April 18, 2008

lots of pea sprouts

My neighbor was surprised at how dense I planted my peas. Well I didn’t expect them all to sprout. How dense do you plant your peas? I have a nice row of sprouts about 8 inches wide and 3 feet long. I’m planting similar rows as soon as the previous sprouting comes up. The photo shows Pisello Nano, a very short (1 foot tall) green shell pea.

April 15, 2008

tomato sprouts

Lots of little seedlings! Solanum lycopersicum

April 11, 2008

planting before the rains

Today, in my home garden, I transplanted kale, broccoli and lettuce seedlings. I didn’t realize I had so many. I also sowed seeds of radish, peas (Pisselle, Sugar Sprint, Tall Telephone and Capucijners) and fava beans. Rains are forecast, which should water them in well.

April 6, 2008

tomato sowing day!

Here’s my planting list: Tomatoes, New Girl (6 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Big Beef (6 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Orange Blossom (3 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Brandywine (3 for me)Tomatoes, Pink Beauty (3 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Cherokee Purple (1 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Purple Calabash (1 for mom, 3 for me)Tomatoes, Giant Belgium (3 for me)Tomatoes, Oxheart Red (3 for me)Tomatoes, San Marzano (3 for me)Tomatoes, Tomango (3 for me) The numbers listed are the numbers of plants I would like in the garden.…

April 4, 2008

a pea sprout!

Definitely a cause for celebration! I found a little green pea sprout out in the rain today. A Sugar Spring snap pea. Yippee! Not much to look at yet. These were planted on March 18th (17 days ago).

April 3, 2008

seedlings

More sprout photos. I got out my macro. Its like having a cute baby to photograph… just greener… If I watch long enough, I can almost see them grow…. Sprouts in these trays are: onions, kale, peppers, lettuce and escarole. Seeded, but no sprouts yet, are: asters, cosmos and marigolds. Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

March 31, 2008

a light for the seedlings

With a streak of cloudy weather, I have resorted to a plant light. I set up a make shift arrangement using my fish tank lighting. I didn’t want to burn the little seedlings, so I looked up how much light is OK: “Experiments and tests have demonstrated that most vegetables and flowering plants need 25 to 30 fluorescent light watts per square foot. Houseplants and seedlings do well with 15 to 20 watts…” http://www.doityourself.com/stry/factsoflight It looks like I have about 5-6 sq ft of illuminated seedlings, so I need 75-120…

March 29, 2008

kale seedlings

I planted three types of kale seeds. They are developing nice second leaves now. Each look different. Clockwise from top left: Winterbor, Red Russian, Tuscan and another shot of Red Russian.BrassicaceaeKale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

March 27, 2008

leggy seedlings

I’ve been trying to raise my seedlings without a plant light. But they seem to be getting quite leggy. Especially the broccoli. To try to increase their light, I have suspended them right up against the south facing windows. Of course it would help if the clouds moved out of the way. Brassicaceae

March 25, 2008

sprouts in winter sown bottles!

I have sprouts in my plastic bottles!!! Lots of them! Its very exciting.Five of the 12 bottles have nice little sprouts today. They are: Hollyhock Zebrina, Shasta Daisy Alaska, Wild Tansy, Dukat Dill, and Onions Sweet Yellow Spanish. Only one problem is that all of the labels on the bottles have washed off. I checked my excessive photo records and with luck came up with the one above with the labels showing. So, not only do I have outdoor sprouts, I even know what they are! My complete sprouting record…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost