Coaching for April

Spring is SO ON!

 The Test Garden is nearly planted for the warm weather, the poppy field is blooming and we're positively drunk with Spring around here.

Plus, the bees are extra busy which is so YAY!

So this coaching update is ALL SPRING ALL THE TIME with a Spring Must Do section to lead us off and updates on all of your warm weather crops.

Spring Must-Dos

#1 MUST DO: Soil Prep If I catch you skipping this step, I will spank your buns with my favorite trowel. And not just because that trowel is perfect for spanking, but because your soil needs you right now! I know that all you want to do is race out to that garden and start slamming plants in the ground. I DO, TOO. But resist the urge to skip prepping your soil because this is the #1 way to make sure that you will get the healthiest, most productive, most GIANT FRUIT PRODUCING crops this warm weather season. Add a good dose of Gardner & Bloome's Harvest Supreme to each of your beds to replenish your soil. Once that's mixed in really well, get a soil test kit and TEST. See what's doing in that soil with our step-by-step How To for soil testing and organic amending. #2 MUST DO: Garden prep Drag out those garden structures (bean trellises, tomato cages, cucumber and melon fencing, etc) and make sure they're in good order, make sure you're stocked with good organic fertilizer like worm castings or storebought organic fertilizer and get those garden tools working. #3 Must do: Plant. Finally. Plant to plan - If you already have a crop rotation plan in place, you're awesome. Follow it. If not, plant this year's crops somewhere new - So, if you had tomatoes in one spot last year, don't plant tomatoes (or any plant from the nightshade family) there this year. Even better would be to avoid planting anything from that family in that spot for the next 3-5 years, but we're reasonable. Keep track of where you plant what so that next year this is an easier process.  #4 BONUS: Record your glory This is a bonus in the truest sense of the word because recording and tracking your harvests throughout the season rewards you in a billion ways. Or, maybe a hundred. Or ten. Whatever - it's more than one. Like, you'll know how long it takes you to go through your soil amendments, what crops are worth growing vs buying locally, how much of a yield you can expect from each crop and - the best bonus ever - the value of the crops you're growing. For instance - I know that I got 240 pounds of produce out of the warm weather Test Garden (which included 107 pounds of tomatoes) at a value of $658.12. Do you know what your garden did last summer? You could. Make a copy of this free online spreadsheet and get started tracking your harvests this year and see if you don't love it.

Beans (Fabaceae)

Now: Grabbing those lines Next: CLIMBING TO THE SKY AND BEYOND    To do: Dust the area around the plants with diotomaceaous earth so that critters don't chew the stems to nubs. Some varieties we like: Rattlesnake pole beans: Good fresh as string beans or whole beans, frozen or as dried beans. Plus - purple speckles! Cuteness! Fortex pole beans: Our standby pole bean that stays tender and slim in its pod for way longer than other pole beans we've tried (like Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder) that get huge and fat and tough. Plus the seed is wicked easy to save and grow again next year. Silver Cloud Cannellini bush beans: This was an experiment last year that we thought we'd tired of until we had some of these dried beans over the winter and then HOLY MUTHER OF BEANS THESE ARE AWESOME and the big jar of beans from our summer harvests disappeared. So, we're growing them again. For more awesomeness. Also good as a fresh shelled bean - fun. Blue Coco beans

Carrots (Apiaceae) & Roots

Now: Sow your new crops Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination To do: Keep that soil mo-ist. Carrots, especially, take FOREVER to germinate and they need to stay evenly mo-ist in the soil as they're getting ready FINALLY ALREADY to germinate. So, for the 20 or so days while they're lingering in the soil being big fat teases, make sure their soil doesn't dry out. Otherwise, they'll just never appear and you'll be all BOO.  Try covering your carrot growing space with cardboard (write your sowing date on the cardboard and the date 20 days after that date so that you know when to remove the cardboard) after sowing and watering in the seeds so that the soil can stay nice and mo-ist while the seeds germinate. Here are a couple that we like: Miami F1 Hybrid: Super sweet, consistently cylindrical with feathery strong tops and good storage qualities. As though any will make it to storage...pfffffffffffft. Romance: Well, who doesn't need more romance in their lives, right? Kinda seems odd to find that in a carrot, but who are we to judge? Oh right, we're totally judging. These are supposed to "glow" orange and be perfectly sweet and glorious at 6 inches. Que romantic. RIGHTEOUS (Miami F1) CARROT!

Cucumbers (Cucurbitaceae)

Now: True leaves (the first ones that look like real cucumber leaves. They'll have little serrated edges.)   Next: Transplanting into the garden or putting on their first tendrils   To do:  Sprinkle some diotomaceous earth around these guys to keep the nibblers at bay. Plant some nasturtium nearby for cucumber beetle repelling action. We're always growing: Lemon: These guys may not look like the cucumbers you're used to seeing at the store, but OH are they tasty. Nice mild and sweet flavor great for eating fresh, adding to gin cocktails (seasonal cocktails!) or pickling.  National Pickling: This is our favorite variety of cucumber for pickling as gherkins (pick them when they're the size of your thumb) or whole dills when we find big ones hiding in the plants. SNEAKY HIDERS! They're back!

Early spring greens (Asteraceae)

Now: They're germinating, alright. Next: They'll start crowding up. To do: Keep that soil mo-ist and thin them to 1 plant every 2-3". If you're growing a succession crop (a row every few weeks for greens that go on and on), sow a new row this week while you're thinning the row from two weeks ago.  Greens we love: Rocky Top Mix: We have a block of this in the Test Garden growing between the beans and below the trellis. When the sun starts to get hot, the beans will climb the trellis and shade the lettuce area just in time to cool the space and let the lettuce grow into summer. And because we can't get enough of spring greens, we usually plant a container or two that can be moved to the dinner table when it's ready for salads. Box of salad greens nearly ready for dinner

Herbs & Flowers

Cilantro (Apiaceae) Has your cilantro germinated yet? If so, sow a new row so that you get a successive crop.  Did you plant it from a seedling? Harvest it often (leaving the center leaves and stalks alone to continue growing) so that it doesn't go to flower (bolt) right a-fricken'-way. Nasturtium (Tropaeolaceae) It's time again for ALL NASTURTIUM ALL THE TIME until first frost that's waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off in, like, December or something.  Grow the easiest starting, fastest growing, best cut flower making, best cucumber beetle repelling crop of all time (in NorCal anyway) in your garden this year.  Just get your hands on some nasturtium seed and go nuts. Plant it around your cucurbitaceae crops (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins) to keep the stupid cucumber beetles (don't be fooled - these are NOT green ladybugs) away and you're set. Marigolds (Tagetes patula) These guys are your best defense against vegetable loving pests. Sow seed anywhere and everywhere and then, if you're not a big fan of their flowers (like yours truly), just appreciate the fact that they're keeping your garden safe all summer long with very little (aka NONE) attention. Plus - their petals can be added to salad, compound butters and all kinds of dishes to fancy them right up. Nasturtium galore shading the roots of the Concord grapes

Onions (Amaryllidaceae)

Now: Harvesting as bunching onions Next: Harvesting as bulb onions To do: If you can't possibly wait until your onions form full bulbs, you can harvest now as bunching onions. Just pull, rinse and enjoy. Or don't rinse - be a daredevil like that, you hippie. Fertilize with a nitrogen fertilizer or worm casting tea every couple weeks until you see the actual onion-y looking bulb start to push its way through the surface of the soil.  To harvest as full bulbs, feel the neck of the bulb (where the green tops and round bottoms join up) for a soft-ish spot. Squeeze here and, if it's bendy, bend the tops over. This will dry them out and then you can harvest the full bulbs when the tops are fully dry.  Red baron onions

Peppers (Solanaceae)

Now: Getting settled in the soil Next: Putting on a little height To do: Make sure they're caged or netted and getting infrequent but deep watering (we like 30 mins, 3 days/week unless it rains). Keep some good organic fertilizer or worm castings handy so that when they start to set flowers, you can give them a side dressing of fertilizer so that they have the food to make more flowers and then FRUIT. How to side dress: Dig a shallow trench near the plant's base (but not too close - you don't want to damage the roots or main stem), add the recommended amount (per the bag) of fertilizer, cover with soil and water in well. Peppers we love to grow: Magnum Habanero:  It's orange and hot and makes the crazy best margaritas ever. Grow it you love and hate yourself. Purple Jalapeno: Purple jalapenos in salsa is a nice way to change up an old favorite and, plus, it looks extra spooky. Padron: It is impossible to have too many of these. We eat these like everyone else does - by dry sauteing and then dousing with good olive oil and some sea salt. We've thought of eating them some other way, but whatever.  Corno di Toro (sweet): WE'RE SO STOKED FOR THIS SWEET PEPPER. We grew it last year and couldn't get enough. Sweetest, reddest, hugest - it's a total winner.  Netted pepper

Tomatoes (Solanaceae)

Now: Getting settled in the soil Next: Putting on a little height To do: Make sure they're caged and getting infrequent but deep watering (we like 30 mins, 3 days/week unless it rains Keep some good organic fertilizer or worm castings handy so that when they start to set flowers, you can give them a side dressing of fertilizer so that they have the food to make more flowers and then FRUIT. How to side dress: Dig a shallow trench near the plant's base (but not too close - you don't want to damage the roots or main stem), add the recommended amount (per the bag) of fertilizer, cover with soil and water in well. Tomatoes we always grow and love: Jaune Flamme: We pledged our undying love to this tomato a few years ago when we first tried it out in the Test Garden. We love it so much that we made a movie out of it. Better Boy: Our most reliable fresh and canning tomato that reliably gives us 50 pounds of fruit per plant every year. Love this guy.  Better Boy tomato

Coaching for March

Know what's next week? 

Only the biggest day of our year, Indie Farmers - The First Day of Spring! 

So, let's get you ready for another badass growing season starting with early spring crops that are such tasty little teases before the big boom shaka laka of summertime crops.

And, just in case you haven't gotten your spring garden prep done yet (ahem! But also - no judging) you can find everything you need to prep for spring in the PREP FOR SPRING STAT section below.

PREP FOR SPRING STAT Guide      

Cover crops 
It's time to knock them down, cut them off at soil level, chop them up into tiny pieces and leave them to turn into organic matter for your summer garden.

Here's all the hows and whys and whens for you cover croppers (love you!).

Garden prep
Plan your garden, start a garden tracker (seriously! Then you'll know what really works!), plant companion plants, start your seeds just right, test and amend your soil - everything we do to prep for the growing season is right here.

Early Spring crops
Plant these guys now by direct sow (just put the seeds right into your soil, no starting indoors all high maintenance and such) and have something fresh and green (or red) to eat in no time at all.

Shelling peas - Plant by St Patrick's Day for a crop before the temperatures rise.
Snow peas - Sow these when you plant your shelling peas and then eat them straight from the vine.
Lettuce - Set aside a small area of your garden and sow a row every 2-3 weeks for a continuous harvest. Lettuce is also perfect for container gardening.
Radishes - Sow rows of radishes between your lettuce for a mini salad bar. Harvest in just a few weeks.
Cilantro - Sow cilantro early to get a harvest before it bolts in the heat. 

Carrots (Apiaceae) & Roots   
Now: Sow your new crops
Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination
To do: Keep that soil mo-ist.

Carrots, especially, take FOREVER to germinate and they need to stay evenly mo-ist in the soil as they're getting ready FINALLY ALREADY to germinate. So, for the 20 or so days while they're lingering in the soil being big fat teases, make sure their soil doesn't dry out. Otherwise, they'll just never appear and you'll be all BOO.

Here are a few of our favorite varieties for NorCal's warming spring soil:
Tonda di Parigi - Little fat sweet round carrots sold at basically every Paris farmers' market. We like them here in the good ol' USofA, too.
Baby Little Finger -  I'm not one for eating baby fingers, but these carrots could convert me. No. That's gross. Just grow these tasty little fingerling sized carrots and call it good.

