Gardening Fail : (First of Many) The Incredible Hulking Cabbage

I knew it was a bad idea to try and use my empty Clorox Green Works container as a water spray bottle but I did it anyway - because of reasons.  I cleaned and rinsed it for nearly 3 days trying to remove the cleaner smell.  When I was satisfied that the trace amount of cleaner remaining was negotiable (I mean the stuff says it's "plant based" after all) I went ahead and filled it with water - like an ass.  I even had the foresight to move the bottle with the cleaner to another area, you know, just in case.

The Green Usurper

Well it didn't take but 30 minutes for me to grab the wrong bottle and spray Clorox Green Works directly into one of my seedlings.  I knew something was wrong when I saw bubbles on the surface of the dirt.  I cringed as realization dawned on me.  I immediately decided to try and flush out the cleaner with water.  It was a long shot and, in hindsight, rather stupid since I only sprayed one plant and deluging it with water only served to spread the cleaner to the other tubes by osmosis.  But at this point, I thought, why not? 

Fast forward to yesterday and wouldn't you know, the tainted cabbage was the first to sprout.  I saw one peeking out when I was watering and I was happy, encouraged even.  This morning not one, but all of the cabbage seeds have sprouted.

I never thought they would survive.  Now they are not only sprouting earlier than their predicted 7 days, but all at the same time.  Did I unintentionally Hulk-out my cabbage seeds by spraying them with some radioactive, genetically modified plant based cleaner which also happens to be green?  Great.  I've created a monster. 

I still can't bring myself to throw away the tainted sprouts.  Especially now that they have thrived despite the odds being stacked against them - or sprayed directly on them as it were.  Since their ultimate destiny is to become sauerkraut I'm confident the fermentation process will negate any residual contamination.

The Plot, Smart Pots and Dragon Carrots

Following more advice from My Square Foot Garden I made a plan using Excel.  I also used her companion planting guide which I highly recommend and can be found here.  It's very easy to use and was a big help figuring out what should be planted where.

There's also early and late crops which get rotated but I have yet to tackle that beast.  It is, after all, only February.

I sourced a lot of the seeds that I want to use at Seed Savers Exchange which is a reputable source for hard to find heirloom varieties - their catalog is here.  I will not end up getting all of my seeds from their site - the ones I just planted were from my local garden center - but there are a few which I would have a hard time finding locally like the Mexican Sour Gherkin, Parisian Pickling cucumbers and Dragon Carrot.  Others are more readily available, often organic or at least heirloom and almost always cheaper at local stores.  The catalog is still a great resource for unique heirlooms and I have to stop myself from purchasing six different kinds of everything.  Their descriptions are also wonderful and give an idea of the final taste as well as all the other pertinent growing information.

The Mexican Sour Gherkin - seedsavers.org

Organic Parisian Pickling Cucumber - seedsavers.org

Dragon Carrot - seedsaver.org

I decided to do all of the herbs in containers at my house for easier access when I'm cooking.  I've been looking around at different options and I know I want something inexpensive and also portable so I can make the most of my available light.  I came across the Smart Pot which you can find here and it's probably my first choice.  It seems like a large felt bag with handles for $10 per 3 gallon pot - which seems a little steep but it is very lightweight and also has handles for easy transport.

  
I'm curious if anybody has firsthand experience with these pots and if they are worth the investment?  They have another product which looks intriguing called the Big Bag Bed which is a circular raised bed made out of the same material.  I saw a video of the bed here on YouTube and it looks great.

First Day of the Growing Season

Today marked the first day of our 2013 growing season.  I decided to cultivate a 4'x8' plot in my local community garden.  Luckily the garden is only one block from our house making daily tending a much easier task than having to drive somewhere across town every morning to water and weed.

Upon the advice of one of my professors I decided to try the Square Foot Gardening method founded by Mel Bartholomew in the early 80's which does away with traditional row gardening in favor of smaller raised beds filled with a specific soil blend: 1/3 Coco Fiber/Coir (renewable) or Peat Moss (non-renewable), 1/3 compost and 1/3 Vermiculite (or Perlite). 

Since the last garden I had was more than six years ago and of the traditional row variety I decided to seek assistance as I started planning.  I found a lot of helpful links most notably the My Square Foot Garden blog.  I signed up for her newsletter which very helpfully sends emails reminding you when to start seeds, transplant etc based on your hardiness zone which she assigns a color - I'm yellow.

My "To Do" list for the week of Feb. 1st

On February 1st I got the email alerting me to start my cool weather seeds - which included broccoli, cabbage, leeks and parsley.  A quick trip to the local garden store procured cabbage, broccoli and parsley.  Leeks were nowhere to be found - I also checked Lowe's.

The only cabbage I could find was the "Emiko Hybrid" distributed by Burpee Signature.  This was disappointing and I wish now I had ordered something else from Seed Savers - like the Early Jersey Wakefield - oh my!

I bought organic where possible and got a sustainable, organic (OMRI certified) seed starter mix - $3.57 at Lowe's - and set home to start planting the seeds.  Chloe was also excited - having just been told she could play in the dirt when we got home!

 
And now, when my husband comes home I can prove to him that I wasn't actually "hoarding toilet paper rolls" as he first surmised.