Saturday, March 07, 2009

today's sowing list

Pepper, Amelia's Cayenne (6-pack)
Pepper, Thai hot (6-pack)
Pepper, Poblano (6-pack)
Pepper, Nardello sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Costa Rican sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Rosso D'Asti sweet red (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Giallo D'Asti sweet yellow (6-pack)
Beets, Chiogga (6-pack)
Marigold, Fireball
Marigold, Petit mix (4 pots)
Cosmos, sulphureus orange (4 pots)
Butterfly flower, asclepias tuberosa (4 pots)
Parsley, flat leaved Italian (8 pots)
Basil, Nufar (8 pots)

It feels good to be planting again!

I put the newly seeded peppers under my fish tank (78*F) to keep them warm until they sprout. The others are all on my plant shelves.

I have lots of little German Winter thyme seedlings now (sowed 2-21). And my early tomatoes are getting their first leaves. I have 5 New Girls, one Brandywine (Suddoth's Strain) and three Orange Blossom seedlings (planted (2-21). Today I spotted one little lavender and one little celeriac sprout, too. Hopefully more are on the way. My onion seedlings look great (planted 2-12). Germination was slow, but steady. Now I have good amounts of all three varieties I planted. So far so good!

2009 sow-what-and-when

17 comments:

Emily said...

How well do your beets transplant? I've always seen that one is supposed to direct seed them. However, I'd love to give the first crop a head start.

kathy said...

Beets transplant GREAT! I did all my beets by indoor seeding and transplant last year. (I learned it from my local CSA farmer, Gretta.) With a community garden, I find it much easier to plant at home in trays and transplant when they are big enough to go with out daily care.

Susie said...

Sounds like things are moving right along! It's this time of year the best!! I am so excited:-)

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a busy day; nice! Today I did my Broccoli Arcadia and Black Russian Tomatoes. Last Sunday's sowings are popping up...onions, thyme & chives. Nothing with the oregano & parsley yet.
AND....I called in my order to Park Seed from the $25 gift certificate that I won. I'm getting....

Eggplant Lavender Touch Hybrid
Lima Beans Eastland
Cucumber Cool Breeze Hybrid
Cucumber Pearl Hybrid
Pepper Merlot Hybrid
Tomato Cherokee Purple
Tomato Pineapple
Tomato Chocolate Cherry
Organic Broccoli Decicco
Organic Bush Bean Romano

I don't know where I'm going to put all this stuff, since I have all my space planned out already!! LOL

Dan said...

I know the feeling, I was out the other day pulling mulch back to see whats alive and checking out the coldframe, it was great!

My early tomato is at the same stage as yours. My onions on the other hand are not so nice, I have started fresh ones of both varieties. I think I had them to far from the light.

hmm, looks like I should fallow your lead and start my Marigolds.

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

It certainly is the best of times. Finally sowing time. You got a massive list if what is going to be sown today, very impressive.

Tyra

Emily said...

Thanks for letting me know about the beets. I'll give them a try this way.

Anonymous said...

Very steady, I'd say. Seeing some of each variety making progress is heartening.... Are you treating them all the same way, or using different conditions/light/etc for each?

Anonymous said...

I have a question, Kathy. How do you avoid over-planting any one particular variety? I always think I'm only going to plant 6 red rubin basil plants or something, and then end up planting at least 12. Same thing goes for almost any packet of seeds I buy. I end up with less diversity than I would have liked, and a preponderance of herbs, all because I hate buying a packet of seeds and only using a few of them. Do you ever improvise while seeding, or do you stand firm to a predesignated plan? Maybe I need more backbone...

kathy said...

Dawnie - I LOVE your list! Today I'm hoping for time to plant my eggplants. And I thought I'd ordered Lima Beans, but can't find them. Ooops. I think I forgot to order a few things. Probably better that way.

Caroline has a great question. How to get the right amount of everything? I would recommend you not worry about using only a few seeds from a packet. The seeds will keep for MANY years and you should view your seed box as a 3-5 year collection. Tomatoes keep 10 years I'm told.

But other than that, planting the right amount is totally random I think. I make space plans and then don't stick at them. (They are mostly for crop rotation.)

Last fall I couldn't bear to trow out garlic shoots and transplanted a full bed to my community plot. Way Too much. This year it'll probably be a show down. I'll have a nice collection of something with no place left, and the only choice will be to remove some garlic.

The other suggestion is to give plants away. Last year I gave away about half of the seedlings I raised. To my parents, a couple neighbors and a several friends. I like the idea of helping to grow more gardens....

kathy said...

Dan, I think lots of light may be good for the onions. The tips of mine are right up in the light bulbs. Touching the bulbs.

Someone else asked about different conditions for different seeds. Only the peppers get a warmer location for germination. Otherwise everything is at room temp and as close to the bulbs as I can get them.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Kathy!
I, too, have a question for you. About growing herbs (chives, thyme, basil, parsley, oregano and cilantro). I'm going to grow all of my herbs mostly in 14 lb kitty liter jugs that I have cut down. They are approx 8" x 5" and 5" deep. How many seeds would you recommend for each container? And I'm also going to grow those herbs in the holes of the cinder blocks that I used to make my berry patch (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries). How many seeds per hole would you say?
Thanks!

~Dawnie

Anonymous said...

Oh yay, I hope those cayennes work out for you again. None of mine germinated when I planted them a couple weeks ago, but I think I had two problems: I didn't keep the flats warm enough, and I used non-sterile soil. I'm going to try again as soon as I get back from this trip I'm on.

Can't wait to see the photos of your seedlings coming up!

kathy said...

HI Amelia!

kathy said...

Dawnie,

This is just how I would do it, but I bet there are at least a million different ways that would work great:

I would plant the seeds in seeds trays indoors soon. Buy the smallest planting cells you can find. Plant about 3-5 seeds per planting cell. (You can thin later to one strong seedling per cell, or just let them all stay together as one plant, or try to separate them.) Plan on needing 4 plants per cinder block hole and maybe 2 couple more for the other containers. (If these get too crowded later, you pull and eat them.) Plant at least twice as many plants as you think you'll need and give the extras away.

Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Kathy; your advice help a lot.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathy! :)

I am happy to report that I spoke too soon about those cayennes. They and the other peppers I planted sprouted over this past week while I was gone on business! It must've been a heat thing. My window probably got nice and toasty during the hot weather last weekend.

Onto tomatoes now!