first to keep them from sliding around.

Self Watering Strawberry Container

Marking the holes for drilling.

Use a 1 1/8" hole saw to make the holes for the strawberry plants.

Once finished with the holes, fill the container with pre-moistened potting mix up to the first line of openings.  Then carefully place the bare-root strawberry plants (in my case Chandler variety) in each aperture, getting the crown in line with the wall of the container.  Spread the roots out as much as possible.  Once one row of plants is in place add more potting soil, gently tamp it down and fill to the next level.  With the second row complete, add another six plants on the top surface and water them in.  Fill the reservoir via the copper pipe until water begins to spill from the overflow hole.

A little tape keeps the two buckets aligned during drilling.

The finished container prior to adding potting mix or strawberry plants.

Keep the crown right in line with the bucket and spread the roots out.

The planted strawberry bucket.

I’ll cover the container if we are going to get an exceptional cold snap or move it to a protected area, but otherwise it will stay on my front porch.  Come next summer, I’ll move it to a shady location to see if I can get the plants to survive the heat.  Strawberries can fruit as early as March in Austin.  Hopefully I will have some juicy berries in a few months.

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Teaching an Old Dog to Teach

Monday, December 12th, 2011

The outdoor season is over for my 2011 Wisconsin garden.  I may do a little more clean up, and possibly drag in a few leaves to cover up some north beds, but the frost has already penetrated deep and there is nothing left to harvest.  There will be no more weeding or working the soil.  All my efforts now are in preparing for next year.

Gardening patterns and habits repeat themselves as you learn what has to be done to ensure a good harvest, but that hardly means every year is the same.  Change is constant and I’m always ready to try something new or modify what may not be working.  Here are a few new things from this year’s gardening adventure:

Cold Frame

I finally built a small cold frame.     I really didn’t put it to the test until this fall, but the results were excellent and it has me keen on trying more season extending structures.  Next year it’s going to be put to work early in the spring.

New bed

After shrinking my garden area for the past several years, I actually carved out a couple small new beds in the compost area.  The bed project was a test to back up my teachings on making the raised bed system I employ and the ease with which these beds can be formed and put to work.  The results were carrots, beets and peppers that I otherwise would not have had.

Planting Boards

I had been using planting boards for years, but my boards were just scraps of plywood I had laying around.  Not quite right, so this year I cut a couple to exactly the right size and I’m really glad I did.  It makes planting and working on my hands and knees much easier.

T-Post Tomato Trelils

I finally built the rock-solid tomato trellis I had envisioned for many years.  It put an end to the wind blowing over the cages and made it easy for me to string the vines up high.

And lastly, I became a teacher this year.

I’ve actually been giving talks about my garden for several years.  I’m a very loose disciple of the garden teacher Alan Chadwick.  What I really embrace is the open raised beds  of his teachings on intensive food production.  In the past  these talks were done gratis, but I’ve secured some paying engagements next year, and I’ve found that I really enjoy sharing my gardening experience with others.

To be a good teacher you have to keep learning.  And to learn you have to try new things.  I was quite happy with several new things I tried this year and I’ll continue to innovate in the garden in 2012.

 

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Burning with Boss

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Our Woods

I posted recently about leaf burning and why I don’t think it’s such a great idea, even if it is allowed, but I was careful to mention that I’m not at all opposed to fires.  Being a relative land baron out here on my almost rural four acres, I would have some major disposal issues if I could not burn prunings, deadfall, and  other natural debris.

Just a little over half our property is wooded.  You can see a neighbor’s house to the east of us in this picture, but if the leaves were still on the trees you wouldn’t know the house was there.  The woods are a great screen from the traffic that goes by on our front road, which is a US Highway and the commuter route between Madison and the town of Jefferson, about 9 miles east of us.

I won’t earn any merit badges for forest management.  I do minimal work in the woods, but I do have to take down any dangerous dead or dying trees, and the deadfall into the lawn area is significant.   I’m also waging constant war against the forest as it encroaches into the yard and garden area, so there are always plenty of pruned branches to be disposed of.

Burning with Boss

So several times a year we have small to large fires to dispose of the trees, branches, and prunings.  It was cold and damp today and a good day for a small fire.  I kept feeding the fire for about an hour while Boss the cat gave me a lot of help. Tomorrow or the next day, when  the ashes are cold, I’ll shovel them up and mix them into  the compost pile.

