'Winter Sown' Project Begins, Parsnip Eating Does Not.

  

  A Close up of some of the containers before they have their tops put back on.

Two weeks ago I began my 'winter sown' project.  I had read about it on several other blogs last fall and really wanted to give it a shot.  Wayne at Pathways Horticulture has just started a project with his students.  Winter sowing is a planting that is done in late winter, the seeds are placed in soil in containers, the containers are then left outside.  The containers (in my case huge mayo containers) moderate the temperature of the soil and the air around the seeds.  Night isn't as cold, and day is a touch warmer.  This enables the seeds to germinate earlier than if I had to wait to put them in the ground.  If all goes well I will have onion and leek starts  to transplant into the garden.  Mostly it is an excuse to begin playing with seeds and some potting mix.  

The process is fairly simple, the hardest part for me was picking the seeds I wanted to sow.  The seeds have to be hardy, if they are to delicate they won't survive the freezing and thawing that winter sowing puts them through.  I chose winter giant spinach, fordhook swiss chard, cippolini onions and blue solaize leeks.  These are all cold hardy plants but that doesn't ensure success.  I wouldn't be entirely surprised if nothing came up at all, but the guessing is so much fun. Once you have your seeds chosen the process goes like this:

1.  Choose your container and punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage, and in the top for some air, then cut it in half.

2.  Fill the bottom half with soil and plant your seeds LABLE the container.  Leeks look just like onions when they come up.

3.  Water thoroughly 

4.  Tape your tops back on, mine didn't all have lids so I used four layers of plastic wrap and rubber bands over their mouths.

5. Place in your garden and cross your fingers.

Containers with their tops back on.

While I was in the garden putting out the containers, it was clear that mud season (a New England season that comes before spring, and sometimes replaces spring) is almost hear, the ground is still frozen, but the top few inches are mud, puddles and old snow.  I tried to rescue some parsnips from the ground but they wouldn't come free.  It was such a tease, I got them half out but the bottoms were held fast.... Either I have to wait or be happy with half sized parsnips.  The other surprise was waiting under my remay.  The fall planted spinach is sending up leaves, although all the tops died back there are new greens emerging!!!!

New green!

They're here!!!!!

The seeds are here!  The seeds are here!!  From ordering to delivery felt like the longest 13 days ever.  Was new years really so long ago? This feels like the true beginning of 2009, maybe I should crack open a bottle of something bubbly?

I ordered everything from Fedco Seeds in Maine this year.  I think I pretty much covered the whole season's needs except for a few varieties that they were sold out of.  This seed company I have found has great heirloom selections, high germination rates, cheap prices and a big organic selection, plus their graphics are fun.  The garden still needs parsnip seeds and soybeans.  I'll probably get those at Gardener's Supply (my local garden shop).  

I am very excited to be trying some new vegetables this year:

Brussels Sprouts (var. Oliver)

Broccoli (var. Windsor)

Cabbage (var. Golden Acre)

Fennel (var. Zefa Fino)

Not only have I never grown these I haven't grown them from seed before, so I am in for a big experiment.  Anyone ever grown any of these varieties from seed in New England or in zone 5?

I also have a box full of seed from 2008, seed I saved from the garden or simply didn't quite use up.  Last year the seed I saved was mostly letuces, beans and peas.  This year I hope to a add to that list.  2009 feels like it's off to a running start.

Tag end of the garlic

And then there was one....  well after I made soup there was only one left. 

  Garlic was a new endeavor for me last fall, and it proved so fruitful.  From the first little snippets of garlic flavored green in early April, then scapes (the flowering stalk of the garlic) in June to 40 huge heads of garlic that lasted until now.  I should say though that I used about 12 of those heads for planting in October.  That just about breaks my heart, seeing all that garlic go into the soil.  I know that each one of those cloves will become a whole head... but what if they don't come up, it's a gamble, and I bet most of my pot!!!

But perhaps there is another way...

This year, in addition to planting cloves of garlic for propagation, I planted bulbils, these are the small top set cloves.  They are harvested from the garlic flower/topset.   There can be hundreds of bulbils on one garlic flower/topset, but they are very small, sometimes the size of a grain of rice!  But according to the experts they will each grow into a clove by next July, the same time that the cloves I planted in October will be full heads of garlic.  The cloves that grew from the bulbils are planted in the fall, to be harvested the next year as a full head of garlic.  

Very confusing at first, at least for me...

 

The bulbils in other words are a three season garlic propagation technique.  

Year one allow a few garlics to flower and form topsets harvest them and wait until fall planting time.  Plant bulbils.

Year two harvest cloves of garlic from bulbil bed and wait until fall.  Plant cloves.

Year three harvest scapes and then garlic in July!!  Easy -Peasy right???

If anyone is still with me, the advantage to all this waiting is the volume of garlic that can be harvested in the third year, for me it will be 2010.  The input is very low so it sounds like a great way to grow garlic with out sacrificing my beautiful bulbs in the fall!!!

I'm crossing my fingers, yet very curious and excited at the prospect of that much garlic!!  Has anyone tried this method?  Had successes/failures?!