Monthly Archives: March 2012

Just a reminder that our next seed starting meeting is this Sunday, April 1st at 1pm at the community greenhouse up at the school.

We will be planting early tomatos, second rounds of brassica (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) and all kinds of greens and late peppers/eggplants. Please bring your seeds and washed containers and trays.

Members who have taken trays home to germinate are asked to bring the shared trays of successfully growing transplants back to the greenhouse and we will share the plants around with other members and look at transplanting anything that requires it.

The next gathering will be WED, APRIL 18 AT 11 AM

WEEDING will be the main activity so bring along your favourite hand tools for that. Bring a bucket too if you can so that we can leave a few on site.

We can keep adding organic matter to compost such as leaves, ash,nettles, weeds, seaweed, grass clippings etc Aged manure and seaweed make a fine plant food in the form of tea. Anyone have access to some OLD POOP ?

Scapes will be up before we know it.

For the dedicated gardener in the northern hemisphere, the growing season is never early enough or long enough. With access to a well situated greenhouse we can begin gardening in early spring long before the nightly temperatures will allow us to start planting outside. Warm weather plants can be started indoors and moved into the greenhouse as evening temperatures permit, finally taking up permanent homes in the greenhouse soil. Other seeds can be started in the greenhouse for transplants that will eventually move outdoors, harden off and be planted in our gardens. What a delightful thing to be able to get one’s hands “in the dirt” so early in the year.

When the early summer weather doesn’t cooperate with our plans to plant, we can still start things in the greenhouse and make use of its heat retaining qualities to grow our transplants successfully and set them out in the garden as the seasonal temperatures become more reliable. As early summer temperatures have cooled over the past few years, many people have begun starting beans and corn as greenhouse transplants, in spite of cool weather that would prevent these seeds from sprouting outside. These warm weather transplants can then be set out in the garden as night temperatures warm.

Later in the year, the greenhouse supports extending the growing season well into the fall. Last year final tomatoes were picked off plants in November.

Even on the coldest of nights in the fall, the greenhouse retains the day’s heat, keeping it several degrees warmer than the temperatures outside and making it a lovely place to be “outside in the garden”, while indoors. This extra bit of protection also provides a space to overwinter plants that would otherwise die of exposure outside. By the time this article reaches print, March plantings in the greenhouse will already have started beginning a whole new year of growing.

Come on down to the Community Greenhouse at the school grounds and see what we are up to. New members are always welcome.

March 9th at 11am

Bring your seeds and enthusiasm and meet at the greenhouse.

Participants should bring their own peppers, eggplants, brassica and greens seeds. Please note that trays will be sent home with members to be sprouted and returned to the greenhouse to grow to transplanting size when the night temperatures permit. Members wishing to plant greens will be taking their trays home to grow and plant out in their own gardens. Members are asked to bring their own planters and trays if possible and all containers should be washed with hot soapy water and rinsed before use.

NOTE: A couple points to review regarding maintenance of seed trays before sprouting…… Trays should be placed in a warm area with clear plastic over top to help with moisture retention. A light watering should take place from the top of the planter once the surface soil dries slights. Avoid saturation and bottom watering to prevent damping off or rotting of the seeds. If sprouting peppers or eggplants, the trays need to be in a very consistently warm area (next to a heat source e.g. fireplace), rotated regularly to ensure even exposure to heat and checked to ensure that the soil remains lightly damp. Again, a clear plastic bag covering the surface can help to both retain moisture and soil warmth while sprouting.