Everything You Need to Know About Starting Peas Indoors: It Can Be Done!

Everything You Need to Know About Starting Peas Indoors: It Can Be Done!

Peas are cool weather crops and need to be planted fairly early here in Maryland Zone 7. They prefer well drained soil and soil temperature that is 40 degrees or more. They do best when day temperatures don't get past 70ish degrees. So... I try and get mine outdoors in March. As of today, tomorrow will be March 1st and the ground is covered in snow and frozen. Losing most of March by waiting to plant peas directly in the ground, when the soil is ready, will really reduce my crop.

You can easily start peas indoors in peat pots or styro-foam cups. This will give you a 2-4 week jump on the season depending on the variety of peas you start. The video shows you how I seed start them and when they are ready to be moved into larger containers or outdoors. Remember plants that are started inside, need to be gradually introduced to the sun and temperatures. This is called hardening-off.

Peat pots work really well because you can plant the whole pot and not disturb the root systems. Peas will have strong long roots. If grown in the plastic cells, the will grow out the holes in the cell bottom. They have to be pulled back through that hole and often the roots get damaged. An eight ounce styro-foam cup provides enough room for the roots to grow. Just pop out the dirt plug from the cup and plant.

With the peat pots, the pot and plant go straight into containers or ground. I show you how to put them in a 5 gallon container. The process is essentially the same for putting them in the ground. You can plant them in a row if they are going into earth beds.

Good Luck with Your Garden,

Gary (The Rusted Garden)


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Stephen Via - PhD candidate

Congratulations to our recent PhD candidate, Stephen Via!  He successfully defended his dissertation proposal titled "From seed to sky: the impacts of explosive compounds on vegetation across scales". Stephen also gave an outstanding presentation to his committee members.  Job well done!

 

A bit about his research: 

The presence of explosive compounds can act as a physiological filter controlling species’ establishment and success in contaminated areas. Explosive compounds in soils have negative effects on vegetation physiological processes, affecting health and survival. The precise impacts of these contaminants vary based on many factors, such as life stage and morphological/physiological tolerances, which are species specific. Many studies have demonstrated species- and individual-level impacts of explosive compounds; however, there is little research investigating multiple explosive simultaneously (such as Composition B). This limits our understanding of impacts in the field and our ability to scale up to community and ecosystem level effects. Thus, a cross-scale approach is needed to reduce speculation.

 

Stephen's project objectives are to: (1) investigate the impacts of explosive compounds on seed germination and plant establishment, (2) investigate the physiological and morphological impacts of explosive compounds on plant species, (3) quantify the impacts of explosive compounds on plant community structure, and (4) detect the presence of explosive compounds via remote sensing of vegetation.

 

 

 

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Understanding the Difference Between Pea Types: Snow or Sugar, Snap and English or Shelling

Understanding the Difference Between Pea Types: 

Snow or Sugar, Snap and English or Shelling

There are many variations of the three categories or types. You can get variations that give you white or purple flowers, purple pods, wrinkled peas or dwarf varieties.  Maturity time can also vary by a few weeks.

However, many gardeners want to know: Did I get the flat peas for stir-fry? Are these edible pods? Why do some say Snow Sugar or Sugar Snap? What are shelling peas?

This video will explain the main types you would want to plant and grow in the garden. I hope this video helps you when you select your seeds.

Remembers peas like to planted when it is cool, the ground is about 40 degrees and they hate soggy soil!


Good Luck with Your Garden,
Gary (The Rusted Garden)


Join My New YouTube Channel Just for NEW Gardeners: My First Vegetable Garden

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Purchase Calcium Nitrate to Help Manage Tomato Blossom End-Rot

About 350 grams of Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0

19% Calcium and water soluble

Cost $10.00 plus shipping 

 

Calcium Nitrate can be used to manage Blossom End-Rot

Calcium Nitrate is a water soluble form of Calcium (Ca) that you can make a spray with and spray on your plants to get them calcium, to help stop or prevent blossom end-rot. You should always make sure your soil has lime/calcium, but additional spraying can give your tomatoes the Ca they need if Blossom End-Rot appears.