 

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Too Late for Dinner in the Garden This Year

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Deer in the Yard

Anneliese took this picture of a young deer in the yard this afternoon.  It was relatively fearless and Anneliese was able to get fairly close before it bolted.  Fortunately for us, the deer have not been much of a nuisance this year and did no garden damage.  I attribute a lot of that to Anneliese’s dog Zuri, who gets free day care with us while Anneliese is here working.  We also see Zuri a lot on weekends, when Anneliese is out and about and we become dog sitters.

Having a dog on patrol really keeps deer problems to a minimum.  The years I have not had a dog with the run of the yard, I’ve had significant deer damage, and I’ve had to resort to tall fencing and cloth covers to protect my precious vegetables.

Zuri

The deer did not leave the yard after Anneliese came inside.  Zuri was in the house barking wildly while Anneliese was taking these pictures.  We let Zuri out, and the deer quickly exited.

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When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

In the village that borders us a few blocks to the west and south, leaf burning is prohibited, but it is allowed and practiced as a seasonal rite in our township.  I’m not advocating a ban on burning, but I really wish the neighbors understood what they are wasting.  While I was working hard today to get as many leaves as I could into my garden, I could see at least four smoke trails in the neighborhood.  Too bad for the leaf burners, they could be making some beautiful compost for free.

I spent a lot more time weeding my garden this year than I should have because I did not do a good job last fall of getting my beds totally covered with leaves.  I’m determined not to make that mistake again.  Since I took the picture above I’ve drug in several more tarps full of leaves.  The south beds are now almost all completely and deeply covered.  I’ll keep dragging in more until I either run out of leaves or the weather puts an end to my efforts.

I began covering my garden beds with leaves about seven or eight years ago.  It pays off in many ways.  Weed growth is slowed down through the winter and the beds are noticeably softer in the spring.  In many instances all I have to do is rake back the leaf cover and start planting.  The beds that do not get planted right away have a thick leaf mulch to keep weeds from sprouting, and as I rake the leaves off the beds they break down in the paths and continue to suppress weed growth.  Of course, the most important benefits are the free fertilizer and compost the leaves provide as they decompose.  The tilth of my extremely clayey soil is noticeably improved.  Every year my beds get softer.

Raking leaves and dragging them into the garden is not the easiest  of chores.  This year I’ve employed mechanical assistance.  In years past I was dragging tarps full of leaves from the yard to the garden using only my brute strength.  I may still be a brute but my strength is fading, so this year I used the lawnmower and its 18 horses to do the heavy hauling.  It worked wonderfully.

And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song, but I know the autumn leaves are in the garden, where they belong.

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Seed Stratification

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Last spring I started some Agastache mexicana seeds indoors but got very spotty germination.  I decided to investigate whether or not stratification would improve germination.  I think that it will.  Here’s the why and how:

Many seeds have built in germination inhibitors.  This prevents them from germinating until more ideal growing conditions are present.  Stratification is one method of mimicking natural conditions that seeds are exposed to prior to germination to “trick” them into germinating.  Since Agastache mexicana, also known as Mexican Hyssop or Lemon Hyssop, comes from the cooler highlands of Mexico I’m using a cool, moist stratification process similar to that used for prairie plants like Echinacea.

Some seeds can be put into a moist medium like peat or sand, put into a sealed plastic bag and put into the refrigerator for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months. The idea is to match the conditions of a cold, wet spring that the seeds would go through prior to germination.  Since the Agastache seeds are tiny and would easily get lost in the medium, I decided to broadcast them directly into a couple of small pots.  I then pressed the seeds gently into the moist sowing mix.  The pots themselves are sealed in a plastic bag, labeled and dated and put into the fridge.

Agastache seeds ready for stratification

Can you see the Agastache seeds? Me neither.

I will take these pots out in early January and put them under my grow lights.  Assuming that I have good germination success I’ll prick the seedlings out and transplant them into larger containers once the plants show their first set of true leaves.  The timing should work out for a mid-Spring outdoor planting in Austin.

Agastache seeds in sealed plastic bag with name and date.

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