Seedling Sunday

April 19, 2009 at 3:16 pm (Growing Bell Pepers, Growing Tomatoes, Growing Vegetables, Hardening Plants, Square Foot Gardening, Starting Seeds)
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The biggest gardening activity now is trotting plants in and out getting them ready to be planted in the ground (which I get a three-day rain break).   Too bad it would be committing plant murder if you just took them from inside on the shelf to outside in the ground.   This hardening off process is a little tedious.

Anyhoo…here’s a little update on my babies.

Here are the habaneros (picture taken on 4-14).  They’ve been potted in larger cups since this picture.04-10-09-6

Here are the globe basil (planted 3-18, picture taken on 4-4).04-04-09-261

Here they are on 4-17 growing in egg shells and a few Dixie cups.04-17-09-61

And here’s a comparison of the regular basil planted a couple/few weeks before the globe basil.04-12-09-122

Here’s a picture of the peas growing in the “hoop house.”04-15-09-51

 

 Here’s the ginger.  It started sprouting in December, but I didn’t plant it until about a month ago.04-17-09-41

 Here are the peppers from Annie’s Granny, the transplanted California wonder peppers, a couple globe basil, and one borage being grown in a soil block of sorts.  It was the last seed to germinate, and I scrunched the dirt around it and stuck it in with the other plants.04-17-09-81

  Here are the basil and the petunias.  I had good intentions for an Easter post, but what can I say?  The petunias have growth rates all over the place…big, medium and small.04-17-09-101

 Here’s the petunias (again), the California wonders (again) and the cat grass/wheat grass.  It came up really quick, but I should have planted the seeds thicker.04-17-09-131

 Here are some lettuce and broccoli I just transplanted.   I ended up planting them in the ground yesterday.04-17-09-141

Here are the egg plants started in soil blocks on 4-1 (picture taken 4-10)04-10-09-9

And here they are today.04-20-19

And the tomatoes.  I’m only growing three kinds: Generic cherry, generic cherry, generic beefsteak.  I started them in flats as opposed to individual pots, so I’ve been transplanting and pottting up and I haven’t been diligent about labeling them.  I think I can distinguish the beefsteak from the cherry, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to distinguish between the two cherries.  One is prettier and one has bigger tomatoes.  Oh, well.  Next year I’ll do better, but here’s one of the biggest and a couple of the smaller ones.04-20-19-7

And here they are on the growing rack.04-20-19-4

Lastly, the cucumbers:  Lemon, bushmaster and pickling.04-20-19-3

 

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That’s it for today.

Happy Gardening!!!!

p.s.  All you folks with your plants already in the ground, don’t laugh at my little ones.  They’ll catch up when we get some warm weather around here.

20 Comments

Soil blocks rock.

April 4, 2009 at 10:04 pm (Square Foot Gardening)
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I finally joined the band wagon and tried out the soil blocks.

Here is a commercial version…

commercial-soil-blocker

Annie’s Granny was extolling the virtues of starting plants in soil blocks.  Her friend John had made her one and sent it to her.  (Aren’t gardeners the nicest people?)  Plant-a-seed-aholic that I am, I couldn’t resist. 

Last weekend I gave it a shot.  I used a pain pill bottle and made my first soil blocks and planted them with spinach.

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Nothing to brag about here.  After a week, despite the fact that a few of the spinach are sprouting, the soil blocks are breaking apart. 

The same night I made these soil blocks, I got an e-mail from Annie’s Granny and she gave me a few links to some info on soil blocks.  This is the one I found most helpful:

So, armed with this new information, I got a smaller bottle and used what I had (don’t laugh) and made a smaller soil blocker.

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What you’re looking at is a pill bottle with the bottom cut out.  The bottom was trimmed to fit inside the bottle and inserted between two nuts and threaded onto a bolt.  I didn’t have anything I could use for a plunger, but when I emptied out the barrell of this ink pen, it served the purpose.

I used the soil that I already had to make the blocks with.  And coincidentally the blocks fit perfectly into this tray insert that I had.

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I planted radish, lettuce, beets.  After a week, most things are growing.

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Ordinarily I would have planted one seed per block, but I read about triple sowing in a book recently and wanted to try it. 

Looks like it’s going to be a good way of growing.  Thanks Annie’s Granny (and John).

Happy Gardening!!!!

19 Comments

A promise of things to come

April 1, 2009 at 8:14 pm (Starting Seeds)
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Snow and cold are depressing…a flower in bloom is elating.

04-01-09-12

The marigolds are on their way.

Happy Gardening!!!

4 Comments

Help!!! I need an intervention!!!

March 25, 2009 at 7:53 pm (Square Foot Gardening, Starting Seeds)
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I have a serious case of plant-a-seed-aholism.  If I have a seed, I have to plant it–them–many, many of them.

It starts off so innocently.  You have this cute little packet of seeds with the beautiful picture on the front.

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You don’t even eat basil, but, gee, that’s a pretty plant.  I’ll learn some dishes to use basil in.  Let me plant just a few seeds.

 A few seeds sprinkled on some soil becomes quite a few seedlings.

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So many seedlings, in fact, that you decide to share the wealth.  You have this Master Gardener friend who is starting seeds in a greenhouse and you think, gee, wouldn’t it be cool to have my little babies mixing it up with other seedlings in a real greenhouse.  So, you decide to give some seedlings to your Master Gardener friend.  But between the time you leave home and you get to the greenhouse, you give them away to your classmates because you’ve been given some plants and you want to give back a little (sorry, Gregory). 

Of course, plant person that you are, you save a few plants for yourself.

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They’re on the right-hand side.  You also got some cute patio basil.

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You think these are way cuter than the regular basil, so you start a few of those seeds.  They’re in the egg carton on the left.  Those “few” seeds grew into 20 plus potential plants.  And still, I don’t eat basil. 

I do, however, eat tomatoes and planted a few tomato seeds.

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Just a few seeds planted in a row down one side of the window box.  Just a few.  I still have just a few more to transplant.

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And since a few more seeds could be planted with the tomatoes in the window box, I planted just a few pepper seeds.  Which now reside here…

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… so I can make room for more pepper seeds of the heirloom variety (thanks, Annie’s Granny).  I’ll have to admit to a severe case of plant-a-seed-aholism here because I only had 12 pepper plants last year, and I still have peppers in the freezer.

Oh, yeah.  I can’t forget about the habaneros.

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Exactly 12 plants of the hottest peppers on earth, which I don’t use.  My father-in-law does and I grew these plants from a store-bought pepper which I saved the seeds and planted the seeds.  Just a few more seeds.

A few petunia seeds…

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…seeds that are slightly larger than dust particles.

A few collard, lettuce and broccoli seeds (seriously in need of transplanting)…

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And, of course, a few marigold seeds…

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But plant-a-seed-aholism is a benign disease with beneficial side effects. 

  • You scratch the gardening itch while it’s still too cold to plant outside
  • You save money…which I can’t say too many times
  • When the weather warms up and you can finally transplant, you get an instant garden

On second thought, no intervention needed.  I’m willing to live with my disease.

Happy Gardening!!!

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