For My Hombres Back in Nuevo Mexico...

A very good friend, Tim Blotz, did a wonderful thing and mailed me some new seeds I'm very eager to try out. Tim has a bit of a green thumb himself. The Blotz clan lives in Minneapolis and has an amazing garden in a place most people relate to snow, hockey, and ice fishing. That hasn't deterred Tim. How many people do you know grow their own CORN in their home garden? That deserves a tip of the straw hat.

NuMex Espanola Improved Chile

So what has me so "fired" up about these seeds? Because they will sprout and produce two chile varieties found in my old stomping grounds of New Mexico.

The Land of Enchantment will always hold a special place in my heart. But, it's also the heart of the chile universe. Most famous is the Hatch chile found only in Hatch, New Mexico (well at least authentic Hatch chiles).

The opportunity to grow something from New Mexico (a place where I lived for two years, have family, and found my best of friends) in our garden is very exciting.















NuMex Heritage 6-4 Chile

Last week I dropped the seeds in two small planters, similar to what I did with the other seed varieties. The first chile variety we have is the NuMex Espanola Improved Chile. According to the CPI (Chile Pepper Institute) at New Mexico State University, this chile is very hot and has been adapted to grow in the shorter growing season of Northern New Mexico. If you haven't been to New Mexico, the northern part of the state is very mountainous and the climate is much cooler.

The second chile species Tim sent us is NuMex Heritage 6-4. This variety is an improved chile from the original 6-4. The 6-4 is one of New Mexico's original pod types with medium to hot heat level. The Heritage 6-4 has a better yield and 20% more flavor.....so say my friends at the CPI.

According to the growing instructions, these seeds need to be sowed 8-10 weeks before planting in the garden outside. Depending on soil temperature, it will take 2-4 weeks to germinate. The optimum soil temp is between 80-90 degrees. I can tell you that I don't have the soil at that temp. It is probably around 70-75 degrees. I'd need to add a propagation mat for heat. I don't think I'm going to go that far.

Once these babies get going, I hope to have them outside in May and get a nice crop by late summer to roast or use in a chile stew. If you want to add a little "caliente" to your garden, I highly recommend checking out the CPI's website. The Chile Pepper Institute
They also sell all kinds of seed varieties and instructions on how to grow chiles and prevent diseases.

By the way, here is a look-see at our seeds we sowed a couple weeks ago. The acorn squash and cilantro have taken off. I'm worried that we've had too many cloudy days for them, so they have become leggy in their search for sunlight. I need to research how I can fix this problem.

"The Distinguished Gentlemen from Colorado requests an earmark..."

One Stop at Home Depot Yielded This

I'm wondering if all this money being handed out by Capitol Hill for infrastructure could maybe trickle down to the backyard on Jersey Dr.? Heck, most of the republican governors around the country have been turning down their stimulus package funds. Why I can't I take a little from Sarah Palin's rejected handout to help build my fiefdom's infrastructure?

In all seriousness, I've quickly discovered that the hardware of a garden can quickly add up in price. Just this weekend, I dropped a pretty penny on more pots, potting mix, and supplies to build support trellises for a couple of our new crops. I'm beginning to wonder if growing a home garden is actually a cost-cutting move for our food budget. I'm guessing over a long period of time it does, but it certainly doesn't feel that way after you sign the dotted line at the garden center.

I have found one good tip in building your garden's infrastructure: DO NOT buy pots, planters, trellises, etc. from garden centers. The prices at these centers are typically very high. I make it a point to buy these things at Home Depot. They're usually a third of the price of comparable pots at garden centers. You also can save money by purchasing pots made out of plastic rather than clay or ceramic. My experience says the cheaper pots work just as well as their earthy counterparts. Plus, they're much lighter, making them easier to move around.

One of my new crops will be snap peas. Peas are vine plants that need something to cling onto and grow. This required me to build something for them to do this. So in my visit to the HD, I picked up some lumber and constructed an "A" frame trellis. I'm not the master craftsman, but I was able to saw, hammer, and staple my way through it. I used some leftover plastic mesh from last year's strawberry cage to give the plants something to grasp onto. I planted the peas in long pots and positioned them underneath the A-frame.

I wish I could say I'm done with the '09 building plans. But I know myself too well.

Germinator: Rise of the Herbs

Five days after being sowed, we have our first sprigs of life.

