Plant Talk

Q & A- heirloom vegetables, feed trough containers

Question: Enjoy your columns very much - I noticed that you have some galvanized feeding troughs being used as large planters. I would like to know where you found them in Seattle.  Were they expensive?  And how do you like them?  How did you drill draining holes? 
 Thank you,
 Masayo

Answer: I love the feed troughs because the galvanized metal brings a glint to the garden, soil heats up faster raised up in metal, circle shapes look great in the garden, and they must be the least expensive option ever for such roomy containers. They come in several sizes  in round and bullet shapes, and you can find them at feed stores...I got mine at Cenex Skagit Farmer's Supply Store in Freeland, on Whidbey Island. The web page www.polocenter.com/health/feeduswa.htm has a list of all the feed stores in the state, by city. I'm sorry I can't remember the exact price, but I believe that the four foot round (the largest) costs about $80 (or anyway it did five years ago when I got mine). Just be sure and drill plenty of holes in the bottom for drainage;  we used landscape fabric inside the troughs to keep the soil from running out of the holes.

Question:   I just read your interesting article on smart nursery shopping, and I was wondering if you know of any local area nursery that sell heirloom vegetable starts?

Thanks – pray for sun!
Dave

Answer: Wouldn't a little sun and warmth lift our collective spirits? It has to warm up soon...doesn't it?

West Seattle Nursery carries heirloom vegetable starts and most nurseris have a good assortment of heirloom vegetable seeds. You'll no doubt find the best variety of heirloom starts at the Tilth Edible Plant Sale and the King Couny Master Gardener's Plant Sale, both held the weekend of May 2 & 3; see websites for hours, locations and details.

I learned in researching your question that even large nurseries like Swansons, Molbaks, Sky and Wells-Medina have little about vegetables on their websites and don't distinguish if they carry heirloom varieties. But that doesn't mean that they don't carry heirlooms.....it's certainly worth a nursery visit to find out....

It's Time To Plant Vegetables...well, some of them...

Spring is  a frustration of waiting followed by a frenzy of planting. And in this exceptionally chilly spring we're all wondering what to plant when. ...I haven't read Cliff Mass's weather blog so compulsively since the December snowstorms... I'm looking for warmer weather on the way, and there's little reassurance to be found.

Still, we need to get our crops into the ground...timing depends on where you live, how much sun your garden gets, and what kind of soil you have. You have to wait longer to plant in heavy wet soil; raised beds that drain more freely, especially if they're in the sun, can be planted weeks earlier.

We're coming up on the last frost date, which is usually about April 1, but depends on elevation, proximity of water, amount of sunlight in your individual garden.  Even though the forecast is for another week of rain and cool temperatures, now is the time to prepare beds for planting.  As soon as you can pick up a handful of soil, squeeze it, and not have water pour out, you can begin planting. I've already put leaf lettuce and peas in my raised beds.....maybe a little too early, but I couldn't help myself... 

Here are seven vegetables (and a few suggested varieties of each) most suited to early planting - go ahead and get them in the ground in the next  few weeks and you'll be on your way to harvest '09:

Beets: Bull's Blood, Golden, Chioggia
Onions: White Bunching, Walla Walla Sweet, Red Globe    
Peas: Sugar Snap, Sugar Sprint, Little Marvel
Radishes: Sparkler, Gourmet Blend, Champion
Carrots: Scarlet Nantes, Ingot, Little Finger
Lettuce: Red Sails, Gourmet Blend, Mesclun blends
Spinach: Tyee, Olympia

Chioggia Pink beets, photo courtesy of Thompson & Morgan