Always test spray your plants before covering a plant with any new spray.
Wait 48 hours after testing a few leaves and if there is no damage, spray the plant.

A general recipe is 1 tablespoon of calcium nitrate per gallon of water
or 1 teaspoon per quart of water.



 

Click the picture to goto PURCHASING link.

About 350 grams of calcium nitrate.



 The recipe is on the label and can be found on-line.Always test spray this product on your plants. This package of 350 grams will make about19 gallons or 76 quarts of calcium nitrate solution 1 quart will cost about $8-$9 in a store when you by pre-made spray,You can save over $600 by making your own as needed I am only shipping in United States right now. You can purchase my Calcium Nitrate Package through Paypal.

Good Luck with Your Garden,
Gary (The Rusted Garden)


Join My New YouTube Channel Just for NEW Gardeners: My First Vegetable Garden

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How to Build A Hot-House Tomato Cage: Create a Micro-Climate for Early Tomato Transplants

How to Build A Hot-House Tomato Cage: Create a Micro-Climate for Early Tomato Transplants
(Revised for 2015)

These cages can be built in 15 minutes. They will allow you to get your tomatoes into the garden a lot earlier. It works. I use a few every year and am the first in the area with red tomatoes. It creates a nice micro-climate that warms the soil for great root growth and it protects the tomato transplant.

Benefits

Wind Break

They act as a wind break and keep the plant from cooling from winds. They also allow transplants time to get used to the elements without becoming over-stressed. It makes a mini shelter for them.

Root Warmth
The plant is better protected but what is equally as important is the soil warms and stay in the 50+ degree range. The warm roots translates into plant growth. Cold roots keep a plant from growing.

Heats During the Day
They will collect the solar heat of the day. A sunny day in the 40's can easily heat the cage into the 80's. At night I recommend putting a plate on top, a few hours before the sun sets, so it stores up some heat. It is also important to remove it on sunny days in the morning. The inside of the cages can over heat on sunny days.

Water Container Heat Storage
I will be doing a new video that adds in a black painted milk jug at the bottom like in the picture. The milk jug is filled with water and it will radiate heat at night to help maintain a bit more warmth. They day time heat is quickly loss when the sun goes down. Maintaining warmer night temperatures helps prevent the tomato from going dormant so to speak.

Frost Protection
In the event of a light frost a cage with a sealed top will give your tomato a few degrees of frost protection. The milk jug with it will help out even more!

Plenty of Room and Light
The tomato can grow and get plenty of light. Some early systems filter out light and plants can get spindly or the aren't high enough and plants out grow them before the right temperatures arrive. They grow out of their protection.

Black Plastic (Another trick)
You can also lay a piece of black plastic on the ground with a hole in the middle for the tomato. The cage can go on the plastic and it will warm the soil. A tomato also needs warm roots to start growing or it will sit and wait for the right temperature.

Good Luck with Your Garden,
Gary (The Rusted Garden)


Join My New YouTube Channel Just for NEW Gardeners: My First Vegetable Garden

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Plant ecology today

As a scientist, it is not easy to put so much of your energy and passion into proposals and manuscripts which elicit a lot of negative feedback (not always, but often enough).  It can be discouraging to keep moving forward, but I will not stop because I believe I have a meaningful contribution to the direction and future of science.  However, the true meaning comes from the time in between these submissions - in the education of people.  My goal as a scientist is to make plant ecology more accessible to people.  There is not a lack of material or resources available, rather a lack of caring and understanding of why someone should care about plants.  I find this interesting as other topics are of great interest and passion that are intricately linked to plants (i.e. environment, climate change, sustainability, aesthetics).  As scientists and educators, we need to make our specialty topics more accessible to the interests of others by approaching from the side of the issue and then layering in the basic principles that are the foundation of our scientific understanding. 

