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.