Sunday, March 23, 2008

my seedlings on Easter morning

sprouts seedlings
more seedlings pepper seedlings
kale seedlings escarole seedlings
They are all growing very fast. The peppers came up today. The kale and escarole have their second set of leaves starting. The onions are straightening up. I move the trays around during the day to catch the best sunlight. Also, I am working on thinning out the more dense seedlings. After seeing Gretta's nice individual plants that aren't stretching out like mine, I am trying to do better at this though its hard to trow away cute little plants.

I have almost 3 trays planted now - with 17 different varieties of vegetables.

Kale (Brassica oleracea, Acephala Group)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now that the seeds have emerged, do you add any sort of fertilizer to help things progress?

kathy said...

I use a soil mix with fertilizer in it: Miracle Gro Potting Mix. They sell it in enormous bags for a good price at Costco in the spring.

I'm just working on sunlight and thinning now. When they get good second leaves, I may transplant a few to spread them out, especially the peppers. My parents want more of the seedlings than I planned on.

Anonymous said...

Where do you buy your trays?

kathy said...

Just at local stores. Whatever I come across. The first ones I got (the ones the onions are in) are from the True Value hardware store around the corner. The ones with lots of little plant cells are from a big garden center (Lexington Gardens).

I've always planted in the bigger trays before, but after seeing the CSA seedlings, I see the professional way to do it is the little cells.

alec said...

might i reccomend covering the trays with transparent foil( it cleaves to everything) to retain heat and moisture, and thereby speed up germination.

Unknown said...

I have to tell you, I stumbled on this site a month or so ago. I felt inspired and started my own garden (we are in central MA).It's my first garden,I have 98 seedling's of various fruits and veggies growing nicely. My husband and I spent the day getting our 3 raised boxes ready (4X12). I assigned 1 one to each one of my children and they are so excited. Thanks for this wonderful idea,that's now turning into a fun family project Ü.
~Jenny

kathy said...

That is sooo great! What a good idea to let your kids have their own plots. I wonder what they'll grow? If I were a kid, I would do all sunflowers I think .... or marigolds ...