First Out of the Dirt: Chamomile

The Beginning of Thyme

                                                                          

Sowing The Seeds

The Herb/Flower/Squash Beginnings

Despite a weekend of non-stop drizzle and cool temperatures, the time was now to get cracking on the crops I'm growing from seed. I want to give the seeds 4-6 weeks of germination before I transition them to bigger pots outside after the season's last frost. I took out the supplies I bought two weeks ago and first planted the cool season crops in their permanent pots. The finger carrots, rutabagas, Lisbon onions, and lettuce were the first to get put in potting mix. I chose long planter bins in order to simulate rows. I simply added potting mix, spread the seed, and covered the seeds with more potting mix at a desired depth per directions from each of the veggies' seed packets. I positioned the pots in a part of the backyard getting most of the sun. If you notice in the pic below, I still have the strawberry, peppermint, and chives plants from last year. Strawberries are perennial while the chives plant has quickly re-emerged. I was about to throw the peppermint plant away, but I saw green sprouts emerging from the soil. I figured I might as well keep it. As for the salad mix lettuce, I planted it in the round elevated pot I used for last year's cantaloupe. No special reason....it just looks like a salad bowl.

From L-R: Strawberries, Peppermint, Lisbon onions, Rutabagas (2 pots), Finger Carrots, Chives (back left), Salad Mix Lettuce (back right)

Once I finished with the outdoor seeds, I prepped my tray and starters for the herbs and acorn squash. I plan on keeping these cups inside at night and cool days. If the weather is nice and sunny, I'll probably stick them outside during daylight hours. As you can see, I have six seed cups for the inside. A seventh cup, dill, I'm leaving outside. The seed packet noted dill seeds must sit on the surface of the soil in full sunlight in order to start germinating. It does no good to have those seeds inside away from the sunlight. I'm very eager to see how the rosemary and acorn squash seeds develop. Rosemary is my favorite herb and I don't think my plant from last year will recover from the winter cold. As for the acorn squash, I won't be able to move that outside until late April or early May. So I figure I have a good month and a half to get the seeds to germinate before I can safely pot them outside.

Instructions Said to Plant 6-8 Acorn Squash Seeds Per Mound

Aside from the sowing this weekend, I've been mapping my layout for the garden. It will be much bigger and I'll have to put some plants on the other side of the walkway. But one lesson I learned from last year was accessibility to the plants. Once the plants grew to full size, it was very difficult to prune, water, and harvest because they were bunched together. This year, I need to make sure I have paths to walk between the plants. I also need to take into consideration which plants will want to spread out and cling onto things. Those may be better suited for the edges of the yard near the landscaping and fence.

It's March and Snowing!!! Perfect Gardening Weather.

Yesterday I made my first expensi.... errrr... extensive visit to the garden center. It's that time of year to start thinking, planning, and even planting for Garden '09.

For X-mas, I got several pouches of seeds for root and leaf veggies (Thanks, Mother Mason). Little finger carrots, rutabagas, salad mix lettuce, and white Lisbon onions are all new additions to the garden line-up. They also are all cool season growers. It's recommended they be planted in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. Well, since we grow everything in pots, that's pretty much whenever we choose.

So yesterday I went to Merrifield Garden Center and bought the infrastructure to begin sowing the seeds. I bought a couple long rectangular planter for the carrots, onions, and rutabagas. This is to simulate rows. I also bought three bags of potting mix, 7 small cups to start seeds, a tray to catch water from the cups, and a pouch of acorn squash seeds. Emily and I love acorn squash and since I never saw acorn squash plants last year, I figure I need to grow them from seed. I also bought some fertilizer for the lawn. But I could create a whole new blog just on taking care of lawns.

Remember, if you plan on growing things in pots, YOU MUST USE POTTING MIX. Garden soil will not work as well.

Of course this morning we woke up to a light blanket of snow on the ground. So I'll have to hold off planting the root veggies outside for another weekend. Not that they couldn't handle the weather. I just don't want to be outside in the snow dealing with potting mix and wet ground.

It also appears I won't have to worry about planting chives again. The '08 plant is thriving right now. The sun is shifting back north and providing sun for a couple hours in the backyard. By moving the chive plant into that sun area has given it new life to photosynthesize. I also fed it a couple weeks ago. So now it has the nutrients to get going. Chive mashed potatoes will soon be making their appearance back on the dinner table!!!