Journey of a Seed Sower...sowing caledar 2012

When is the best time to sow veggie seeds in the Pacific Northwest? Seattle is just like most other places and is dependent on the Last Spring Frost date! Whether you are starting your seeds in/out doors or direct sow in the ground it all comes down to timing and the freezing bite of mother-nature.

After speaking with many nurseries, gardeners, bloggers and local sites, the consensus for the last frost day here in Seattle is Mothers day weekend. 
However if you want to be really sure of the last spring frost date in your area and you like the science, check out http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov - Climate Norm's very cool tool, just enter your State then location and it bases the date on local weather patterns. You can choose from a 90% chance of frost, a 50/50 chance of frost or play it real safe and opt for the 10% chance of frost.

• My 50/50 date would be: April 11th
• While my 10% date is: April 27th (which I would feel safer using)
• Mothers day this year is May 13th (I figure by this date it will be safe for me to start sowing or transplanting to the veggie beds! I'm so not a risk taker when it comes to sowing for the first time!)

So why is the last spring frost date so important? Basically most seeds prefer to be sown when the ground is warmer and the last chance of frost has passed as to not burn any new shoots or freeze and shock the seed (I can relate, who likes being in the garden when it's freezing anyway!)
But in saying this, I am surprised by how many cold season seeds thrive in these conditions, many of the green's like lettuce, broccoli and pea's love the colder weather and its been suggested to plant before the last frost as it can make for a tastier yield, they kinda like it...crazy seeds!

My Sow calendar for Spring 2012

March 12th - 18th - set up an area for indoor sowing!!
March 19th - 25th - Start sowing tomatoes indoors/coldframe (10-14days germination)
March 26th - April 1st - Indoor/coldframe sow onions* (21-30days germination)
April 2nd - April 8th - Indoor/coldframe sow broccoli (6-10days germination)
April 9th - April 15th -  Indoor/coldframe sow lettuce (2-14days germination)
April 16th - April 22nd -
April 23rd - April 29th - Transplant Broccoli (thin12-18in apart)
April 30th - May 6th- Direct sow beans (6-8days germination, thin to 8in when plant has 4leaves)
May 7th - May 13th - LAST SPRING FROST -
May 14th - May 20th - Direct sow carrots (14-23days germination) Direct sow cukes (5seeds per mound)
May 21st - May 27th - Transplant lettuce (10-15in apart) Transplant onions
May 28th - June 3rd - Transplant Tomatoes (1.5-3ft apart) Thin carrots (1in apart) Thin beans (s.a)
June 4th - June 10th - Thin Cukes to best 3/mound

*onion thinning - 25mm(1")-50mm(2") apart and then again later to 10cm(4")

Like most things in the world of gardening, this is all subject to change and is a rough outline for what I should be doing during what week. It might help me stay on track better when I work the plan and not just guess as I go. I have had so much wonderful advice on what to start when and little tips that fellow bloggers have suggested. Check out the awesome comments here on my I have my veggie seeds...now what? post! Thank you for all your wonderful advice!!!

Snow Apocalypse 2012 is here.....

For the true meaning of this please refer to my earlier post!

The snow is here! The snow is here!! For all my friends out there (who I know are so worried for my well-being) I am safe...but only just! For my East-coast/Alaskan/Minnesotan (or anywhere that regularly gets snow) friends, yes Seattle is pathetic! We have 3in and I am hunkering down in my house till this ghastly storm blows over. I thought I should post a blog, just in-case I am found buried alive or worse yet, stranded in my car in my last attempt to out-drive this crazy weather and these freak blizzard conditions.
Thank goodness they have closed down schools (Ok it is Martin Luther King Holiday, but that is besides the point) as well as a number of local businesses, its close down mode for Seattle, with 15min snow storm updates on the news. With 2 more inches predicted tonight and a whooping 5in for Wed I don't know how Seattle will ever survive!

My garden is taking the brunt of this snow blast, with trees barley clinging on to life, suffocated by mounds of snow. The hessian bags which were donated to the cause, never made it on in time to protect the Jasmine, but will come in handy if I need to make huge sand snow bags to keep the floods that may follow, out! For now they are doing a wonderful job of protecting my front porch....

 Doing a lot of good here...lol! If only all my good-intentions came to fruition!

Here are some of my brave plants, taking the freeze head on. Praying for my Jasmine (which is growing around the base of the column) hoping it survives! It took a beating last year and after many months of TLC, I was able to nurse it back to health. It is not a fan of freezing weather, it lost most of its shinny evergreen leaves and outer limbs to the frost. This year I covered the roots well with mulch, fingers crossed. Not sure if it will take another apocalyptic storm though?