I have just concluded a wonderful 2 day symposium at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on the "science and art of placemaking".  What I heard over and over again were the basic concepts of plant ecology and general ecology in a different context.  It is more exciting to people when framed from issues we care about (i.e. our surrounding environment at many scales).  There is a new push from our cities, schools, and businesses to be eco-friendly and to do it properly, we should include the foundations of ecology.  Now is the time for a rebirth in the plant sciences.  We can help people to recognize why they care about plants again!  And I am committed to be a part of this revitalization.  Next semester I will modify the course Plant Ecology to include Sustainability.  Through engaging with the community of people already involved in sustainable practices and education, I can begin to layer in the foundation of plant ecology.  This can lead to new and exciting research questions and applications.  We can monitor the ability of different plants to remove unwanted pollutants from stormwater runoff; we can understand the role of plants in shaping our coastline for sustainable coastal management.  Our world in shaped by plants and their interaction with the environment which is rapidly changing.  Now we can begin to learn about plant ecology in a new context and excite a new generation of students!

"...it is not half so important to know as to feel." - Rachel Carson

But we are more receptive to the knowledge when we feel something deep about the topic.
By: Julie Zinnert

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Cabbage Time in Carolina!

Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is one of our earliest, native bloomers. In mid-February, I observed dozens, possibly hundreds, of individuals pushing up through leaf litter, muck, and shallow water at a site near Warrenton, NC.

The stout emerging stalks are amazingly thick and leathery to the touch. They unfurl at various rates to form leafy "spathes".  I observed incredible variation in the appearance and coloration of these, ranging from light green to heavily striped, to mottled, to almost solid dark red.




Skunk Cabbage is a member of the Araceae family, which includes mostly tropical species. In our area its closest relatives include Golden Club & Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  Symplocarpus foetidus is the only species of the genus in North America; Western Skunk Cabbage belongs to a different genus. Symplocarpus also includes some disjunct members in eastern Asia. It has been suggested the Asian and North American species of Symplocarpus have been isolated from one another for over 6,000,000 years (1).

Symplocarpus foetidus spathe; few plants observed had
developed this perfect oval shape
Warren County, NC (Feb 2015)

Skunk Cabbage open spathe revealing enclosed spadix,
Note the amount of water inside the spathe

Skunk Cabbage is famous for the ability to produce heat during early season flowering, a process sometimes called "thermogenesis". Indeed, S. foetidus is one of the most precise thermoregulators known, and is apparently able to maintain temperatures within ~ 3.5 ° C range, while ambient temperatures range over 37.5 ° C (2). Exactly what value thermogenesis conveys to the plant, if any, is unclear. Some believe it is an evolutionary hold-over present in a few primitive plant families.

According to Seymour & Blaylock (3), "there is no doubt that warming advances development and permits early flowering, but the adaptive value of this is obscure".

I observed several plants with groups of what appeared to be fruit flies buzzing around. Some authors have suggested the plant's thermogenic qualities provide a more attractive site for early season insects like these. Grimaldi & Jaenike (4) found that Skunk Cabbage is "a major breeding site" for one species of fly that "looks enough like Drosophila so that the casual observer might be confused" (5); I certainly wouldn't have known the difference! Whether these insects pollinate the flowers on the spadix is unclear.

Symplocarpus foetidus "ripe" & flowering spadix

The condition and maturity of the spadix and presence or absence of flowers was quite variable during my visit.  The following series of images shows a bit of this, as does the image above (with the dark brown spadix). However, very few spathes were open enough to easily reveal the contents. Even fewer were flowering, like the examples shown to the left. Several appeared to be just past and others much more so, while at least one spadix (below) seemed to still bedeveloping.

S. foetidus immature spadix

This ripening spadix was
lying in an open spathe,
like an Easter Egg waiting to be gathered

Bright yellow stamens exposed, zooming into these seems to show pollen that has
fallen onto the spadix surface 

North Carolina has the southernmost ranging populations of Skunk Cabbage is eastern North America. The species creeps into a few northern mountain counties in eastern Tennessee and western NC. Further east, there are 3 or 4 reported counties in the NC piedmont.  The site for these images is in Warren County, close to the Fall Line.  Although often considered a piedmont county, it sure felt like I was in the coastal plain.  The habitat was a non-alluvial wetland ranging from moist to mucky soils. Tulip Poplar & Red Maple were probably the dominant trees, but Black Gum and an occasional Pond Pine were present, Cane & White Bay Magnolia were common as well. Most of the plants were found in and around the muckiest and wettest area near the streamhead.

