Starting seedlings is a great activity for young children. It is can be inexpensive (critical when you have a plant habit like the two of us). It brings spring to your home just a little sooner than the Idaho climate does. If you shop seed catalogs, it brings more diversity to your garden than you can find in local greenhouses. It expands the growing season in Idaho and allows you to eat fresh sooner.
Honestly though, starting seedlings can be discouraging when you don’t have a flat full of nursery quality plants and instead have wilty, spindly, pale yellow strings that are struggling for life. It happens to us too, especially when we attempt new kinds of seedlings we are not familiar with. There are tons of blogs out there on how to properly start seedlings…here are just some of our tips that have made us more successful, especially in Idaho and our busy lives.
1. Designate a safe area. More seedlings have succumbed to toy tractors driving through their soil, helpful little fingers “weeding” out the ones they didn’t like, curious minds looking at the roots, balls bouncing through the area… My kids get their own flats and seeds to plant. The youngest kid gets peas or beans that are easy to handle and oldest his choice of favorite vegetables. Remember that brightly colored seeds (pink, blue, orange, red) have chemical on them to prevent disease – your children should NEVER handle these seeds!
2. Let them have light. My biggest challenge has always been finding high quality light conditions in my home. I should have bought the $10 grow lights years ago! You can see right away if your plants are looking for light as they start to bend and get spindly just a few days out of the soil. Rotating their direction can help minimize the effects but a light-lacking plant will always be spindly and not have the strong main stem of a happy light-filled plant. Spindly plants are also harder to harden off and transplant to the garden. Some starts, like tomatoes, can be planted differently in the garden to overcome this growth but others cannot.
3. Not all potting mix is created equal. We prefer a mix specifically designed for starting seeds. They are typically a finer texture and help us get good soil to seed contact. A good soil mix will have enough nutrients to maintain almost any seedlings growth until it is ready for transplant unless you are delayed in getting larger starts out of their pots or you are over-watering.
4. Think outside the pot. Don’t get locked into the traditional image of what a seedling in a pot looks like. Check out these sites for ways to use items around your house as pots. Some of my favorites that I have used (and still do) are solo cups, old egg cartons, apple cartons from Costco and Rubbermaid bins.
5. Hold the flood. We are bogged down in mud and standing water right now and hating it. The plants do too! It is so tempting to encourage plant growth by giving them more water. Sometimes the answer is to just let them grow. Depending on the pots you have chosen to grow your seedlings in, water encourages mold and fungal growth or just drowns the seedlings. Seeing fuzzies on the top of your soil, time to back off on the water and let them dry off. Depending on how much humidity is in your growing area, a fan may be useful in drying off foliage and also is a great start for preparing your babies for the Idaho wind.
6. Prepare them for Idaho. Idaho springs are a tough environment to handle seedlings. Winds, frosts all the way into the end of May, hot days at the beginning of May…you need to be prepared for everything. I lost all of my seedlings one year when I set them outside and forgot about them while I was cleaning house, a wind came up and they were crispy before I could rescue them. Hardening plants take patience and a good location to slowly expose them to the elements over time. Always start this on a day when you will be home and check them often!
We hope you are getting your veggies from us this year BUT we also want you to enjoy a garden at your house as well. Start some flowers for containers. Make sure you always have your favorite herb on the kitchen counter. Grow some flowers for cutting.
What else is on the list this time of year? I am starting to clean out the shed from the fall and winter accumulation of “stuff” that didn’t get put away. I am hoping to do a re-arrange to make the pickup location more open and welcoming. There are handles to replace on shovels, harvest knives to sharpen, compost to spread, the hoop house to setup for March plantings and a new section of garden to break in. We really are expanding! It will be great to get back outside as soon as the mud becomes bearable to work in!
There are countless blogs on the internet written by farmers and farmer’s wives about why or why not they are organic. Here is OUR blog on the topic.
In my limited experience over the last year, the organic question is asked even more often when you are marketing fresh locally grown produce versus growing agricultural commodities in the Magic Valley. We are asked often “Are you organic?” or sometimes it is assumed “It is so great that there are organic producers leading the way in our area!” Either way, it opens a conversation that I am more than willing to have.
No. We are not certified organic. The answer could be as simple as we are organic producers we simply don’t complete the documentation and go through the inspections to get the stamp for our produce. It is not that simple.
My response brings on one of two responses: 1) “Good for you!” or 2) “Oh, well I really feel that organic produce is better.” These responses bring a variety of thoughts to mind. The first – “Have you personally been hurt by an organic producer?” “Why the excitement to assume the last few decades of agriculture should be the status quo?” The second – “Nutritionally?” “Environmentally?” “Because of the news?” Either way, I think “Why the bias?”
Let’s talk The Country Gardens philosophy. To us, it boils down to a couple issues: The Chemicals, Our Natural Resources and GMO’s.