  Jasmine...stay strong!!

Winter hits my wisteria vines, but these suckers would survive a nuclear explosion, seriously!!

My Magnolia tree...look at all those gorgeous juicy buds! (it helps if you squint)

Think warm thoughts, my most favorite of trees!! Last year the buds were burnt by the frost which resulted in withered and brown poxed flowers, there really is nothing I can do to prevent this.

(sorry for blurriness, taken on cell phone)

So after braving some photos, a quick inspection of my garden, some shaking of limbs, a snow-ball fight and some daredevil sledding. I am now safely recovering back in the warmth of my living room enjoying hot-cocoa and Harry Potter movies, but man its hairy out there....

It's deceptively beautiful!

How to protect your garden from winter snow

Sending out an S.O.S....Save Our Shoots!

Snow is coming and I'm slightly going into over protective parent mode with my plants!!
This winter the weather in Seattle has been mild to say the least. By this time last year we had already had a number of days in the negatives plus measurable snow fall, maybe even a few snow days at school...but here we get an inch on the ground and its called the "Snow-apocalypse" (*snowpocalypse please refer to #2) Seattle is good at freaking out and over reacting to snow!! Oh my god its sticking, what do we do???

Which leads me to think...am I just over-reacting? There is snow in the forecast for this weekend and my garden is already starting to shoot! Yesterday we had a high of 51 with blue sunny skies, gorgeous! I woke to a frost this morning with temps of 34...how ever will my plants cope from such extremes?

Last year I lost a number of plants including two of my gorgeous white Hydrangeas, which I am playing favorite child to at the moment as I don't want to lose any more! My other favorite that is susceptible to frost damage is my Magnolia which is covered in hundreds of tiny buds, I would be devastated if something happened to it! Also my Confederate Star Jasmine is finally recovering from snow-apocalypse 2011...sigh!

 RIP Hydrangea, the Apocalypse of 2011's first casualty

What am I to do? The gardens are for the most part winterized with a large amount of mulch over the garden beds protecting the roots, about 2inches deep keeping away from the trunks. For mulch I used what my garden provided for free, just by raking the fallen leaves straight on to the beds it provided enough...thanks mother nature! I have to check the soil from time to time as it has been a dry winter, to make sure the moisture is penetrating the soil under the mulch. I have noticed that under certain trees I have had to water the shrubs as the soil had dried so much...Crazy to water a garden in winter, in Seattle!!
But what about the tender, helpless, vulnerable new born shoots? Do I protect them with a covering? Wrap them? Just let the snow do its thing?

 My technique last year....The crazy gardening neighbor

 Rose shoots from last year, they really didn't seem to mind!

The more I read about what to do, the more I want to scream at my computer...I can not bring them inside over the winter months!! No they can not be a house plant till the warmer weather returns!! Really is that the only option? OK 20ft Magnolia looks like your sharing the house with us, not likely! I am not about to dig my huge hydrangea out of the garden to relocate to a pot to bring in my house. I think I'll try the burlap route this year, swaddle them until the snow passes?

Covering: This is one of the most effective ways of protecting the foliage of evergreen shrubs. Like Rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and early flowering plants will often benefit from being covered with some type of cloth material during extremely cold weather..It is also effective for plants with new shoots! (yay)
Start by placing three or four stakes around the plant being protected. I have some bamboo stakes I will use for this. Next drape the cloth material over the stakes, being careful that the cloth does not come in contact with the leaves as it can cause freeze. Do not use plastics for this job, as it not only cuts off air to the plant, it also acts much like a greenhouse which can cause leaf rot to form, taking plants from nightly lows to high daily temperature in a relatively short time period. This rapid temperature change can cause serious freeze damage or may be fatal to plants.
Any type of covering should only be left in place during the cold spell. As soon as the weather moderates or it begins to rain, remove the covering completely. However, leave the stakes in case it gets cold again.
Burlap (which my friend showed me you can get for free from local feed stores, thanks Jill), old moving blankets, sheets or similar cloth or fabric materials are the best types to use as a cover over plants. Attaching with clothes pins is useful to keep them secure and sturdy for the weight of the snow.

This will work well for my shrubs but in regards to my Magnolia I have no clue?

Fellow garden bloggers....What are your experiences with mild winters and late frost/snow? Would love to hear your survival techniques!! Any other over protective Magnolia parents out there?

Some other useful sites...
Winter protection for Hydrangeas
Shrub protection from the snow