Skunk Cabbage habitat (Warren County); Feb 2015
most plants occurred above the standing water where a faintly developed "Y"
can be seen, just downstream a dense understory of cane develops

Skunk Cabbage habitat, same site as previous (April 2014)

References:
(1) Jun Wen, R.K. Jansen, and K. Kilgore. 1996. Evolution of the Eastern Asian and Eastern North American disjunct genus Symplocarpus (Araceae): Insights from chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Biochemical Systematics & Ecology 24: 735-747.
(2) Seymour, R. S. 2004.  Dynamics and precision of thermoregulatory responses of eastern Skunk Cabbage. Plant, Cell,& Environment. 27: 1014-1022.
(3) R. S. Seymour & A.J. Blaylock. 1999. Switching off the heater: influence of ambient temperature on thermoregulation by eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). Journal of Experimental Botany 50: 1525-1532.
(4) D. Grimaldi & J. Jaenike. 1983. The Diptera Breeding on Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus (Araceae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 91: 83-89.
(5) H. D. Stalker, 1945; On the Biology and Genetics of Scaptomyza graminum Fallen (Diptera: Drosophilidae).

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Cool Weather Vegetables: Seed Starting Kohlrabi, Kale, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages: Planting, Feeding, Transplanting

Cool Weather Vegetables: 

Seed Starting Kohlrabi, Kale, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages: 

Planting, Feeding, Transplanting 

This video shows you how to plant and start the seeds, talks about germination, feeding, when to thin them and how to transplant them into larger cups. It covers everything you need to know for starting the seeds of the Brassica Family.

A Mature Kohlrabi

In this case, kohlrabi, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbages. The process is the same for all of them. These vegetables love the cool weather and can be some of the first plants into your garden, especially as transplants. They can take light frost and even freeze. The cool weather makes them sweeter!

They are very easy to grow and vary in maturity dates. Kales will grow all season long. I live in Maryland zone 7, my kale survives the winter. On the 2nd year it returns it forms small buds and flowers. The buds and flowers are delicious!

Good Luck with Your Garden,
Gary (The Rusted Garden)

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Crater the bay to restore it?

Carolina Bay wetland (1998);
the egg shaped, dark mass near the center of the image

Carolina Bays are enigmatic, isolated wetlands scattered across parts of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; enigmatic due, in part, to their characteristic northwest-southeast orientation, and ovoid shape, not to mention speculation as to their origin.

Whatever their ontogeny, most have been destroyed by ditching, draining, and other land-uses.  Many appear only as faint impressions on aerial images.





One reasonably intact example of a Carolina Bay is the object of our conservation & restoration efforts in Sampson Co, NC (shown on the image above). This bay persisted amidst a maze of logging roads and uplands managed intensively for timber production, unlike an adjacent example which was repeatedly logged and shows few remnants of its original wetland character. I have no explanation why this particular bay was spared. However, remnant vegetation persists, displaying characteristics of "cypress savanna".

Cypress Savanna (Sampson Co, NC)
with open canopy, multi-aged, scattered Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendens),
Loblolly pines are also evident, inc; browned & dying trees in the background

The dominant trees throughout the wetland would likely have been Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendens). Like the image above, there would have been a relatively open canopy, with few Loblolly pines (Pinus taeda), above a dense, herbaceous dominated ground layer. However, most of the bay is now closed canopied and dominated by Loblolly which invaded the wetland due to a combination of periodic droughts and very infrequent fire. 

Pond Cypress (left), loblolly pine (right)

Pines grow alongside cypress (see left), sometimes capitalizing on what appear to be raised mounds created by the Cypress. Because Cypress is both slower growing and more shade intolerant than loblolly, the predictable result is that pines will eventually replace the cypress.  They also absorb and transpire more water, drawing down the water table and further increasing their competitive advantage. 




Therefore, a primary restoration issue is removal of the pines. 

Given the sensitivity of the site, conventional logging was not an option, and felling individual trees was deemed too labor intensive. After extensive consideration and experimentation, we decided to bring fire back to the bay and implemented a prescribed burn in the middle of November.  