1. The Chemicals
It is a complicated issue that can’t be simplified as good guy vs bad guy, organic pesticide vs synthetic pesticide. A pesticide, organic or synthetic, by definition is meant to kill or disrupt an organism’s lifecycle – they are all bad guys! That doesn’t mean that pesticides don’t have a purpose in agricultural production.
Don’t make your decision to buy organic because they don’t use pesticides. Organic pesticides can be and are used in organic production. Organic pest control is an industry by itself and the major chemical companies are bigger players than you would think. Don’t also assume that organic pesticides are safe: nature holds the power to poison, mutate and kill. On the flip side, don’t assume that synthetic pesticides are safe or unsafe.
OUR PHILOSOPHY ON PESTICIDES: Using any pesticide limits our ability to safely work and let our children play in the gardens. However there are instances when, even with other preventative measures, pests exceed limits and we risk losing current and future crops. In these cases, we do use the best pesticide based on current scientific knowledge to control issues in our gardens. While we do look at organic pesticides, we are not philosophically opposed to using a synthetic pesticide if it is the best tool for a specific circumstance.
All pesticide applications (organic or synthetic) will always be disclosed to our members. This is one of the many benefits of being a CSA member – you know the production practices that are used to grow your food!
2. Our Natural Resources
I haven’t met a single farmer with the goal of destroying the environment and putting themselves out of a job! I can only think of a few other professions that work day in and day out with the land. Most farmers have invested decades of their lives in a single piece of land (big or small). Their land is their most expensive and greatest asset.
Each individual grower’s production practices are a result of so many factors: available equipment, government program enrollment, personal philosophies, market availability, previous owner’s decisions, labor issues, crop contracts, financial considerations…
The number of combinations is limitless in how you manage a piece of land. The pros and cons are also limitless. Each management decision has an effect on future decisions – some seen in the same growing season or some a decade or more down the road. It is impossible to discuss these in such a brief forum and I am by no means an expert that will pretend to understand the repercussions of each decision.
OUR PHILOSOPHY ON NATURAL RESOURCES: Our gardens allow us to build a business doing something we love. Our management of these resources will affect how successful we are today and in the future. We truly believe that nutritional quality of produce is not a direct factor of organic vs non-organic production but is a reflection of soil nutrition and health. Tillage can have some negative impacts on the soil but is necessary for other crops. Cover crops are great ways to build soil but can increase weed issues in the garden. Compost can build the structure and fertility of our soils but can also be slow to provide benefits. Fertilizers can be a seasonal solution that increases plant vigor and prevents damage caused by diseases and pests.
Management of natural resources is a balancing act and it is also an active pursuit. We have interrupted nature’s balance to produce food for our family and yours. We will forever be involved in amending, controlling and balancing while we are in production on this small patch of land. Another benefit of being a CSA member – come and see exactly what is happening around your vegetables as they grow. Enjoy the sunshine and pull a few weeds while you are here!
You are talking to 2 women who have worked in public and private plant breeding programs. We have been involved in the research and even planted and harvested GMO crops! It isn’t all science fiction and frankenplants. Are they good, bad or necessary? I think it depends on each individual situation.
I have sat in a boardroom with some of the best minds in agriculture and discussed the challenges we anticipate agriculture encountering in 10, 20 and 50 years. Reality is that GMO’s are not all about chemical resistant plants (Roundup Ready) or insect protection (Bt). Droughts, disease, soil salinity and limited nutrient resources are serious issues that our current crop varieties are not going to overcome. Traditional methods may get us where we need to be but I’m not going to ignore the technology that has the potential to get us the better answer sooner. Most of us wouldn’t trade our cell phone for a land line, our car for a horse and wagon or our vaccinations for blood letting.
OUR PHILOSOPHY ON GMOS: We can’t embrace a production system that removes a technology that has the potential for reducing water use, improving nutrient utilization or preventing disease. Our husband’s farms do grow GMO crops and this technology has allowed them to limit pesticide use and incorporate more cover crops into their rotations – both organically minded pursuits.
Reality – most garden crops do not have GMO varieties commercially available and not in the small quantities that we grow in our CSA.
Confused where we stand? I have given you our philosophy but what is the answer bottom line in regards to organic production at The Country Gardens?
In 2015, we were 95% organic within the bounds of the gardens. Why weren’t we 100%?
What is our plan for 2016? Continue on the same path. Our weed populations are dropping and we will be expanding the use of mulch because of the benefits we observed in 2015. Pray that this cold weather is dramatically decreasing vole populations!
Traditional and organic producers have often placed themselves as enemies rather than as farmers with a common goal of producing nutritious food for the consumer. Maybe we are able to see a slightly clearer picture of both sides because we are wives of farmers who fall on the traditional side while we lean more toward the organic side in our gardens. Traditional and organic are not mutually exclusive – both have tools that are beneficial.
