today's sowing list: sunflowers and soybeans

Normally I would direct seed sunflowers and soybeans, but because of my voracious chipmunk, I am sowing them at home in trays and will transplant.

Sunflowers:
Tahumara white (Sand Hill)
Ling's Grey Stripe (Johnny's)
Elf's blend (Botanical Interests)

Soybeans:
Butterbeans (Johnny's)
Envy (Johnny's)

My soybeans that I planted 2 weeks ago had a germination rate of about 3/30 - bad. Today I remembered that I specifically bought the soybean inoculant and I forgot to use it. Today I added it to the soil as I sowed. I also went ahead and planted 3-4 seeds per cell. I hope to get a good crop.

I mostly eat soybeans as edamame (as an appetizer with salt and directly from the pod). I find that home grown are so much better than store bought - even if they're frozen. The best varieties of soybeans are developed by commercial growers to ripen all at once. So sometime in mid August, I look forward to a week of lots of fresh-from-the-garden edamame, then for a month or so, I have fresh frozen. Then ... its back to the store again ...

The sunflowers are an experiment. Sunflowers don't transplant well. I've killed them several times trying to move volunteers. But I've also bought potted plants and they transplanted fine. I wanted to use peat pots, but didn't have any left. So I used regular plastic seed cells. I'll be try to be careful to not disturb the roots when transplanting.

today's planting list

Today I planted:

4 9-packs of lettuce
4 9-packs of soybeans

Since I couldn't decide on only a couple types of lettuce, I just mixed and scattered seeds for 12 different varieties in the cells.

Both of these will stay inside til the seedlings sprout. Then I'll put the lettuce trays out in the sun. I am keeping the soybeans inside for a while this year as yet another attempt to prevent chipmunks from eating the seeds. Last two years I have found they will eat ALL the seeds I plant until the plants are at least 3-5 inches tall.

today's garden work

It was very hot at 9am in the garden this morning (about 80*F, 27*C), but I got a bunch of seeds planted:

Beans, Roma bush and Tavera filet beans
Dill, Boquet and Mammoth
Borage
Radish
Carrots, Mokum
and POPCORN!!! Golden baby

I planted twice as much popcorn as last year. It sure was yummy!

today's garden work

Remove old dead pear tree and plant new pear (Kieffer) to espalier on fence
Move tomato supports to new location
Direct sow carrots: Mokum and St Valery
Direct sow radish: French Breakfast
Direct sow another package of Crimson Flowered Fava Beans (from Dan)
Transplant onion seedlings to plot
Transplant 6 broccoli seedlings and 6 collard seedlings

seeds planted today

Today I planted:

Pumpkin, Jarrahdale (Botanical Interests)
Pumpkin, Long Island Cheese (Territorial)
Pumpkin, Baby Pam (Fedco)
Pumpkin, Big Rock (Johnny's)
Pumpkin, Galeux D'Eysines (Territorial)
Winter Squash, Waltham Butternut (Sand Hill Preservation)
Winter Squash, Delicata (Botanical Interests)
Cucumber, Diva
Cucumber, North Carolina Pickling (Sand Hill Preservation)
Cucumber, Boston Pickling
Cucumber, Tokiwa (Sand Hill Preservation)
Cucumber, Sweet Success (Burpee)
Summer Squash, patty pan Benning's Green Tint (Territorial)
Summer Squash, patty pan Starship (Johnny's)
Summer Squash, patty pan Sunburst
Summer Squash, Zephyr (yellow straight neck) (Johnny's)
Summer Squash, zucchini Cashflow (Johnny's)
Watermelon, Crimson Sweet (25 lb) (Burpee)
Watermelon, Red Sugar Baby (Johnny's)
Melon, Anne Arundel (Sand Hill Preservation)
Melon, Crane (Sand Hill Preservation)
Melon, Charentais (Johnny's)
Lettuce, Valentine red mix (Botanical Interests)
Lettuce, Oak Leaf mix (Botanical Interests)
Zinnia, Benery's Giant mix (Johnny's)
Bachelor Buttons (Botanical Interests)

This is my last large indoor sowing.

planting seeds - 8 weeks BLF

Pepper, Numex Joe E Parker (Johnny's)
Pepper, Thai hot (Botanical Interests)
Pepper, cayenne, Amelia's (hand collected)
Marigold, Petit mix (Johnny's)
Marigold, Fireball (Johnny's)
Canterbury Bells, Cup and Saucer mix (Burpee)
Gaillardia, Sundance bicolor (Burpee)
Cosmos, Sensation mix (Burpee) 2 flats
Aster, Purple burst (Burpee) 2 flats

seeds planted

I ran out of wooden plant labels, so I have temporary labels cut out of yogurt containers.

List:
Kale, Wild kale mix (Territorial)
Kale, Tuscan (Sand Hill)
Kale, Winterbor (Sand Hill)
Parsley
Thyme, German winter
Eggplant, Black Beauty
Broccoli, Blue Wind (Johnny's)
Broccoli, Marathon (Johnny's)
Tomatoes: Orange Blossom, Box Car Willie, Beaver Lodge, and Cherokee Purple
Eggplant, Black Beauty
Escarole, broadleaf
Collards
Lettuce, Rouge d'Hiver (Ohio Heirloom)
Lettuce, black-seeded Simpson
Lettuce,Big Boston (Burpee)

first seeds planted

These are my first seeds planted this year! They are in seed cells inside under lights. Its 83 days (11 weeks) before my last spring frost.

List:
Echinacea (enormous purple cone flowers hand collected)
Lavender augustifolia
Celeriac, Brilliant
Onion, Frontier
Onion, Ailsa Craig
Onion, Yellow Sweet Spanish
Onion, Rossa Lunga di Firenze
Onion, Ruby Ring
Onion, White Portugal

I am also collecting plastic gallon milk bottles as I'd like to set out a few types of wild flowers and perennial flowers for winter sowing soon.

Sowing 2009
Sowing 2008