Loblolly pine overtopping pond cypress

Fire weather forecasting called for northeast winds @ 9 mph, 55 degrees, 44% humidity. Keetch-Byram drought index (KBDI) was high (over 500), and fuel moisture across all size classes was less than 20%. The fire carried well across the entire site, as expected.  Flame lengths stayed generally low although there was significant variation as measured by scorch heights afterwards. Active fire burned out quickly and was easily contained.  Dry fuel conditions allowed fire to smolder pockets of surface organic buildup consisting mainly of intertwined pine roots.  

Post Fire Conditions in Carolina Bay after November fire

Top: small pocket burned several inches deeper than surrounding, 

Middle: Red Maple roots exposed, heavily injured & toppled

Bottom: consistent surface organic reduction, some root exposure 

As a result, a number of trees throughout the bay succumbed. A few, like the Red Maple (Acer rubrum) shown above fell over and died immediately, while most trees either survived or died more slowly. The following chart displays the survival of the three most common trees, Loblolly Pine ("Pinus"), Cypress ("Taxodium"), and Maple ("Acer") across 5 diameter size ranges.  For a given species the colored lines within each size class show the number of stems before fire ("Pre") and the number surviving after ("Post"). 

These data show relatively heavy stem losses of Pines (blue lines) across all size classes, while mortality of Cypress (red lines) was concentrated in the two smaller size classes. Taken together, this shows an overall shift away from the strongly pine-dominated vegetation of the Carolina Bay before fire to an equal mixture of pine & cypress after fire.  The lone fire was not sufficient to restore cypress savanna but it produced significant progress.

Growing season conditions following November fire;
Pond Cypress tree stands amidst several dead loblolly pines,
and above a living red maple

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Building an Indoor Grow Light Closet for Vegetable Seed Starting: Revised from 2012

Years ago Google had KNOLs. It was were you could write articles. I did that for a while until Google closed it. I kept the old articles here and will be updating them for 2015. This was how I set up my current grow light closet back in 2012. This was before all the videos. I used to just write articles with pictures.

Building an Indoor Grow Light Closet for Vegetable Seed Starting: Revised from 2012

Growing vegetables and flowers indoors is not difficult. You need space and light. You can create your own growing station by using standard fluorescent fixtures purchased at any home improvement store. You can use the fluorescent bulbs sold in these stores. There is no need to pay top dollar for grow lights systems or special grow light bulbs. For under $75 (in lights and fixtures), you can get a station set up in a closet or even on a shelf.

Every gardener desires more space. I recently had my basement finished, did the drywall myself, and had a grow-light closet built. It was under my stairs before construction and I had quite a bit of room. Though demoted to a closet, I love it. I needed to build a third level of lights. This article (an old KNOL) shows you how to build a basic and highly functional grow station. It is very easy to build.

Step One: Select A Space

This is how my closet looked before I started the third level of lights. There are two levels below it.  I use foil to reflect light back into the seed trays. The third level of lights is going into that empty space.

You need to select a space and build a shelf like I did, buy shelf  or put in an old table. Once you identify the location of you grow station you need a place where your seed trays will sit. Anything works. People even buy the plastic shelving units at home improvement centers for their grow stations. They provide plenty of shelves for hanging lights and a nice surface to hold your seed flats.

Step Two: Secure Boards For the Fluorescent Light Fixtures

I added four boards as seen below. The two boards in the middle will support lights and the others will support the drywall surface top. Now drywall isn't the best choice because it can get water damaged if there is a whole lot of excess water. Why did I use it? I have a lot left over from finishing my basement. The timbers are left over too. How you space the levels is up to you. You want enough space to work. If you use a shelving unit, most of the shelves have holes in them. You can hang the light using those holes.

In this space I will need two fluorescent fixtures to light the whole area. If you are building your station on a shelving unit or on a table that is 1/2 the size of the space I am using, you will only need to hang one fluorescent fixture. If you use a shelving unit, you will attach your lights to the shelf above it.

Step Three: Buying the Fluorescent Light Fixtures

That is the basic fixture I use. It is from a home improvement center. The fixture does not come with light tubes and it is inexpensive. I purchased the brightest basic fluorescent tubes in the same store. They also weren't expensive and I DON'T recommend buying tubes that are for growing plants. You know why? You just get charged double or triple for the same tubes. Just buy the brightest Lumen and Kelvin outputs on the fluorescent tube out there. I've done it that way for years. I have only replaced two tubes so far.

