For Beginners – Perkins Park

Just Links, Mostly: Growing from Seed

February 17, 2021For Beginners, resources, Spring Gardening, Start Here, Winter1 Comment

Basics

Fruition Seeds offers a free seed-starting E-book and seed-starting academy. Scroll down on their home page for more info.
Here’s another longer handbook from Seed Savers Exchange.
This two-page indoor seed-starting guide from Cornell Cooperative Extension covers the basics.
From our blog, here are five tips on seed-starting.
This guide from Burpee covers outdoor sowing.
How do you care for seedlings after they’ve sprouted? Here’s a guide from University of Maryland Extension.
From Iowa State University Extension, here’s a look at using organic fertilizers on seedlings.
Territorial Seeds offers Spring and Fall/Winter growing guides for all types of garden plants.

Timing

Frost date calculators from Farmer’s Almanac, Dave’s Garden, and The National Gardening Association all use different slightly different weather data and risk levels. Interesting to compare.
From our blog, a discussion that gets a bit into the weeds about odds and frost date ranges.
Margaret Roach and Johnny’s offer seed-starting calculators. Enter your frost date, and it calculates when seeds should be started indoors, transplanted, or directly sown outdoors. NOTE: Use these calculators as a rough guide. In the spring, I use two sets of frost dates: a riskier one for cold weather crops that can handle a bit of frost and a more conservative one for warm weather crops. Tomatoes, for example, not only can’t handle a frost, but they’re also generally not happy at temperatures under 60 degrees F.
Kitchen Garden Seeds offers a very handy list of seed-starting schedules.
For a simple chart that will work well in Massachusetts, see this excellent resource from URI.
From High Mowing seeds, here’s a resource showing how to get the timing right so that you can sow a succession of crops in your garden.
From our blog, starting out the growing season with cold weather crops.

Lighting

Lighting can get complicated. Here, Margaret Roach interviews Leslie Halleck, who’s written a great book on the topic (Gardening Under Lights, available on Hoopla at Thayer!).
Cornell Extension describes how to build a low-cost light frame.
My adventures with a cheap shop light fixture from Ocean State Job Lot. (It works well enough for most crops.)
Gardin in Braintree is an excellent source for lighting fixtures and assistance with indoor growing equipment.

Buying Seed

This map from SeedLinked shows locations and names of seed companies. Use it to buy regional product that generally is well-suited for growing in your region.
This resource from Cornell University is a community science database that collects info on which particular varieties of vegetables will grow well in your garden.
From Gardeners Supply, here’s a list of easy seeds for beginners.
Seed catalogs aren’t just for buying seed; they’re also great resources for learning about varieties. (New York Times article. Link to Thayer Public Library for 3-day access to NYT.)
Mail-order sources that PPCGers have used include: Johnny’s Selected Seeds, High Mowing Seeds, Fruition Seeds, Burpee, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, Fedco, Baker Creek, Territorial Seeds, and Seed Savers Exchange.
Local off-the-rack sources include Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, Ocean State, Holly Hill Farm, Kam Man, and Good Health Natural Foods.
How long will the seed last? You don’t have to toss out all of your old, unused seed, but some varieties have a longer shelf life. Check out Margaret Roach’s guide.
URI’s free seed program has been limited by COVID-19, but it may be an option for non profit groups in future years. Wintersown.org also offers seed at under-cost rates to community organizations.

Winter Sowing & Season Extenders

Winter sowing is a method of sowing seeds outdoors when it’s still cold in containers such as milk jugs. Susan Mulvihill has a nice video on the technique and also points interested growers to wintersown.org.
You can get more grow time out of your garden by using season extenders such as hoop tunnels, frost covers, and cloches. Eliot Coleman has researched and written on this topic extensively, but for home gardeners, I found Niki Jabour’s materials more accessible. Here’s her website, a book that’s available on Hoopla and hard copy at Thayer Public Library, and her latest publication about growing under cover.
From GrowVeg, check out this simple method of using milk jugs as improvised cloches. Great idea if you have a late frost sneak up on you.

Saving Seed

From our blog, Louise writes about how and why to save seed.
Saving seed begins with planting the right seed the right way. Seed Savers Exchange explains.
Seed-saving chart from Seed Savers Exchange.

Easy, Low-Cost & Safe Gardening

May 13, 2020For Beginners, State of the garden, Summer GardeningLeave a Comment

I’m writing this post with the hope that we will get to plant in Perkins Park Community Garden this summer. It’s still a big IF, and even if we can open, we will likely face significant restrictions and limitations. So I’m taking a few guesses and posting some ideas to help with planning our plots. Or maybe at home you have a patch of sun and space for a 5-gallon container or window box.

