Janine the WWOOFer

Jannine (me-left) and Janine the WWOOFer (right)

Boy the universe was looking after me a few weeks ago. I was co-teaching a drip irrigation class on May 5th and one of the attendees came up to me and introduce herself. Her name is Janine (same as mine only 2 n’s-Janine not 3 n’s like mine-Jannine). Anyway she explained she was a WWOOFer. For more info on what a WWOOFer is go here. She came up to my mini-farm and was going to help weed for a few days and ended up staying 2.5 weeks! What a blessing as during that period, I hurt my good knee and was barely getting around.

She not only weeded but also put all the compost in each bed, turned it over and planted flowers and vegetables and my tomatoes, and did a lot of drip lines as well. Oh, and she would get up and feed my barn critters as well every morning. We hit it off really well and she was a joy to have around here. A new gardening buddy.

But now like all good gypsies, she has left New Mexico for greener pastures up in Colorado and off to new adventures. I always said I needed a clone, and I found her. Hopefully someday she will show up again! Thanks Janine for all you did while here!

Snow/freezing temperatures on May 20th, 2019

May21

Here it is May 21st and I’m now glad I waited to put my tomatoes in. I have wanted to get them in the ground since early May, but it was not to be. Last year was much warmer and I got my tomatoes in by May 6th. What a difference a year can make. Last night, it got down to 32°F and snowed. Not enough to stick on the ground but we are past the magic date of May 15th which is suppose to be the first frost FREE date here in zone 6b according to USDA. We’ve had a different spring here in Santa Fe with colder temperatures and lots more precipitation throughout winter and spring than last year.

So my babies are waiting to go into the ground in wall of waters till this Friday when it looks like this cold snap will be over. Wait. Wait. Wait. It will be in the 70s in the day and 40s at night for the next week and hopefully last nite will be the last of the freezing weather. And even though we will hopefully be past any more freezes, it still gets plenty cold for a tomato plant at night. They hate the cold. A good way to ensure they won’t get stressed or die if we get more cold weather again is by planting them in wall of waters. Here is a post on Wall of Waters 101. Meanwhile I wait—ahh crumba!

I hope my apricots will be ok. I’ve got a treeful of them right now and haven’t had an apricot harvest in 12 years! I will keep my fingers crossed that this freeze didn’t kill them. Ahh mother nature, whata ya going do?!

Bella Rosa-2009-2019

May5

Bella Rosa had a great smile

Bella Rosa our little pgmy goatie

Bella Rosa asking for treats

My favorite goatie, Bella Rosa, has passed on to be with her other goatie friends. She was an African Dwarf Goat. We woke up and she could not stand and later she died in the stall. There was no drama and she passed peacefully. Ten years is old for a goat. We noticed her slowing down the last few weeks but she even ate some grain and fresh grass on her last day. I think her body just gave out.

She was very friendly and even let us dress her once a bee costume for Halloween one year. It was a child’s costume but the belt to hold on the costume was too small so I had a friend make a Velcro extension to go around her Buddha belly. Too cute!

We miss you Bella Rosa! The barn is not the same without you. For such a small creature, you leave a big hole in our hearts.

Tomato plants transplanted into pots

Apr21

This past Friday, April 19, all the baby tomato seedlings were transplanted from the germination trays into 2.25 pots where they will stay until we plant them outside. There are 155 total tomato plants.

My main helper, Linda Archibald has been doing this with me for about 4 years and this year Tom Pollard joined us to learn how to do it all. It took us 4 hours to transplant them. Thank you folks! There were 4 tomato no shows which isn’t bad for how many we planted. It is amazing how fast the seedlings grow since it has only been 16 days since we planted seeds.

We use Moonshine potting soil from Agua Fria Nursery to grow them in-amazing stuff as everything grown in takes off really fast. So now they are off the heat mats and still inside under lights that will be 3 inches away from the tops of the tomatoes. I put the lights close so they grow sturdy stems. If you put the lights higher they can get too tall and lanky. As the plants grow, I raise up the lights with them. I will actually have around 28 tomato plants and Linda will have 59! The rest are orders. Looks like it’s going to be a big year for tomatoes for Linda! I hope she buys another freezer to store all that sauce she’s gonna be making! I’m hoping to get them out in early May again this year but Mother Nature will decide when they will go out, not me!

Tomato seeds starting to come up April 9th

Apr10

The tomato seeds are starting to germinate in their trays. It has taken only 5 days! Still more to germinate but many are already up. A few haven’t germinated so I will replant if they don’t come up in a few days. They are under fluorescent ‘daylight’ T-8 lamps that are in a standard 48″ fluorescent light fixture that I got from Home Depot. They are also on heat mats and I have a heat mat thermostat set to 80 degrees. The heat mats and thermostat I got at Amazon. I never use to use a thermostat but one year without it, the temperature went to 100 degrees and the seeds fried. With a thermostat, it controls the temperature perfectly to whatever is the optimum temperature for each crop. In this case, the optimum range for tomato seeds for germination is between 70-85 degrees.

