Will They Survive Without Me?

A number of my plants are in the ground! I hope they're still there when I get back from my mini-vacation to Florida. It looks like it will be cold and rainy everyday that I'm away. I'll try not to worry too much about them. They are only plants, after all.

The rest of my seedlings are inside the house, next to the East-facing sliding glass door and are being watered by my aunt.

The above photo was taken on 4/28

Transplanting

The time had come.
I thought the time had come.
I decided that the time had come for moving some of my seedlings into the ground.

I put the pumpkins in first, then the zucchini, then the cucumber, then some yellow squash, followed by the onions. And for good measure I planted a few onion seeds directly in the bed.

My biggest misstep in this whole process was definitely planting some of the seedlings too close to one another. If I had it to do again I would be sure to put just one seed in each little planting compartment, regardless of what the seed packages recommend.

The bottom portion of the egg crates were perfect for planting. The top portion- not so much. I realize now that the drainage holes I made in the cartons weren't very effective. Next time I'll make them much wider than the width of a pen tip.

I was surprised by how complex the root systems were of the pumpkins and cucumbers. If any of my transplants fail, I predict it will be the cucumbers. The seeds were sewn too close together to begin with and separating the roots for transplanting was very difficult.

I was out there early and it looks like it's going to be a hot sunny day. If I have time this evening I'd like to go out and put a couple tomato and cabbage seedlings in the ground. The tomatoes aren't that big yet, but they seem sturdy and I'm curious to see what will happen.

The photo above shows two of the zucchini seedlings that were growing in one planter compartment. I had to gently tease them apart. I'm glad I thinned them out last week. Originally there were four plants growing in each compartment. Below is the pumpkin going in. Those seeds were planted April 12th.

Prepping the Bed is Hard Work

This is the bed as it stands at the moment. I woke up this morning and worked in a bag of last year's top soil and two enormous bags of gardening soil. I took a break to head to the garden center and pick up a few more bags of hummus + manure and two more enormous bags of gardening soil. Those two bags are still sitting in my trunk because I haven't figured out how to get them from the trunk to the garden while my cousins are still asleep. But once those are in I'll be ready to do some planting.

I've been evaluating my seedlings trying to figure out which are ready and which still need some time. I definitely overplanted so that will work in my favor. If I transplant a couple prematurely I'll have some back ups standing by if it doesn't work out, my understudies. Though I'd like to avoid transplanting too early if at all possible. I wish I had planted my seeds earlier this spring, then they'd all be ready. Anyway, the zucchini looks ready and maybe the cucumber too. And the pumpkins won't be far behind.

Zucchini is on the left, yellow squash on the right

The Beginning of the Pumpkin Patch

Planted April 12th

Happy Earth Day

Nearly everything I have planted is growing taller and taller by the hour. The only varieties I haven't seen sprout yet are the pumpkins (which I expect to break the soil's surface today or tomorrow), the dill, and the mint.

Predictably, the zinnias I planted in the little plastic greenhouse germinated before the ones I planted in an open air tray, as has the basil.

The lettuce seedlings that I thinned out seem to be doing well. I was worried I'd disturbed the root system in the process, but they seem fine. I also trimmed some of the zucchini plants. In the photo, they're the second row from the top right corner. You can see the ones that I clipped on top of the tray. The leaves and stalks are much thicker than any of the other plants' and they really seemed to be inhibiting one another's growth sitting in such close proximity. So, clip, clip, clip!

The big underdog of the bunch has been the tray of tomatoes, pictured in the white tray on the bottom left. I left them out in the cold rain early on, but now there are 13 little plants growing. They're tiny and so frail looking, but I'm still rooting for them.

Thinning Out The Seedlings

What's wrong with the tray of lettuce seedlings in the picture on the left?

They're all growing on top of each other, next to each other, underneath each other. . .you get the picture. This morning I fetched my weapon of choice, a pair of sharp pointy scissors, and summoned up the courage to snip the stalks of the very plants I had nurtured from the seed. This was particularly difficult since I'm not a violent person, but it was necessary.

For the lettuce, I tried to give the strongest looking seedlings some room to breathe and grow by removing the surrounding sprouts. The strongest ones have already grown a third leaf and were the tallest and greenest seedlings. I only thinned out half of the tray, in case it was too early to do this. I was careful not to disturb the plants as I trimmed, but it was tough as they're still pretty delicate. If the thinned out half continues to thrive, I'll do the same thing to the others. (The second photo is the after shot, click on either of them for a closer look.)

