Uncommon Pests
This year I purchased onion plants for the first time. In the past, I’ve started onions from seed and have always been happy with the results. Since I’ve had a busy spring, I thought purchasing plants would save me time. Little did i know that the earthworms around here do not like onion plants from away. Every single morning I go out and 30-40% of the onion plants have been dug up, reburied, moved, or just are just slightly lifted from their spots. At first, I thought it was birds. Then I did some research and with observation, spotted the nightcrawlers digging up the onions. I thought about letting the chickens in the garden, but they dig holes and in general make such a mess I don’t want to do that.
My onion crop may be non-existant this year. For two days I’ve moved the dug up plants to different spots in the garden, those are getting dug up as well. It’s probably too late to direct seed onions, but I may pull all the plants and count the $40 a lesson learned. I may also just forgo onions this year, which will be very sad. It’s interesting that these plants are not liked by the worms where my homegrown seedlings are left alone (I have a few in the back in the same row as these plants, no unearthing of these). Makes you wonder what it is about these plants that the worms don’t like.
What strange pest problems do you have in the garden?
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Salanova® Red Butter Lettuce
I order a lot of seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, they’re located right up the road from me. Supporting local businesses is important, as well as supporting businesses like Johnny’s that are employee owned. Johnny’s is a farm supply place, so their offerings are sometimes different than what most consumer market seed houses provide. One of the products I’ve been noticing in their catalogs the last few years is Salanova® lettuce. It’s designer lettuce seed to be sure and comes with the price to prove it. This year I finally took the plunge and ordered one pack of seed. One packet of seeds costs $5.45, it contains a minimum of 25 seeds. Yes you read that correctly, 25 seeds. Of course they overpack, so I ended up with roughly 40 pelleted seeds in my pack.
So far I’ve planted 12 of the seeds and had 100% germinate rate. The pelleted seeds are nice because it’s super easy to plant one seed per soil block. The result is that there is zero thinning. The plants are super uniform in size, which makes complete sense since they’re geared towards commercial production. I noticed that each plant grows at the same rate and is very consistent in shape and size.
Overall, I’m a fan of this type of lettuce. I’ll keep you posted on how well it continues to grow, what it looks like at harvest, and most importantly….how it tastes!
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Germination Notes
Every year I watch closely as I start seeds, taking note of germination rates for new seed and old seed. Lettuce is one of those things that I started buying fresh each year after noticing reduced germination from even year old seed. This year, I purchased a few new varieties to try.
I noticed that one variety in particular has not germinated at all – zero seeds have germinated. With other varieties I have around 95% germination rate. Instead of writing them off (or writing the company), I decided to give them another go. Yesterday I seeded three more soil blocks of ‘Alkindus’ lettuce. I’ll keep my eye on them, if I don’t get any germination this time around I’ll definitely write the company and see if they’ve had similar complaints. Since I had such great germination of all other varieties in the flat, I know it’s not the conditions.
Do you have certain seed you buy fresh each year? Have you noticed decreased germination rates in old seed?
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Getting Close
Those spicy microgreens I seeded last week are just about to the stage where I can start harvesting them. I think I can seed them a little more thickly next time. The seeds are supposed to be around 1/4″ apart in the flat. They are quite spicy, I plucked one little seedling from the flat as I watered them and it provided a nice punch of flavor!
You’re supposed to harvest them when they get their first set of true leaves, mine are just getting their first true leaf. Technically they are ready to harvest today through Thursday, which is the 10-15 days stated that it takes. I’m going to wait until Thurs, if my office was warmer, they would probably be larger now. I’ll let them get about twice this big, which will provide us with 4-6 meals from my two flats of greens. I’ll definitely be getting a few more flats going this week.
Is anything in season in your area?
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And They’re Off…
The spicy microgreens I seeded under the grow light are growing. Obviously the flat I put on the heating mat germinated quicker, but the second try caught up quickly and they’re pretty much the same now. Which shows that with these the heat mat isn’t worth using.
These are supposed to be ready to harvest in 10 days to 2 weeks, as soon as the first set of true leaves appears. I’m anxiously watching and waiting to see how long it takes and what they taste like. While I’d never grow enough greens for an entire salad like this, they will be nice to add a bit of green to certain dishes, like fajitas, soups, or omelets. I’m thinking of seeding a tray of cilantro microgreens for enjoying on fajitas in a few weeks.
What’s growing in your house this winter?
