Dec 19

It is a very slow time in the gardens in December and January, even here in the mild Carolinas. Most of my time in the gardens is spent cleaning up from summer's neglect. Out in the veggie garden I allowed the weeds and tall grass to take over around the asparagus and strawberry raised beds. I think the fact that I was planning on moving the strawberries may have had something to do with that. And the fact that I have gotten more involved with coaching softball in the spring and fall seasons.
 A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine, Jim, invited me to help him coach his daughter's 8 year and under, softball team. I think Jim remembered that I had coached my daughter's (Emily, or Em as we call her) team back when he and I first met some many years ago, and felt that my experience might be of some help. Since then I have helped Jim coach Em on a few 'recreational' teams (open to all players) and a couple of 'challange' teams (tryouts for spots on the team). Last fall the association where Emily plays (and Jim is a coach and board member) found themselves short of a coach for the girls 8 and under softball teams. They asked me if I would coach a team, and I accepted. I can't begin to tell you how rewarding it is to work with these young ladies and their parents. I have asked to be considered for a coaching spot again this spring and am really looking forward to the new season.

 All I really have going on is starting a few broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants every other week. I am vowing to get more into succession planting this year so that I will have an extended harvest, rather than everything coming at the same time. We'll see how that works out time wise.

Saving Broccoli seeds

I think I mentioned that I was attempting to save some broccoli seeds. Well, the pods formed, they look like miniature bean pods. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I have yet to figure out how to take close ups. Perhaps one day I'll take the time to read the directions :0

 So it was time to til the garden bed the broccoli was in so I cut off the head with all the seed pods and put it in my shop to dry out. BAD MISTAKE! I repeat BAD MISTAKE! That thing stunk to high heaven. We had to burn candles through out the entire house to get rid of the smell, and the head only stayed in the shop for about an hour. So now the head is outside to dry, and you can smell it from many yards away.

 It is time to start preparing for the early spring garden. I will be sprouting my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants for about the next 8 weeks. Every two weeks I spout some seeds, and a week later pot 3 plants each of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. This will give me a staggered harvest. I like to grow the seedlings for around 10 weeks indoors, and two weeks outdoors, before transplanting them into the garden. So if I am going to put transplants in the ground from early March through mid April, I need to start them now.
 So a week ago, I put about a half dozen seeds into a moist coffee filter (a different filter and baggie for each variety of plant), folded it over on itself twice, and put it in a ziplock baggie. I prop the baggies between two bottles to keep them upright (so that the sprouts will grow up out of the filter, if you lay them flat the sprouts will grow up through the filter and you won't be able to separate the seedling from the filter) Usually within a week the sprouts will start poking their heads out. I carefully pull the seedlings off of the filter, using only the tiny leafs as a handle so as not to crush the stems. Then I pot them up in 3"x3" pots and place them under lights.
 About every other day, I place the pots in the bottom of the sink filled with a couple inches of water for a few minutes to allow the soil to soak up the moisture. You don't want to water from above if you can help it at this stage. The seedlings are too tender to take it, and it can promote fungus growth on your seedlings.