I also thinned out two thirds of the tray I think is cabbage. The seedlings are a bit hardier and I'm pretty convinced they were ready. While I was at it I snipped some of the spinach plants which had wilted on the hot day and never recovered.

In little plastic greenhouse news, the mint and basil seeds are sprouting.

Sunday was cloudy and the plants stayed indoors, as they will today and tomorrow due to rain.

Below is a shot from just a few minutes ago of the whole lot. The cabbage is the row at the very bottom, the spinach is above that, and on top of the spinach is the zucchini which are my favorite by a long shot. They're huge! All of a sudden they just sprung from the soil, wearing their seeds like birthday hats before growing into these thick, beautiful little plants.

Wilting Spinach

It has been a very busy day in the garden.

I woke up and planted the parsley seeds I'd been soaking all night. Then set out for the Home Depot and purchased some 8 foot long wooden planks to frame my garden bed and some soil and peat. I also solicited some advice from the other shoppers- home gardeners sure are a friendly bunch.

My uncle brought the leveler and power tools and together we built a lovely frame. We planned out how we'll level the bed, since it is a bit sloped. More photos to come. We may need to build a second bed for some of the plants that need a lot of room. I'm envisioning a pumpkin patch. That shouldn't be such a hard sell.

This was the second sunny day in a row and the warmest day we've had all year. Temperatures reached the mid 70s and I knew my babies where feeling it when I noticed my spinach seedlings passed out in their tray. I moved them to the shade and am hoping for the best.

Everything I planted April 3rd is sprouting! And the first seed of the April 12th batch is just shy of peaking through the soil's surface. And the winner is- cucumber!

Send happy thoughts to my spinach!

Update: It has been a couple hours since I moved the plants into the shade and the spinach seems to have mostly recovered. All but a few of the sprouts are standing up straight again.

AND I forgot to mention that the zucchini has sprouted and they look amazingly solid. You can see them on the lefthand side of this pic. The photo was taken a few hours ago, now several of them are standing up and open.

More Planting

Got up early this morning and planted some of the seeds I bought yesterday- the mint, basil, and zinnias. The mint seeds were the teeniest tiniest things I have ever seen. It'll be such a miracle to see a plant come from something so small. I planted a tray of each of those three varieties as well as sprinkling a couple of each on separate peat pellets in a mini plastic greenhouse. We'll see if the greenhoused seedlings have a real advantage over the open air ones. This time I took special care to label each tray with the variety and date planted. I was also careful not to plant any seeds too deep in the soil- especially the super mini mint seeds.

I wanted to plant the parsley too, but the package recommends I let them soak overnight. Tomorrow I'll get those planted.

My other seedlings are doing well. The April 3rd bunch look pretty strong and those I planted on the 12th still haven't sprouted, but I'm sure they will soon. Sometimes they move so fast I wish had a video camera pointed at them at all times.

Happy Weekend!

The Big Red Hope

The tomatoes are coming, the tomatoes are coming!

Turns out I haven't killed the tomato seedlings I planted April 3rd by leaving them out for a couple wet, chilly nights. Today there are a total of four little sprouts coming up from the soil.

The sun has been shining all day and temps have reached 58 degrees.

I also made a trip to the garden center again today. I bought a soil test kit, some herb seeds (parsley, mint, and basil) and zinnia seeds. The herbs I plan to keep in little pots and maybe gift a few to friends once they mature. I also bought a couple trays made of peat that are a little deeper than the egg cartons I'd been using. They can be planted right into the ground so it won't disrupt the roots when they're transplanted.

And I bought a tray of these little peat disks that come in a little plastic greenhouse tray. All you do is add seeds and water and supposedly they just grow up faster than you can say "little peat disks that come in a little plastic greenhouse tray."

We shall see.

New pictures will be up tomorrow afternoon. Check back!

Day 12

Weather: 48 degrees and rainy

6 of my 7 trays spent the night indoors and I have a feeling that is where they'll stay, at least until the sun comes out tomorrow.

It looks like there is some hope for the tomato tray. One little guy sprouted up this morning and has been standing up taller and taller by the hour- so pathetic, yet so triumphant! Check him out in the corner of the egg carton at the top of the photo below.