Tomato seeds planted April 5th

Apr9

150 tomato seeds planted this year in these germination trays. 42 varieties

Every year it seems, I adjust my tomato seed planting schedule. This year is the latest I’ve ever started my tomato seeds-April 5th. Still trying to tweak it out about when the best time is to start them. If I plant seeds too early, the plants will get too tall before I transplant them outside in wall of waters. Last year I started seeds March 29th. So we will see how they do.

A couple of things have allowed me be able to start them later and get them in the garden earlier.

First, since I changed to Batch 64-Moonshine soil mix (from Agua Fria Nursery), the plants take off growing like a rocket as soon as they germinate. The list of ingredients in it is unbelievable. Once the seeds germinate, there is enough nutrients in this soil mix to basically fertilize your seedling for 6 weeks without adding anything else (except maybe liquid seaweed and Vitamin B at transplanting time to reduce transplant shock). Now I can plant them outside in 5 weeks instead of the 7-8 weeks in years past.

Secondly, I now start my seeds in these germination trays (see pic) where the cells are close together. The trays being shallower, seem to speed the germination process too—less soil to heat. These are a 20 row seedling flat.

Thirdly, it seems to be getting warmer sooner in the spring here in Santa Fe or at least that is my experience. Using wall of waters to protect the young tomato plants from cold nights, I was able to transplant my tomato plants outside on May 3rd, shaving 13 days off the ‘frost free’ date of May 15 that we have here in Zone 6b. They did just fine in their wall of waters. But last year we were in a warm drought and this year may be different with all the precipitation we got this winter. We’ll see.

And lastly, maybe, just maybe, I’ve become a better gardener through the years…

NEW! Santa Fe starts a ‘Seed Library’

Mar21

Santa Fe Seed Library Kickoff-Saturday, March 23
If you are a gardener in Santa Fe, you should be excited about this. Santa Fe is starting a Seed Library in the Santa Fe Southside Library branch off Jaguar. All free this Saturday.

The Santa Fe Seed Library will provide open-pollinated seed to the Santa Fe Community and will encourage the development of a community of seed savers and seed stewards. The Santa Fe Seed Library is a collaboration between the Santa Fe Public Library and the Santa Fe Extension Master Gardeners. In addition to providing access to open-pollinated seeds, the Seed Library will offer a number of free public programs to help facilitate the growth of a community of climate-savvy gardeners.

This Saturday is the kickoff of it with guest speakers, info tables, a Seed Swap and the movie ‘Seed: The Untold Story‘ and of course seeds! I will be there representing Home Grown New Mexico with an info table on our classes this year and will be putting on a mini-seed swap. It will be open from 1 to 4pm at Santa Fe Southside Library, 6599 Jaguar Dr, Santa Fe, NM, Hope to see you there!

Perennial fruit care in spring

Mar20

Strawberries grew unbelievably with the addition of Azomite last year

As far as perennial fruit goes, I already cut back the new raspberry plants a few days ago. They are a fall variety called Polana from Norse nursery online. They were fantastic last year with us harvesting lots of raspberries in their first year. So this is their first trimming. I trimmed them back within an inch or two of the ground and they are all still alive. I wasn’t sure as I forgot to water them last fall for a few months but with all the precipitation we got this winter, they are fine.

I also cut back the new blackberry plants called Triple Crown, and saw lots of new start-ups that rooted that I will move. Now I won’t have to buy some to finish up the blackberry row. Hopefully I will get blackberries in their second year.

Today I pulled away all the dead leaves around the rhubarb (Victoria) and they are starting to come up too. A very hardy perennial plant.

I checked the strawberries and pulled all the dead borage plants that grow up in the strawberry patch each year from dropped seeds. Borage is a good companion plant for strawberries and the bees love them. The strawberries need a haircut too-but not too short. The strawberries did fantastic last year.

The verdict is out on the artichoke. It came back last year in its second year but I don’t see any signs of life yet this year. They actually are not supposed to be grown here as a perennial because we are in a colder zone than they like, so we will see if it makes it or not.

Next up is to prune back the grapes and the apple trees and other fruit trees. I’m late on the apple trees but they need to be desperately thinned and pruned now before they come back to life. Last year I put Azomite, a mineral supplement, in my veggie garden which really helped the crops and I have some leftover which I will sprinkle around the fruit trees this year.

Plant peas this week!

Mar18

Time to Plant Peas!

For me, I use St. Patrick’s Day to remind me to plant pea seeds OUTSIDE in my garden. Just an easy day to remember—we need to plant peas early so we can get some peas before we get too much heat.

I use a legume inoculate powder on the seeds. They pull nitrogen from the air and deposit it on little nodules on their roots.

Here’s some pea planting basics:
-Sun: They produces more in full sun in cool climate gardens. For warmer climates they prefer afternoon shade.

-Soil temp for pea planting: 40-75 °F– warmer soil will lead to faster germination

-Seed planting depth: 1″

-Space between pea seeds: I plant a double row of peas about spaced 2 inches apart in each row and each row is about 6 inches apart. I put them next to a trellis to grow up.

