As I enter the garden shed, the germination lists for the veggies and herbs are on the wall. I don't keep track of the flowers here, I'm mainly interested in making sure I have enough tomatoes and peppers growing.
The mini-greenhouse, all tucked inside its plastic curtains.
Inside, the shelf is still sagging. I should have had John reinforce it while he was here and in a fixing mood.
Good germination on most of the tomatoes.
Marigolds and Sweet Williams are growing strong and stocky.
Peppers are beginning to get their true leaves.
Inside the picnic cooler, some unsprouted seeds bask in warmth.
Lettuce, broccoli and cabbages are getting a bit floppy, so I've been putting them outside for a while each day. I always seem to have better luck direct seeding these, I think it's just too warm under the lights in the mini-greenhouse. The smaller, stockier lettuces are being grown under a light on the counter, where it's much cooler.
Look closely, right in the middle of the photo. My first pea shoot of 2010!
You'll have to click on this picture to enlarge it, then maybe you can see the spinach that is growing there. I bought "leaf & twig" compost this year, which is much more expensive than the dairy compost I usually buy, and I think they should have composted those twigs a bit longer. It makes really rough seed beds.
See the three rows of radishes? The lettuce will be planted in between these rows.The weather has been in the mid fifties, but the wind is cold, cold, cold! Today I planted all the toilet paper seed mats that I had made this week, which were Bulls' Blood and Red Ace beets, Champion, Cherry Belle and Sparkler radishes, Short 'n Sweet, Red Core Chantenay and Ingot carrots.
We still have no irrigation water. Now they say it MIGHT be on by the end of the week. I'm getting too much planted to haul out the sprinkling can full of water every time it's needed, so I broke down and put a nozzle on the hose and hooked it up to the house water. I don't like doing that, as it's chlorinated and expensive to use for gardening, let alone for lawn sprinkling. The grass under our pine trees looks completely dead now. It just can't survive without water.
Everything looks great!
ReplyDeleteYay seedlings! You remind me I'm falling behind -- terribly behind. I don't want to have to buy tomatoes this year. Ack.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's with the water? I'm behind in reading too.
Stefaneener, we have to pay for irrigation water, if we use it or not. It was supposed to be turned on March 22, but only those to the west of us have it, not us nor anyone east of us. Some of us have called to complain, but we're getting the runaround. It's terribly dry, we had a spattering of rain the other night, but not enough to help much, and the wind is sucking the moisture out of the raised beds.
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Liisa, thank you!
yes, the leaf and twig compost is mostly twig. Went to Mel's Monday and got a yard of it, unloaded it this morning. Wish I had Irrigation water to complain about. When did you plant those peas? Mine aren't up yet, its been two weeks now.
ReplyDeleteDaBeardeOne, I planted the peas 11 days ago, but that is the one and only pea shoot so far.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a well out there?
The seedlings look great! I too, have flowers going this year, but you are right - they are kind of just a sideline gig, I'm mainly interested in those tomatoes and peppers!
ReplyDeleteHi Gran! I have become quite the expert at Spot the Sprout lately - and I definitely see your little pea sprout! And the spinach! And the radishes! Everything is looking great, and once again you are putting me to shame! :-)
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your irrigation troubles.. Hopefully they'll get everything up and running soon. I can only imagine what a pain it is to carry buckets of water back and forth to the garden. If they don't get the irrigation system turned on soon, make sure you call that grandson of yours to haul the water for you!
The seedlings are all coming along nicely! I can see the pea and the spinach plants too. Hopefully the irrigation water will get turned on soon.
ReplyDeleteErin, it's not bad enough that I'm growing more veggies than will fit in my garden, but I'm actually having better luck with the flowers. So....where am I going to put them???
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Caffienated Mom, ya think I should tell John to quit his day job? I can't imagine having my own personal handyman 24/7!
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I hope so too, Kitsap.
Gidday Granny! Your babies are looking just Fab! And YEAH for your first pea :)
ReplyDeleteI found that I needed more lighting on my seeds in the basement, so instead of buying more lights $$$$$ I have placed tin foil around them and - ta da - let there be light!
Your lists looking interesting ... care to give us a closer look???
Everything looks great AG! My peas took a long time to sprout too but now they are really taking off!
ReplyDeleteAw, babies looking good! Boy, do I feel your pain with the wind and no rain. In my case, of course, it was HOT wind, but the effect is much the same.
ReplyDeleteHope they get the irrigation working ASAP!
Kiwi Gomes, I use the foil on the lid of the picnic cooler for more light, too. I should have had it behind and over the lettuce and cole crops, but they do get outside on most days now. I'm not even putting them under lights any more.
ReplyDeleteI'll see what I can do about that list, maybe in Google Docs. I do have the seed inventory in there, I can just add some columns. I'll let you know.
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Sunny my shelling peas were coming up pretty good today, but no sign of the snap peas yet.
SB, where have you been, girl? Nobody heard from you all winter :-( I just checked and see you did finally post, so I'm anxious to catch up with what's been happening with you.
ReplyDeleteSeedlings are looking good! Those peppers you sent are doing wonderfully, I will have to put a photo up of them next! All my brassica's are floppy as well, seem inevitable with them. I have also been putting them outside recently in hopes of them beefing up.
ReplyDeleteDan, I'm glad to hear your brassicas are floppy. I mean, I'm not glad, I just feel better that mine aren't the only floppy ones. Oh, you know what I mean ;-)
ReplyDeleteI hope the Quadrato peppers are as good this year as last, I've never grown a pepper I liked better! I planted 16, and 15 of those germinated.
We have a community well/water system. The bugger is the irrigation canal is less than 200ft from my garden but I can't use it :-(
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'm gonna go out and get some pics of my pea sprouts now, too!
ReplyDeleteI soaked them overnight a week ago, drained them in the morning, and put a lid on the glass jar. It keeps enough moisture in that they all sprout in another day, then I plant them as sprouts. I put them in last Friday and they all came popping up on Tuesday. I love how fast those things are!
You know Annie I always remember how close you are and so then something like this makes me think OH NO I am so behind! And then i remember last year thinking the same thing ;) I think our last frost date in Spokane IS after yours, is it not? Anyway great job! I've got some seedlings but out in the garden bed I have mostly alliums and that's it. This weekend I'll do quite a bit of direct sowing, though.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, those peas of yours came up fast! I soak mine too, but never thought to sprout them in the jar. I'll have to remember that.
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Bethany, I'm so happy to see you're back to garden blogging! I spent the morning catching up with you :-D
Yes, you're quite a bit behind us in Spokane. Our last frost date is May 1, but I don't rush the tomatoes and peppers. I'm good with getting them in the garden by the 15th. I don't have much in my garden yet, either, but I did get the beets and carrots planted this week. No garlic for me (and I always planted mine in the spring until last year...didn't know people planted them in the fall!), I just didn't have room for it this year. My kids wanted more carrots instead, so I'm going overboard on the carrots. I noticed a lot of wireworms in the soil, I hope they leave the carrots alone!