Photo Update

It rained all through the night and morning, soaking my store bought strawberry plants and two trays I'd left out on the porch last night. Unfortunately, rain is in the forecast for tomorrow and the next day so I can only hope we'll get some sunshine after that. I'll keep the saturated seed trays under the porch awning during the showers.

Below is a photo of my best developing seedlings, planted 11 days ago.

Fresh Bedding

My plants are no where near ready to be transplanted yet, but today I wanted to start getting their future home prepared. My main concerns about the plot are that it might be too small for the variety of plants I hope to have and that it sits at the bottom of a slightly sloped yard. Ah well, we'll see what happens. I'll do my best to level the plot and I plan to create raised beds.

Tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be chilly and rainy so maybe I'll make a trip to the garden center and pick up a pH testing kit and a couple bags of soil.

Still no sprouts visible in the tomato tray, unfortunately. The spinach is coming along great, as is the lettuce and one more tray of something that I forgot to label. Oops. I think it is either onion or cucumber.

I transferred the young strawberry plants I bought to hanging baskets this morning. I think they'll do better there away from weeds and pests. I also removed a little flower with a green little berry from one of the plants so it can focus all its energy on getting stronger before it starts bearing fruit.

Day 9

Lots of exciting news to report!

My spinach seeds have germinated! It must have happened in the blink of an eye because I examine these trays constantly and suddenly there they were- 4 little grass-like stalks breaking through the soil.

The lettuce tray has by far the greatest number and most developed seedlings.

This morning I went out to the Home Depot to purchase stakes and twine so I can start preparing my plot. My uncle and I went out and roped off a sunny area next to the fence, the area of which is still being negotiated. Right now it stands at 4 feet x 8 feet. I'm concerned that is much too small, but he says I don't need much room and I can always expand later if I need to. It is still early in the process and there is plenty of room in the yard for the garden to grow if necessary. Tomorrow I plan to clear the grass and check out the soil underneath.

I also picked up two little strawberry plants, which feels a bit like cheating since I didn't plant the seeds myself. Ah well, I'm excited about the prospect of lots and lots of strawberries all the same.

Today I planted some more onion and cucumber as well as new trays of dill, yellow squash and pumpkin seeds.

I made an effort not to plant the seeds to deep in the soil, just barely pressing them down with my finger tips. Hopefully that will help and temperatures won't fall below freezing tonight.

Happy planting!

It's not Idaho, but you still can grow potatoes

By John B. Saul

Courtesy of The Seattle Times

This article details how to grow over 100 lbs of potatoes in an area as small as 4 square feet. Looks a little bit too labor intensive for me, but if the mood strikes me I might just give it a try.

A NY Times Series on Gardening

Blogging on Gardening

Follow the above link to read the first article in an occasional series on starting a vegetable garden.

The Garden To Be

Happy spring!

It has been a long and dreary winter, but we made it through. I've spent a lot of time looking forward to this season and have decided to get in touch with my inner gardener this year.

A little over a week ago, I went over to the garden center of our local hardware store and picked up several envelopes of seeds. I just grabbed whatever looked good to me. I have absolutely no background or expertise in gardening or horticulture, but I figure I'll give it a try. The garden center employee I consulted was more than happy to give me several trays to plant my seeds in, free of charge. I also commandeered an egg crate from our kitchen to plan the little guys in.

In all, getting started cost me about $20. The trays were free and we had some soil left over from last year. The packets of seeds ran about $2 per variety.

I enlisted the help of my nine year-old cousin and together on April 3rd, we planted a few trays full of tomato, lettuce, zucchini, onion, cucumber and cabbage seeds. I plan on documenting their growth with this journal.

7 days later we noticed our first little sprout! The tomato seedlings appear to be the first to peak out of the soil, but the lettuce seeds aren't but a day behind the tomatoes.

I've been keeping the trays out on our back porch in direct sunlight. Although, the tomato packet recommended keeping the seedlings indoors near a window, so I bring those in at night and on chillier days. Today has been particularly rainy so I brought in both the tomato and lettuce trays. I'm a little worried the other trays are getting too much water, but the sun should come out this afternoon and hopefully that will just solve everything. I don't want the little guys to drown before they even sprout!