Early spring greens (Asteraceae)     

Now: Sow your new crops
Next: Keep your eye to the soil for germination
To do: Keep that soil mo-ist.

Lettuce and other spring greens germinate SUPAH fast, so you don't have to be all stalker-y with your eyeballs on that soil 24/7 forever like you do with carrots.

Just sow your seed, keep it moist and wait a few days. You'll have sweet little sproutlings coming up in no time and then BOOM! salad.

Set aside a 4'x4' block in your garden and sow a new row every week for greens that go on and on until the heat sets in.

A few lettuces we really like:
Henderson's Black Seed: Sounds kinda weird and not like lettuce, but it's a bulletproof winner in the spring garden. Big lime green leaves with curly edges make spectacular salads and wraps. We always grow this. It's outstanding.
Lollo Rossa: If you're a sucker for red leaf lettuce, this is your gal. Another staple in the Test Garden, it's sweet, glossy and gorgeous for all lettuce-y dishes. You know, like salad.
Rocky Top Mix: If you can't decide between green, red, speckled, and oak leaf - this is your mix. It fills out a bed like nobody's business, so get ready to salad. We'll have a big block of this is the Test Garden, so check it out during the plant sale for a sneak peek.
 

Herbs & Flowers
Cilantro (Apiaceae)
Start a new crop of cilantro somewhere that it or another Apiaceae crop wasn't growing before.

If you want cilantro all spring and summer long, be ready to sow a new row of cilantro every week so that you can get some of the tender young leaves before it bolts (goes to flower).

Try setting aside a 2'x2' block and sowing one 2' row every week for 4 weeks. By the time you get to the 4th week, the first week will have produced its best leaves and you can pull the bolting plants and start a new row of cilantro there. Keep this up and you'll have cilantro all summer long.

Nasturtium (Tropaeolaceae)
You can grow the easiest starting, fastest growing, best cut flower making, best cucumber beetle repelling crop of all time (in NorCal anyway) in your garden this year.

Just get your hands on some nasturtium seed and go nuts. Plant it around your cucurbitaceae crops (cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins) to keep the stupid cucumber beetles (don't be fooled - these are NOT green ladybugs) away and you're set.

Marigolds (Tagetes patula)
These guys are your best defense against vegetable loving pests. Sow seed anywhere and everywhere and then, if you're not a big fan of their flowers like yours truly, just appreciate the fact that they're keeping your garden safe all summer long with very little (aka NONE) attention. You can also eat the petals and the longer you keep marigolds planted in your garden, the stronger their pest repelling powers become.

Kale (Brassicaceae)   
Now: Bolting!
Next: Resow this in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.
To do: Cut it back and move on with your life OR re sow in a new not-previously-Brassicaceae spot for spring harvests.

We really like:
Red Russian: Red ribbed and gorgeous tasty kale that's great for cooking
Lacinato (Dinosaur): Our favorite for kale salad by far. Plus, aphids can't hide as easily in the broad leaves as they can in the super curly kale, which is nice.

Onions (Amaryllidaceae)   
Now: Harvesting as bunching onions
Next: Harvesting as bulb onions or donezo
To do: If you can't possibly wait until your onions form full bulbs, you can harvest now as bunching onions. Just pull, rinse and enjoy. Or don't rinse - be a daredevil like that, you hippie.

Fertilize with a nitrogen fertilizer or worm casting tea every couple weeks until you see the actual onion-y looking bulb start to push its way through the surface of the soil.

Peas
Now: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
Next: Germinating, sending up first leaves, reaching out for that first line
To do:  If you haven't sown your peas yet - get to it! We clearly have a limited period of cool weather before summer sidles up and takes over, so pre-germinate those pea seeds indoors between wet paper towels and then plant the seeds that germinate. 2 months later - peas!

If you're late to the game, try Dakota peas that can take the heat and grow FAST.

Coaching for February

Your winter crops are gone by now, right? RIGHT. 