Step Four: Hanging the Fluorescent Lights

One fixture goes on the back middle timber. It is supported by tomato jute/string. I put loops on the end of the jute and can easily adjust the light height by attaching different loop levels to the hook in the fixture. Most of the lights come with chains and hooks. I seemed to have misplaced mine. You will be able to move your fixture up and down as the plants grow. Here is a basic distance for the light to the plants.

(These numbers were updated for 2015)

1-2 inches before the seeds germinate

2-4 inches after a 3-4 weeks of plant growth

You typically want about 2 inches between the plant and the bulb based on my experience if you can continually manage it. But this does vary, based on the type of bulb you use. You can get away with more distance from bulb to plant as the plant gets larger and stronger.

The next light goes in the front middle timber. This space requires two lights. The variance in brightness is due some to the bulbs but mostly to me using or not using the flash on my camera. I am a gardener, not a photographer.

Step Five: Use Foil to Reflect Light Back In

I put foil down with the reflective side up. My seed trays will get pushed back and the area in foil won't be fully covered by the trays. I want the light to be bounced up and around. You can also see a foil flap way in the back and on the right side. Anywhere the light goes, redirect it back to the plants with foil. Please use the reflective side. There are two fixtures in the picture below. You just can't see the one behind it.

I also have a front flap of foil attached. The growing area is now nicely wrapped in foil, mostly for maximizing light but it does help with warmth a bit too. You can see how bright the seed growing station is. It provides plenty of light without the expensive cost of grow stations.

Step Six: Various Levels of Growing Lights/Timers

The upgraded closet. I put a new shelf on the top too, to store my supplies. You can see different stages of plant growth. The bottom has seedlings in cups. The 2nd level has trays with seedling up and about and the third level is holding my tomatoes I just started a few days ago. You can start all your vegetable and flowers seeds indoors by building a basic system like this. It works. You don't need anything fancy.

I also recommend getting some light timers. It saves you the hassle of having to turn the station on and off. I typically set my timers for 14-16  hours (I used to say 10-12 hours). You can set it and forget it. You will also need some extension cords. The fluorescent lights come with 3 prongs on their plugs. You need adapters or cords the accommodate the plugs. Good Luck!

  

A video that explains lighting and why Lumens and Kelvin are important.

Good Luck with Your Garden, Gary (The Rusted Garden)
Join My New YouTube Channel Just for NEW Gardeners: My First Vegetable Garden

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mark making on clay...

Well that was fun! Mark Making on Clay workshop at G1855. What a cool bunch of people, from experienced, to students, to never touched clay before… It was a great combo really. We started with a vid from the night my studio flooded. During some heavy rains a few years back when the water from my neighbours garden was cascading under our boundary fence and swirled through the back corner of my studio only to be flooded in seconds….

Anyhoo, after a talk about processes and influences including lichen on the rocks in a temple ruin in Vietnam. Also of many makers, ceramic and drawings and metal work.

Vietnam, now that was a great holiday and I still haven't made my own tour book, hmmm.

Oooh digressing again :P

So after chats, I demoed and then lunch in the Gallery courtyard.

Post lunch it was hands on exploring abstract notions of marks, inspirations, that quite often became illustrative. Overall a lovely day of clay play, what could be better!

All the tiles are under wraps in my studio while they dry flat for a couple of weeks. Then some glazing and firing straight up to c6.

To top off the day The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra was playing at the Rec. centre in Golden Grove. The recent place for evacuations and support during the Walkers Flat bush fires. A very nice night listening to storytelling and great symphonies of Mozart and Wagner with a very animated conductor :) twas cool…

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO)

Experience a magical night of classical music with an ensemble of musicians from the acclaimed Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Guests include Simon Cobcroft (cello) and Nathan Aspinall (conductor).

Program

Wagner - Siegfried Idyll [original version with single strings]

Saint-Saens - Cello Concerto no 1

Interval

Mozart - Symphony no 41 'Jupiter''

#g1855, #gallery1855, #markmaking, #claytiles, #3hoursinstudio

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