More than anything, we want our members to understand where their produce comes from and we want the public to understand how food is produced. Read, ask and think about agricultural production. You are surrounded by it in the Magic Valley. Find a farmer and chat. Even if you grew up in Twin Falls, you might be surprised at the issues that are worrying farmers in 2016 and you might come away with a better understanding of exactly what is happening in the field.
A Side Note:
Remember that the “Organic” label is administered by the federal government. Definitions, exemptions and guidelines are all available for the public online. We encourage everyone to read and understand about labels on their food!
This year Krista had the brilliant idea to divide and conquer seed/variety selection. This allowed each of us to focus on the crops that we may have more expertise in or enjoy growing more than others. Or we allow the other person to select the varieties for a crop that we like a lot in an effort to not end up with 18 varieties (like the 2015 tomato production or Krista’s cucumber selections). When looking through 5 or 6 catalogs to compare varieties, prices, etc, any simplification is appreciated.
I felt really good like I was getting this task accomplished after quickly selecting broccoli, cauliflower and carrot varieties with little difficulty. Cucumbers also should have been simple: early variety, slicing variety, pickling variety. But, I came across a variety in the Rare Seed catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds that sent me on a tangent. There were a few terms in the description that I didn’t recognize and didn’t require a pollinator to set fruit. Well, this sounded like great news so I started doing some research.
Quick biology lesson. Plants have male and female flowers (of course there are exceptions). The male flowers produce pollen, die, shrivel and fall off of the plant. The female flowers receive the pollen and then produce fruit which contains the seeds (plant babies).
Most cucumbers naturally have female and male flowers (monoecious) on each plant. This way the plant can pollinate itself. Usually the first flowers are male followed by any combination of male and female flowers. The crazy thing is that it is usually the same flower pattern of male and female flowers on each vine of the plant. However, most plants tend to be heavily male. It can be as much as 70% male flowers to 30% female flower. This drastically reduces yields as there are few flowers left on the plant to produce cucumbers.
Another crazy thing… the sex of cucumbers is inherited but environmental factors can have an effect on how that is expressed. What does this mean? For cucumbers this means that higher temperatures and longer days can increase the chance of more male flowers while lower temps and shorter days favor more female flowers. This occurrence is due to changing hormone levels within the plant.
Over the years plant breeders have developed varieties that are primarily female flowers (seriously, one male flower can pollinate A LOT of flowers). But you also need a good crew of pollinators to move the pollen from flower to flower. Bees are the primary pollinator for cucumbers. So their absence is often to blame when issues arise. Inadequate pollen can result in under developed and misshapen cucumbers. Or no cucumbers at all.
Parthenocarpic is the term that started my research. Parthenocarpic cucumbers can produce fruit without any pollination. How does that work? Turns out it’s a genetic disorder that is pretty favorable for at least one reasons we would all probably agree on. Seedless fruit: including oranges, grapes and cucumbers. (There are other reasons for seedless fruit but that can wait for another day). So great news, we can all just plant parthenocarpic cucumbers and we bypass all of the issues previously discussed. Sounds good.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work quite that easily. If parthenocarpic cucumbers get pollinated it can cause seeded cucumbers and misshapen fruit. This can also result in decreased growth and halt further flowering. So this production method is probably not the end all solution after a season of poor yielding cucumbers. It is highly specialized requiring a greenhouse or other enclosure to keep bees (and other pollinators) out. I do appreciate the effort because I love those long English cucumbers individually wrapped (most likely parthenocarpic).
*After reading all of this about parthenocarpy, I noticed that a large percentage of varieties in the seed catalogs are parthenocarpic. So, while the literature says it is specialized blah blah blah, my best advice is to try a couple plants. You never know how things will grow in your area unless you try. Plus, if you aren’t growing for market, who cares if the cucumbers grow crooked.
So how do we choose and grow cucumbers? For many people who have never had issues growing cucumbers all of this might seem irrelevant, but one bad year (especially for market growers) and we need to figure out what’s going on. We know that it is a favorite in our shares the whole season. What is our answer to growing a successful crop of cucumbers?
So, now I know a lot more about cucumbers. This information will get added to the current list of criteria that I use to make selections. I look for early, commonly known, pickling, slicing, yield, cold tolerant (it’s always a plus if you find varieties that were bred for northern/short season climates), growth habit, disease resistant (luckily we don’t have to worry too much about disease with Idaho’s dry climate), drought/stress tolerant, and most importantly something new and fun. This may seem overwhelming but remember there is no “one size fits all”. That’s why I ended up with the following 5 varieties for 2016:
More science stuff…
Monoecious: female and male flowers on the same plant
Gynoecious: only female flowers on the plant
Parthenocarpic: genetic mutation in which female flowers produce fruit without pollination
Cucumbers are in the same plant family as watermelons (Cucerbitacea), so much of the information can also be applied to growing watermelons.
Most of this information came from World Vegetables (a college text book that is frequently referenced at my house).
Also check out http://masteringhorticulture.blogspot.com/.