Because YAY spring is ON.

But what are you doing about it? 

Are you tending to an early spring vegetable crop, testing and amending the rest of your garden's soil for forthcoming warm season crops and gathering all of your know-how and materials to get those sun-loving vegetables planted by the end of April?

If you had to avert your eyes from that last question - we understand. Prepping your garden for the big awesome warm weather growing season can be daunting. It feels like there's so much to do and know and do some more to make sure that it's all in place to have a successful growing season.

The good news is that it doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. It can be rewarding and delicious with just a bit of preparation and planning. 

So planning, then...

Warm Season Garden prep

Test your soil You can send your soil off to a lab to be tested or you can do it yourself at home with a kit that tests pH (soil's acidity levels), N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus) and K (potassium). While you won't get the micronutrient levels in the home test kit that you would from a lab, it will give you enough information to amend your soil's macronutrients (N, P and K are the three majors) to your specific crop's heart's desire. And isn't that what you want? Desirable crops? Knew it. Amend your soil Once you've tested your soil and found that there are a few nutrients that it needs, you can organically amend it by adding in bone meal for phosphorus,dried blood meal for nitrogen and a mix of organic materials for potassium for any deficiencies. It's also a good idea to add a layer of organic amendment (We like Gardner & Bloome's Harvest Supreme.) at a rate if about 1 2 cu ft bag per 25 sq ft. Clear weeds This is crucial. Weeds around your garden are basically just houses for pests. Aphids, white flies, slugs, snails and all kinds of nasties take up residence within chewing distance of your garden in weed stands of any size. So pull those weeds or, if you're not into hand pulling weeds, arm yourself with a scuffle hoe (also called a Hula-Ho, Flex Ho and HO knows what else. Joke. That was a joke.) and go to town on those weeds in minutes flat. Check/fix your irrigation systems Before you get all ready to plunk plants into your garden's soil, make sure that the life giving water source is working properly. Remove filters from dripline manifold heads, flush the systems, clean the filters, check emitters for clogging, clear any clogs and replace any emitters that are beyond redemption.  Once everything's working properly, set up the driplines and emitters in your garden and set your irrigation program accordingly. Then test it without any plants in the ground and on dry soil. This way you can see the wetting pattern of the driplines and make sure that they're even. Replace any lines that are beyond redemption. If you water by hand, make sure that your hose head is still in good condition, tighten connections between hose bibs and hoses and check your hose for any cracks or unmanageable kinks.  If you're handwatering by can, rinse that baby out and put it near the water source so that you'll be sure to water at the first sign of dryness. Find all your structures If you're going to use any structures in your garden; tomato cages, bean trellis, cucumber trellis, cans to prop up melons and pumpkins, re bar to stake pepper plants, etc; go find them all, clean them up and make sure they're ready to rock. Gather your seeds and plants It's spring. Do you know where your plants and seeds are? If not, now's the time to source them. For reals.  Our favorite organic seed sources are Johnny's Selected Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, LocalHarvest.org and High Mowing Seeds. Some amazing plant sales are coming to a farm, park and college near you: 3/28-5/31: Love Apple Farms' Tomato Plant Sale in Scotts Valley 4/11: Santa Clara Master Gardener's Plant Sale at San Jose's History Park 5/8-5/10: Cabrillo College's Annual Spring Plant sale at Cabrillo College's Horticulture Center & Botanic Gardens Stock up on fertilizers/compost, row covers, organic pesticides Before you get everything planned and planted and growing, stock up on the things that you'll need to keep your garden happy once it's in the ground. Bags of finished compost near the garden (or your own finished compost), row covers to put over new squash plants to keep pests away and some Safer's Soap in case pests take up residence are good things to have on hand so you're not scrambling to find it when you need it. Or, worse yet, forgoing it altogether because "Pffffffffft. Who has the time?" Yeah, we've all said it, but don't let this be you. Not this year. This year's garden is going to be magnificent. And productive.  