-Seed treatment: use a legume Inoculate for pea seeds.

-Days to germination: Approximately 12-14 days from planting seeds outside depending on soil temperature. They colder the soil, the longer they take to germinate.

So get out and plant peas soon!

Speaking of Seeds…

Mar10

HOME GROWN NEW MEXICO IS HAVING THEIR ANNUAL SEED EXCHANGE THIS WEDNESDAY-This is a FREE event, so everyone is welcome! Please note new location this year. I’ll be there so hope to see you on Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 13th
4 pm to 6 pm

Home Grown New Mexico
Seed Exchange-FREE

If you are looking for free seeds for your vegetable or flower garden or have some to share, start this new gardening season with us at the Santa Fe Seed Exchange. *New this year– book sale of gently used gardening books and magazines-cheap!

Location: Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association building
2520-B Camino Entrada (next to Habitat ReStore on south side of building) • Santa Fe
Fee: FREE for everyone! No need to sign up-just show up!

NEW! Seed Starting Class-March 17

Feb18

NEW! Seed Starting Class-March 17

DATE: March 17, 2019
TIME: 12 noon TO 2 pm
INSTRUCTOR: Jannine Cabossel/Tomato Lady
LOCATION: Tomato Lady mini-farm • 56 Coyote Crossing • Santa Fe, NM

______________________________________________________________________________

Why start seeds when you can buy plants at the nursery? There are many reasons to start seeds inside early. Start plants from seeds if:

• You want to grow unusual varieties that are not sold in the nurseries—this is the #1 reason I grow many of my crops from seeds. So if you want to try that unusual tomato or watermelon, you’ll probably have to start them from seeds yourselves.

• You want to get a head start on spring—start many crops from seed and get them in sooner

• You hate buying more plants than you need—many plants are sold in pony packs-maybe you don’t want 4 or 6 plants of the same variety

• Many times the plants are already root bound—the number one problem I see from nurseries

• You can save money by learning to grow your own veggies from seed

• It’s FUN!!

Participants will learn:

• Which seeds should be started inside and which seeds can be planted directly outside later when it warms

• Learn what dates to start the seeds & what dates to put out in the garden

• Learn about different soil mixes and containers-which ones are best

• How to transplant the seedlings up into bigger pots

• How to care for your seedlings

• How to avoid spindly transplants by using proper lighting

Certain veggies are hard to start from seed like beets and peas. They don’t like to be transplanted and are direct seeded into the cold spring soil and many times the seeds rot in the ground before they can germinate. Let me show you how to grow them from seed inside so they can be easily transplanted without stressing them. Stress free plants are happy plants, happy plants produce more. There are many things you can do to get started successfully, and I will share my knowledge with you. Handouts provided to take home to guide you.

HOW TO REGISTER: PAY BELOW and I will send you a confirmation to your email that you give to PayPal. I will send directions before the class starts.

Step 2: TO PAY: Purchase this class for $20 here (you don’t need a pay pal account, just a credit card):

Need to Contact me? Email me: jcabossel@hotmail.com

Groundhog day-Will we get an early spring or more winter?

Feb2

Here’s a fun link to see Punxsutawney Phil from Gobbler’s Knob, the most famous groundhog in America, predict whether we will get more winter or and early spring.

https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2019-01-30-groundhog-day-forecast-2019-punxsutawney-phil

Greens started inside Jan 15

Jan24

The weather outside has been very snowy since Christmas. More snow than I’ve seen in years. Should be a great spring for flowers. But inside I could not wait any longer so I planted some spinach, arugula and lettuce seeds under lights on January 15th. The greens popped up in 2 days and the spinach was right behind them. I guess they are as anxious as I am to get going even though the garden outside has 6 inches of snow on it and no end to winter in sight. But they are not destined for the garden. They will be going in the unheated greenhouse and the cold frame in about 5 weeks just in time for March madness (and I’m not talking basketball guys). And so the theory goes that I will have luscious greens come mid-March. I know it’s early but I looked up the last few times how early I’ve planted lettuce and spinach seeds and it’s always sometime in January. I guess I’ve recovered from the last season and looking forward to next gardening season.

Here we go again!

Winter spinach!

Dec31

Nothing is better than spinach in the winter-sweet and tender. These pics were taken on November 23. I harvested all the outer leaves as they were slowing down their growth when the days got shorter and won’t start growing again till Jan 15. I harvested (two) 2-gallon bags of spinach!

Even the big leaves are tender. And it lasts a long time in the refrigerator!
Still good in late December. The variety is Carmel.

I still have the plants in my coldframe and hope they make it through winter. If they do, I’ll get 2-3 more harvests in spring. As of this storm last week, they were still alive. With this El Nino weather pattern, we had some much-needed moisture in the form of snow. Having been in an extended drought last year, this moisture is welcomed indeed. And now another storm is hitting us tonight on New Year’s Eve. We shall see how much snow it will dump by tomorrow. Today’s high was 25°F and tonight’s low is 15°F although it has gotten down to 5°F at night this last week.