Please note that the lights are actually set much lower, just above the emerging seedlings so they don’t stretch too far to the light.

Partially set up and planted. Plastic wrap is over the planted area, to help hold in moisture, particularly important with heated seed beds as they will dry out rapidly. I use a water can with a nozzle for seedlings, or a spray bottle so I don’t disturb the seeds with watering. 

These are the seedling trays we made by hand last year from cedar planks. We put a simple dovetail joint in the corners and used screws, which along with using red cedar, means they will last a long time. Cedar is also very insulating so will help stabilize the soil temperature. They are also beautiful!

I can’t find the images of setting up the heating cables in the boxes, though when I find them I will insert them. Follow the directions that come with the heat cables, I used metal ‘hardware cloth’ to secure the cables using twist ties from garbage sacks. I also cut notches into the side of the wooden seedling boxes so the cable runs through three  boxes.

After placing the soil heat cables on about 1″ of soil, we fill the box to full. We made the boxes 3″ deep so the seedling have room to grow. Once the soil is moistened we can begin to plant our seeds. (more on that elsewhere). Once we plant the seeds, I like to cover the seed with some plastic food wrap to hold moisture until the seeds germinate, especially for the super fine seed that they say to just scatter on top and barely press in. I lift the plastic periodically to circulate air in there, and make sure mold isn’t developing, but usually with the heated soil from the heat cables that is not a problem.

I then place the lights and set up the electrical connections. You will need a multiple outlet cord (like for computers) to connect all the lights to one cord. That will be connected to a timer which plugs into the wall. This timer can be any light timer, as used in the house for house lights. The soil heat cable should be connected separately to the wall so the soil is heated all night, even when the lights are out. I start out with equal day lenght (as at Spring Equinox, and then continue to increase daylight to basically match what is going on outdoors, perhaps an hour or so longer to speed up growth and maturity. But don’t leave it on much more, it will confuse the plant. Some plants are sensitive to light and may react to unnatural lighting conditions (such as ’bolt’ to seed early, instead of growing to full size).  

Gray cord is the soil heat cable; black cord is from the multiple outlet with the lights attached and connects to the timer which is directly plugged into the wall.

As the seeds germinate (which will happen remarkably fast with bottom heat, often within two or three days) remove the plastic (fold back to keep cover on seeds which haven’t germinated). Keep the light to just a few inches above plant growth. This can be a bit tricky as different plants have different sizes. Sometimes I drape tin foil over the whole thing, especially the sides to reflect light back down on the plants if I feel the plants are getting leggy. If you are near a window that can help a lot too.

Last year I grew out literally hundreds of plants from this set up, including dozens of tomato, pepper, and basil; broccoli, fennel, celery, cauliflower and more; and hundreds of lavender, hyssop, rue, sweet marjorum, foxglove, bluebells, lupine, poppy, larkspur, hollyhock, and many more I used to establish the herbal knot garden, cottage garden and perennial border along the picket fence; and many, many plants I gave away as well.

That is all for now… I will update this as I get more images that might be helpful.

See the following U-tube video where I talk about how to harvest nettle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ZdKdhKfcw 

Here’s another link to a video just released of me making a traditional salmon soup using nettles and other native plant ingredients. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfFbDcaFcTo 

More to come when I have time…

Devils club in late spring with heavily armed stalks protecting unfurling new leaves  (Oplopanax horridus, Photo by Heidi Bohan)

I love these winter and early spring gatherings, often in solitude. There is so much to see and hear in the forests at this time, the song and calls of winter wren, thrush and chickaree, the thumping of pileated woodpecker in the distance, the chorus of frogs rising and falling silent, and the dripping of rain boughs above.  Walks along the flood strewn shores of snow laden rivers, scrambling over log jams seeking sticky buds  which protect the baby leaves and new flowers of the great cottonwoods trees, with a balsamiferous smell that calls to people across time, childhood memories and the ancient oils of the Meditteranean.

Black cottonwood leaf buds and stems protected by resins which allow for early leaf growth; the resins are also medicine for people (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa; photos by Heidi Bohan)

The amazing smell of these barks, roots and buds as they are gathered and prepared are each so distinctive, each with their own medicine. Soon lost to the air, so they need to be held in oils and alcohol, or revitalized in teas, dried slowly so they hold as much medicine as possible, processsed carefully to use as much of the plant medicine as possible.

 The sori on the back fronds of the licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrriza; photos by Heidi Bohan).

I also came upon some Licorice Fern on some fallen trees along the river, and captured an image of their distinctive sori which are present this time of year. The roots from licorice fern are a sweet/ bitter snack, and medicine for the throat. Native grandmothers tell of keeping a jar of dried roots to chew on to help heal an upset stomach. I use it in a honey syrup to help soothe a throat and remember my winter gathering walks.

Snoqualmie tribal elder preparing Oregon grape bark; Below: Salve-making in progress using cottonwood bud, devil’s club and Oregon grape.

March, 2011

I grow sugar snap peas if I grow nothing else. And I mean nothing else. There have been years I didn’t do a garden, but I did get a batch of sugar snaps in, just a patch by the back door or in the back border of a flower garden.  You can harvest sugar snap peas at virtually all stages of shell size, from barely filled and flat, to full of large peas. When young you can eat them pod and all, fresh or steamed, when older you can take offf the shell and eat just the peas as you would  regular peas. I like shelling peas too, the traditional pea, you remove the pod and eat the peas inside. These peas can also be allowed to mature and be dried to eat as dried peas for soup, though they aren’t split like we are use to seeing.

I’ve also grown purple podded peas, as much as an ornamental as for food, usually along an outer fence or border, because they are beautiful and delicious too. At this point my least favorite pea, though still wonderful, are the snow peas which must be harvested while they are still flat, without formed peas, otherwise they are stringy. That leaves a very short harvest window so for me, many go to waste. But the few I get are delicious!

Purple sugar peas, harvested at this stage are sweet and will turn green when cooked.

Peas benefit from a nice rich soil, and adding a bit of organic fertilizer to your planting bed in the fall can ensure that the peas have additional nutrients available in the spring.  Slugs love peas, as do birds who are looking for food in the late days of winter and will pull them right out of the ground, so it is best to cover the seeds with some row cover and keep a close eye out for slugs during the first few weeks.

Once peas have germinated I will replant seeds in the areas that didn’t germinate, I’ve found that even if  I replant a few weeks later they will usually catch up with the others.

I’ve had little problem with deer eating peas, so I will plant them along the outer edge of garden where they hang over and the deer don’t seem to bother with them. We’ve also interplanted them between Christmas trees here and they’ve done fine. Since peas help fix nitrogen from the air and leave the nitrogen in the soil if you don’t pull up the roots when you harvest, they are good for the plants around them.

The white nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots of peas.

I’ve even grown peas with oats which are complementary, the oats provide structure for the peas to climb, and peas help provide nitrogen for the oats.  I actually dried, stored and then fed the peas and oats to my ducks who ate the seeds and leaves, and the stalks bacame bedding in the pen. This is a traditional plant combination I will be experimenting with in the future.

Peas growing with oats

I’m sure I will be changing this as we go along. I’m excited by the possibilities. The header image is from a photo I took last year of mixed baby greens  I grew in the hoophouse. Don’t they look delicious! Spring is coming!