Now, what about those cool season crops? Early Spring Greens Now: Those greens planted just a few tiny weeks ago when they were few and tiny are now, surprisingly, bushing out and making their way into the menu rotation. Next: You probably have a few weeks left before they succumb to the warm weather (anything over 70 degrees toughens them up and they start to flower). To do: Harvest and enjoy your greens at their taste and production peak! With temps consistently in the high 60s, they'll do well as long as they get consistent moisture, so check the soil to make sure it doesn't dry out.  The old school moisture test (good for heat sensitive plants with shallow root systems, like lettuce): Gently press your fingers to the soil's surface. If soil comes back on your fingers, there's plenty of moisture. If no soil comes back on your fingers, it's time to water. Peas Now: They're taking to their trellis and climbing a little bit higher every warm day.  Next: They'll keep climbing ever higher and, depending on your variety, will start setting flowers after they've grown a few feet tall. To do: With the warmer temps, it's a good idea to mulch around the base of your peas to keep the soil temperature cool. This keeps the plants happy and lets them continue with their normal pace. If they get too warm, they will go into shock and won't develop normally. Garlic Now: Ripening Next: Our warm temps are cuing the garlic to get to developing, already. So that's what they're doing. Thicker above ground growth and bigger cloves below the soil.  To do: Still, nada. When most of the lower leaves are brown and the tops are still green, we'll harvest them by lifting them out of the soil with a garden fork dug in widely around the base. Then they'll cure. THEN we'll eat them. But not yet. Be patient, you.  Herbs & Flowers Chives  As the temps warm up, the chives go into overdrive - which is great. Go grab some bunches of chives and chop them up with your early spring greens and some fresh herbs for a fancy ass salad that will impress your dinner guests or at least fancy up your own lunch.  Ever just tucked fresh chives into a quesadilla? Go on and try it and then tell me that growing chives was a waste of time. You won't be able to do it. Dill   This stuff is starting to look a little haggard, that's true. If given enough time, it will blossom with yellow blooms and attract all kinds of beneficials to your garden, like hover flies and honeybees, but if you're trying to make room for warm weather crops, it's OK to harvest this completely and make way for other stuff. If you want to leave it in to benefit your warm weather crops, it is an excellent companion for cabbage, corn, lettuces and onions. I've been better. Nasturtium It's back! Yay! It's back! Nasturtium does so much in the garden that it's a good thing that its down time is so brief in our area. It's frost tender, so it's out of the game from about December through February. But as soon as the temperatures warm up the nasturtium is the first to jump up looking for sun.  If you didn't have any nasturtium growing last year (which will mean that its seeds are 99.9% likely to have overwintered in your soil and will be germinating now, if not super soon), get a packet or two of your favorite varieties (there are tons) and drop in a few seeds where they'll be sure to get watered.  In a few weeks you'll see their little round leaves poking out of the soil and, not long after, trailing vines of dark (or variegated) green leaves and bright colorful flowers. Don't pull me out. I'm not a weed. Nasturtium serves four high-fiveable purposes in the garden: 1. It's a living mulch It grows along the soil's surface and keeps the soil cool and the weeds down. Plant some at the base of your peas and let them live all symbiotically. Optional: Sing kumbaya. 2. It's a cut flower When you have a couple dozen blossoms open, go out to the garden with a jar of water and snap off the flowers about half a foot down the main stem and arrange a beautiful bouquet. They'll last about a week and the plant will work even harder to put out even more blooms. You'll have bouquets through fall. Seriously. It's awesome. 3. It's edible Ever had a fancy salad in a restaurant that came with flowers on top? You can do this at home and save on the valet service while still feeling fancy. Just pop off a few of the blossoms, rinse them gently to remove any hitchhikers and toss them with your salad greens. They're a little peppery and add great color. Plus, imagine the fancy factor - it's a thing. 4. It protects cucurbits and fruit trees If you're growing cucumbers, melons or squash, this is your man for companion planting. It has been said that the evil cucumber beetle can't find its way to your cucurbits  with this guy vining its way all over the place and it also attracts beneficial insects to its blossoms.