We're preparing for this year's growing season here at my Bedford, New York farm - my gardeners are busy starting all the many vegetables and flowers from seed.
Many of our vegetable seeds and other supplies are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in central Maine - a company I’ve been using for quite some time. Starting from seed isn’t difficult. They can be planted closely together in seed starting trays and then pulled apart when they're ready to move into larger pots or outdoors.
Enjoy these photos.
This time of year my head house tables are often filled with seeds ready to be planted in trays. Johnny’s Selected Seeds is a privately held, employee-owned organic seed producer. Johnny’s offers hundreds of varieties of organic vegetable, herb, flower, fruit and farm seeds that are known to be strong, dependable growers.
Remember all the beautiful vegetables my gardeners and I grew last year in this giant half-acre space? Lots of them were grown from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Together with nutrient-rich soil, we grew our best crops ever.
Among them – this beautiful cauliflower. Most are familiar with the white varieties, but cauliflower also grows in yellow-orange, purple, and even green.
We grew tons of broccoli – perfect heads of delicious and nutritious broccoli.
An of course cabbage – Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, red cabbage, Napa cabbage, etc.
Seeds are started in trays like these. These can be saved from year to year, so don’t throw them away after the season. Seed starting trays are available in all sizes and formations.
Here’s a tray of cabbage that was started a few weeks ago. Fortunately, my greenhouse is large and can accommodate lots of seed starting.
And here is the same tray last week. When the seedlings are a few inches tall, and have reached their “true leaf” stage, which is when each seedling has sprouted a second set of leaves, it’s time for a process called selective thinning.
Ryan carefully inspects the seedlings to determine the strongest ones. Always look for fleshy leaves, upright stems, and center positioning in the space. The smaller, weaker, more spindly looking seedlings are removed, leaving only the stronger ones to mature.
Using a widger, Ryan carefully loosens the soil around the healthy seedling and lifts it out of the cell. The widger from Johnny’s also helps to avoid damage to the plant’s leaves or roots.
This seedling is very healthy – its leaves are bright green and the plant has a strong stem and root system.
These pots are bigger and will accommodate the growing plants. Always save plastic pots for this purpose – they can be used time after time. The purpose of transplanting is to provide enough room – overcrowding can stress the tender, young sprouts. Ryan fills them all with soil mix.
He places the seedling in the pot and gently firms up the surrounding soil. Avoid handling the seedling by its stems, which can bruise easily. Here, there is lots of room to mature and plants won’t have to compete for nutrients. These seedlings will remain in these pots until they are ready to be planted outdoors.
Markers are transferred from tray to pot or made again. Keeping plants well-identified through the seeding process helps Ryan keep track of what varieties do best here at my farm.
‘Tiara’ produces beautiful, hefty, round heads packed with mildly sweet leaves that are excellent for cooking or fresh use.
Seeds are planted at different times depending on their maturity durations. On this day, Ryan also starts some peppers.
He places markers in the tray to identify the varieties.
Using his fingers, Ryan makes a hole in each cell, and then drops seeds into each one.
Seeds will germinate in seven to 10 days in optimal temperature and lighting environments, which is 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit under bright light. Then they will get selectively thinned in the same way the cabbage was done.
Once the entire tray is seeded, the cells are covered up with another layer of soil mix.
And then the tray is placed in our Urban Cultivator growing system – it has water, temperature and humidity all set-up in a refrigerator like unit. What seeds are you starting?
What DIY tasks are you taking on this weekend? Quick, easy-to-do projects around the garden can totally transform a space.
Just outside my main greenhouse, where I grow many of my sweet summer berries, is an area that needed a little attention. I decided it would look so much better with a stone footpath leading to the gardens, and a few plantings to give it a more finished look. As part of a delivery of plants from the wholesale nursery, Monrovia, I received three flowering currants - fragrant, spring-blooming shrubs native to the northwest United States. These specimens feature bold crimson flower clusters that are a favorite nectar source for hummingbirds and other pollinators. They were planted along with three blueberry bushes also from Monrovia.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My large glass greenhouse has several entryways. Planted outside this door are two very productive almond trees. The almond is a species of small tree from the genus Prunus, cultivated worldwide for its seed – those delicious and nutritious nuts.
The almond trees are between several rows of raspberry bushes and not far from my strawberries, gooseberries, and currants.
Our most recent order from Monrovia includes several more berries and flowering currants. Ryan and I work together to place all these plants in their permanent locations around the farm.
‘King Edward VII’ Flowering Currant, Ribes sanguineum, is a compact grower with a rich color of pendulous bloom clusters. It is a slow grower and only reaches about three to six feet tall.
The leaves of the flowering currant are alternate and rounded with three to five shallow lobes and deep veins. The plants prefer well-drained soils and sun.
I also decided to plant three blueberry bushes in this area. These are the buds of Bountiful Blue® Blueberry, also from Monrovia. Its pink-blush flowers produce large, sweet and juicy fruits.
Planting six small shrubs does not take long. Remember the rule of thumb – dig a hole that is two to three times wider than the root ball, but only as deep as the height of the root ball.
It is very important to feed the plants. I always say, “if you eat, so should your plants.” Proper fertilizing will help the plant establish strong roots and encourage new growth.
We use Osmocote® Smart Release® Plant Food Plus Outdoor and Indoor, which is a slow-release fertilizer fortified with 11-essential nutrients for all plants in all conditions.