Keep it simple. Now is not the time to design complicated garden layouts, especially if this gardening season is your first try. Pick one to a few things you like to grow or eat. It’s okay to leave open space, but plan to mulch those areas if you can (see below). And know that even if we open up, there’s always a chance we could get shut down again if the pandemic worsens.

Try No- or Low-Dig Gardening. If ever there was a good year to try a more tools-off approach to garden prep, this may be the one, when our tool shed may not be open. See here and here for the rationale and potential benefits of no-dig gardening.

Mulch. Last fall, many of us mulched our gardens with leaves and other material, which can be brushed into the areas among new plantings (keep young plant stems clear of mulch). But if your plot is bare, laying down some mulch will save some work later by (1) blocking weeds, (2) improving water retention, (3) building more fertile soil and (4) protecting plants from soil-born diseases. If you use leaves from PPCG and have a tool like a hoe or rake, chop them up a bit so that they don’t form a dense mat that blocks water. Or use corrugated cardboard or brown paper lawn refuse bags/grocery bags, or multiple layers of newspaper. Weight it all down with rocks, jugs of water, etc.. Added bonus: worms love this stuff.

Be Water Wise. We may need to haul our water to the garden, or we may not be able to share hoses and watering cans, so just in case, start saving up those gallon jugs, beverage containers, etc. with caps. (This is one other good reason to keep your garden plan very simple.) Also, once your plants are established, work on watering deeply and less frequently to encourage the development of deep roots and more drought-tolerant plants. See here for more ideas and lists of drought-tolerant plants. And here’s another post on preparing for drought.

Improvise and use what you have and limit your trips out to the stores.

Kitchen implements such as serving spoons and forks can work as garden hand tools. Paper grocery bags and newspaper work great as mulch. Milk jugs can act as mini greenhouses or pest protection (just be sure to vent them). Use scraps of old textiles for tying plants. Scavenge fallen branches to support tomatoes and create garden trellises.
More garden hacks here and here.
Ordering of seeds is delayed at many sites. How about that old packet of seeds? Are they still good? Use them if you can. Test a few seeds out to see if they sprout using this method. See here, this Black-Eyed Susan vine (front, middle) planted on April 1, now nearly 1.5 months later? It sprouted, but lost its oomph. Poor girl. But many other seeds will do just fine from year to year. More seed-starting tips here.

No-crowd shopping.

The Lowe’s parking lot in Weymouth has been almost as crowded as Pond Meadow Park. (Not really, but PMP is unruly these days.) If you must go out and buy anything, try some outdoor garden centers that may be less crowded, such as Christopher’s Garden Shop and Farm Stand (Facebook link) in Weymouth or the Artery Garden Center at 625 Southern Artery in Quincy (in Goodwill parking lot).
Non-profit organizations that rely on annual seedling sales are being responsive to the pandemic and are coming up with safe shopping alternatives. See Marshfield, City Natives, and Holy Hill Farm. Stay tuned for Brookwood Farm, which is evaluating its inventory.
Does your grocery store or other essential shopping stop sell seeds? A few weeks ago, Kam Man had seed displays filled with a nice selection of Asian greens and other veggies not typically found in the Burpee racks at Home Depot.

Low-fuss planting.

It can be hard to start plants from seed at the garden. They need extra watering care until they germinate and as seedlings. There may be pest pressure. Or if we get a big rainstorm, your seeds/seedlings may be washed away. Instead, start seedlings at home for transplant or purchase plants that are ready to be planted out in the garden.
Look for F1 or hybrid varieties that are more resistant to diseases than heirloom varieties.
Look for quick-maturing varieties. New Girl tomato, for example, matures in 62 days, whereas Grand Marshall takes 78 days. That’s a big difference. (Be aware, too, that in late summer, shade on the southern edge of PPCG grows long and will lengthen your ‘days to maturity.’)
Look for easy-to-grow crops. I like this article from High Mowing Seeds, which includes a planting schedule example. One note: zucchini isn’t impossible to grow at PPCG, but we do have some pressure from the dreaded squash vine borer.

It’s almost never too late. Even though we are coming upon the time when we could be planting our second succession of crops (warm-weather crops such as tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and peppers), there’s still plenty of time ahead for a third “slot” for planting (quick-growing warm-weather crops and cool weather fall crops).

Hope to see you soon!

Five Indoor Seed-Starting Tips from Margaret Roach’s A Way to Garden

January 31, 2020May 11, 2020For Beginners, Spring Gardening, WinterLeave a Comment

Select Seeds Suited for Indoor Sowing and Transplanting

Many crops start well indoors–and need the extra growing time in a protected space while the weather is still too cold–but a few grow better when sown directly in the garden. There aren’t any no-break rules here. Even carrots can be transplanted, though it’s not generally recommended. Especially if you are trying a crop for the first time, read the seed packet for instructions on which method typically works best. Pay attention, too, to the days to maturity information and your crop’s cold tolerance to help decide where and when to sow.

Start with Good Materials

Many seeds are viable for more than one year, but members of the onion family are notoriously short-lived. Pictured here, I sowed the far corner with fresh onion seeds and the near corner with seeds only 1 year-old. Barely any of the old seeds germinated.

Clean your seed-starting containers with a 1:9 bleach:water solution or soapy water.
Use a sterile grow medium formulated for seed-starting.
For best results, use fresh seeds. (See this link to a chart on seed viability and a great discussion on the difference between viability and vigor. More info here.)

Water Wisely

Keep your planting medium evenly moist until your seeds sprout, then let it dry out slightly between watering. In no instance should it be soggy or bone dry. Be gentle if you water on top and use a mister or similar method. Bottom watering avoids the problem of dislodging seeds and young transplants and helps prevent diseases.

Get the Light Right

This one is Margaret Roach’s most emphasized tip. Seedlings will need supplemental lighting–more than they’ll likely get on your windowsill–or they’ll grow tall and spindly.

For Perkins Park Gardeners: What to do if you don’t have a fancy grow light set up and still want to sow your own seeds for transplanting?

- Try inexpensive shop lights. I’ve had reasonable success growing seedlings with a couple of shop lights purchased for around $15 at Ocean State.
- Squeeze one or two cell packs on your windowsill and supplement with a simple clamp light fixture (bulb separate). Set them outside on warm-enough days, taking care to harden them off (see next tip) along the way.
  Lettuce seedlings grown on a windowsill get a little long and floppy, but do all right if you don’t have to hold them long indoors.
  
  But seedlings quickly dry out and outgrow their small egg carton confines.
  
  Here’s another windowsill setup, fashioned out of a recycled cell pack and a milk carton, that gives seedling roots more room to grow.

Take Time to Transplant with Care

Harden off plants before you transplant them to their final space in the garden. They’ll need to gradually acclimate to outdoor conditions, especially to the sun. Start with no more than 1 hour outside in direct sun on the first day (not midday) and gradually increase the time of outdoor exposure over the course of about a week. You’ll know you’ve overdone it if you see bleached or brown and crispy patches on your plants’ leaves. Alternatively, some people like to choose overcast days, leaving them outside during daytime hours for a few days.

Once you’ve gotten your plants hardened off, make sure you’re not rushing to get your plant in the garden too early, before you are reasonably clear of of unsuitable weather.

For more seed-starting tips (and more):

A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach (2019).

For a wide range of seed-starting information, see Margaret Roach’s website.

Getting Started at PPCG (Part 4): Plant Choices and Sources

May 1, 2018March 9, 2021For Beginners, Spring Gardening, Start HereLeave a Comment

PPCG is an organic garden, but you do not need to grow seeds and seedlings labelled “organic” for your plots. Choose organic plants if you want to support sustainable agricultural practices and don’t mind paying a little extra for them.

As you are deciding what to grow, also consider…

What do you like? What will you enjoy harvesting from your garden?

You’ll get the most from your garden if you grow plants you enjoy. Myself, I have an ambivalent relationship with kale. It grows easily and early, before almost anything else. But by mid summer it’s still producing and taking up space and getting a little tough. Really, it’s okay to “edit” your plot. Avoid the “kale trap.” It’s your plot to enjoy.

Is the plant or seed labelled heirloom, open-pollinated or hybrid?

Heirloom varieties are often considered tastier and are a must if you want to grow to save seeds. By growing heirloom and open-pollinated seeds, you’ll be helping to maintain genetic diversity. On the other hand, hybrids can offer greater ease because they are often bred to overcome problems such as common diseases. Check out this article from the L.A. Times on heirloom vs. hybrid tomatoes.

What’s the level of difficulty for a particular plant?