Whenever planting, always scarify first. This means to manually scratch up the sides and bottom of the rootball to loosen the roots and stimulate growth.
Once the plant is placed into the hole, be sure to have its best side facing out. Each plant is positioned at the end of a row on one side of a granite stake.
Next, the hole is carefully backfilled. Only backfill until the “flare” – where the main stem meets the roots.
Meanwhile, Pete prepares to create a short bluestone path leading from the greenhouse door and across the soil to the lawn.
Pete rakes the space and removes any weeds, rocks, and old almond hulls. Then he puts up the landscape twine to guide the placement of the pavers. When using twine remember not to cut it – keep it spooled at one end, so it can be used over and over.
The first paver is positioned – this one next to the grass.
These bluestone pavers once covered the terrace at my former East Hampton home. I am glad I brought them all back here to my farm where they can be repurposed.
As he goes, Pete steps on the stone to ensure it does not move or wobble.
One by one, Pete carefully positions each piece.
After all of them are in place, soil on both sides of the path is raked smooth.
And here it is all finished. In under an hour, this entire area has transformed and it looks terrific! I hope this inspires you to take on a project at your home this weekend!
I love trees, and every year I plant hundreds, sometimes thousands, here at my farm.
Trees are crucial. They are the world’s single largest source of breathable oxygen, they absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, and they create an ecosystem to provide needed habitat and food for birds and other animals. Recently, we received a shipment of bare-root tree cuttings and other young shrubs from Musser Forests, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company specializing in conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants. Once the young specimens arrived, my gardeners placed them in buckets and tubs to soak overnight and then hurried to pot them up, so their root systems can strengthen and develop before they're planted in more permanent locations.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This fenced in area at one end of my middle field was once used as a pumpkin patch, but it is now where we store and nurture hundreds of young potted seedlings.
Here is our latest order from Musser. I’ve bought many trees from Musser Forests Inc. over the years and have always been very pleased with their specimens. Bare-root trees are so named because the plants are dug from the ground while dormant and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. Soaking the roots right away gives them all a strong start.
Musser Forests, Inc. was established in 1928. Every year, Musser produces more than 35-million conifer and hardwood seedlings and transplants – plus, ground covers, landscaping shrubs, perennials, and ornamental grasses. They offer one of the broadest selections of plant material available from one nursery.
All the plants are either shipped in bare-root bundles, or smaller pots like these – always in great condition.
Our NYBG intern, Matthew Orego, and new gardener Josh Casalli, are tasked with potting up all the new specimens – 1000 of them. The trees will only remain in these pots temporarily – eventually, they will be transplanted in various locations around the farm.
Healthy bare-root cuttings should not have any mold or mildew on the plants or on the packaging.
The branches should be mostly unbroken, and roots, rhizomes, and other parts should feel heavy – not light and dried out. Each bare-root cutting is placed into an appropriately sized pot. The root section should fit into the pot without bing crowded at the bottom.
Josh plants each specimen carefully, so it is straight and centered in the container, with soil filling it up to where the roots start and the top shoots begin.
We save pots whenever we can – they always come in handy for projects like this, and I always encourage the crew to reuse supplies whenever possible. In an assembly line process, each pot is prepared with a small layer of soil ready for the tree and backfill.
Once filled it is tamped down lightly so there is good contact between the tree roots and the surrounding soil.
Then each potted specimen is sprinkled with fertilizer. Not too much – just a sprinkling for each pot.
We use Scotts Evergreen, Flowering Tree & Shrub fertilizer – an 11-7-7 formula that’s great for evergreens and many other acid-loving trees and shrubs.
Some of the evergreens include Mugho pines, Pinus mugo pumilio, also known as Swiss Mountain Pine. It’s a dwarf, low growing spreading pine with dark green, stiff needles.
Pinus thunbergii, the black pine, Japanese black pine, or Japanese pine, is native to coastal areas of Japan and South Korea. It is called gomsol in Korean and kuromatsu in Japanese. It grows 20- to 60-feet tall and 12- to 20-feet wide and features a flat-topped pyramidal form.
Picea abies ‘Nidiformis’ is the Bird’s Nest Spruce, a dwarf, needled evergreen shrub in the Pinaceae family. This shrub is called the Bird’s Nest Spruce because of the depression or “nest” in the middle of its compact, mounded habit once mature. It has light green or gray green foliage and grows up to eight feet tall and 12-feet wide over 30-years.
These trees are Austrian pines, Pinus nigra, or black pine, a medium to large-sized evergreen conifer that grows 40- to 60-feet tall and 20- to 40-feet wide. The dark green needles are longer than most – about four-inches in length.
This French strain of Scotch pine grows to 70-feet with a 15-foot spread. It’s a hardy tree with blue-green needles.
The Douglas fir is among the nation’s most important lumber species, making up half of all Christmas trees grown in the United States. It is a handsome tree with bluish-green needles.
These are the branches of the Golden Fernleaf False Cypress, a dense evergreen conifer with rich, textured foliage that is golden-yellow to bold green.
And these are Gold Thread Cypress shrubs, which will mature to large pyramidal evergreen conifers with fine textured medium green needles.
Many of the bare-root trees do not have leaves, so they are difficult to identify at this time. It is important to keep them separated by cultivar and always properly marked. These newest specimens will remain here for about a year until they are planted into the ground. Earth Day is coming up April 22nd. I hope you’ll consider planting a tree to celebrate.
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