Here are a few challenges and successes we’ve had at PPCG:

Cabbage is tricky to “head up.”
Broccoli bolts to seed readily in warm weather, before anything is harvested and takes up a lot of space.
Corn is another space hog that yields little.
Squash is prone to powdery mildew and vine borers.
Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zinnias, bunching onions, peas, green beans, and lettuces and other salad greens are all fairly easy crops that have good yields in our gardens.

How quickly will your plant mature?

There is a wide range in time until harvest among varieties of the same type of plant. Especially if you are planning to try to fit in successive plantings, you may want to choose a variety that matures quickly.

For tomatoes in particular, consider whether your plants are determinate or indeterminate. Determinate tomato plants produce tomatoes all at once, which means you’ll have a lot of tomatoes to eat and process in a big batch. Indeterminate tomatoes grow and produce indefinitely. For a steadier flow, read estimated maturation dates carefully. A mix of varieties can spread out your tomato harvest.

Seeds or Seedlings?

A number of crops grow much better when directly sown by seed in the garden. Root crops such as carrots, radishes, turnips, and beets are good examples. Crops such as zucchini and beans can be transplanted, but often do better or grow quickly enough that they can be sown directly in the garden. Other crops such as tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers require a long growing season and should be started indoors before being planted out in the garden when warmer weather arrives. Read your seed packets for recommended growing information.

For ease, most of our gardeners buy plants from nonprofit organizations and garden centers that are ready for the garden. See below for resources.

Where to buy? Our gardeners have a few favorites…

For seeds, our gardeners like Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, Fedco, Burpee, Territorial Seed, and Baker Creek, to name a few. Find more resources on seed growing here on our blog.

For organic products, try Gardens Alive or Gard.in in Braintree.

For plants, watch for excellent plant sales at Holly Hill Farm (especially their wide selection of tomatoes, organically grown!), Brookwood Farm, City Natives in Boston, Southside Community Land Trust in Providence, and Marshfield Agricultural Commission.

Or check out garden centers such as Christopher’s (across from BJ’s in Weymouth on Rte. 53), the plant stand on Southern Artery in Quincy (in the Goodwill parking lot), Almquist in Quincy, Kennedy’s in Scituate, or for further afield, try Peckham’s in Little Compton, RI. Do you have other favorites? Let us know!

Continued…

Part 5: Planting

Part 6: Garden Maintenance

In case you missed it…

Part 1: Organic Gardening and Soil

Part 2: Our Growing Season and Gardening Resources

Part 3: Garden Design

Getting Started at PPCG (Part 3): Garden Design

April 27, 2018March 9, 2021For Beginners, Spring Gardening, Start HereLeave a Comment

Whether you can visualize your garden’s design in your head or you need to sketch it on paper, it’s a good idea to plan your garden before you plant! I like to use graph paper to help me keep everything to scale and remind myself just how much I can (and can’t) fit in a 6′ x 12′ plot.

Electronic garden planners–some free and others free for a short trial–are also readily available. This spring, for example, I tried out the Old Farmer’s Almanac garden planner, which offered plenty of bells and whistles, such as month-by-month planning for successive crops. After a one-month trial, I ended up not subscribing to the service because I was frustrated by specific ways that it didn’t allow me to individualize my plan. Still, it’s definitely worth a try if you work well with computerized planning.

Think about sun and shade at Perkins Park

We have some shade to deal with at Perkins Park, but it isn’t always a bad thing, especially for crops that thrive with a little break from the sun.

The sun rises on the side of our garden opposite the shed and sets roughly behind the shed. Expect the shade to shift throughout the season and to broaden as leaves grow on the trees around us. In late summer and into fall, the garden beds on the southern edge (the side with our composters) get heavy shade through a large portion of the day because the sun remains lower in the sky. For a rough idea of spring sunlight hours, here’s a light/shade map of our garden.

Within your garden, think about which plants will grow tall and shade other plants.

Tomatoes and plants grown on trellises, for example, will cast broad shade, which may or may not be desirable depending on the plants you are growing near them. For optimizing sunlight, the best place to put the tall plants is along the northern edge. Please note we have a six-foot height restriction for structures and plants.

Consider which plants can tolerate shade more than others.

Here’s a handy chart to use as a guideline, but always be sure to read up on your plants’ growing information.

Plan where you are going to place pathways, supports, and barriers.

Knowing where you are going to walk will help you gain access to all of your garden and minimize compacting your soil.

Supports such as tomato stakes and trellises should be installed before or at the time of planting.

It sounds obvious, but from my own experience, here’s another important tip: if you are planning on installing barriers to keep out deer, make sure that you can still have ready access to your garden.