Planted seeds!

[rainbowgardener]

Everything has sprouted. Today I up-potted broccoli, gerania, fennel. The broccoli should have been done sooner, it was pretty root bound.

Planted tomatoes, green basil, sage, African marigolds.

Lots more to come yet! I'm feeling a little behind the season already, need to put a little more time in, get more things up-potted to make more planting room....

[applestar]

I finally got around to completely rummaging through my seed storage box and I found some broccoli seeds -- Waltham 29 -- that was intended for fall planting so I planted those as well as White Gold Romanesco variety that I forgot I had. I also found the last 2 Luffa seeds that I was sure I still had but couldn't find last spring. Planted those as well as Cossack Pineapple Ground Cherries. When they are off the heating mat, I'll start my eggplants, peppers, okra, and tomatoes. This will give me time to re-inventory all my tomato seeds and decide what can go where....

Other seeds waiting in line are cotton and some flower seeds. I'm dithering about salvia -- I LOVED how they grew last year and I should've started them already. I really had/have more seeds than I expected in that box. I also have plenty of peas and beans saved. Still managing/trying to talk myself out of buying any more seeds.... (ALTHOUGH I started to fill shopping baskets at three different websites and marked up 4 different seed catalogs yesterday... )

I also planted more Yellow Spanish and Red Whethersfield onion seeds, Lg. American Flag and Carentan leek seeds, and pricked out and rearranged Early Snowball cauliflower seedlings so I have 5 good ones and more -- better distributed -- in the community pot.

I didn't scatter the Oregano and Marjoram seeds well enough and I have some massed clumps. Thin them with tweezers? Break up the clumps into better distribution and plant? Hmm...??? Those tiny seeds almost always either don't have good germination rate so you scatter them too thinly and have nothing to show or ALL germinate into tiny matted forests

How do you organize your seeds? I decided to divide them into Direct Seeded ones vs. Started Indoors ones as the first major division, then sorted by timing. Last year, I sorted them by WHEN they'll be planted -- indoors or out.

[rainbowgardener]

As you said.. I have them sorted by indoors vs outdoors. Within those divisions, it's sorted into early vs late. The outdoors ones are just in a little box, the indoors ones are in a couple different manila 8x12" envelopes.

For the seedling clumps, I think someone here last year suggested lift the clump and put it in a cup of water. All the little seedlings should float apart once the soil is dissolved away from them, to be replanted.

I usually just let them stay clumped til they are a little bigger, getting true leaves and then prick them out. I lose some that way, but at that point you have too many anyway.

[applestar]

Thanks! It does seem like a more logical way to organize them.

...and I'll let the little ones grow up some more. It's easier to cull them when you're feeling the pressure of space crunch.

**
AAANNNDDD.... that was a short-lived resolution I decided I HAD to get FAVA/Broadbean seeds -- the kids love the small amount I harvested last year (and they have to get planted early, with the peas), and I was looking for Garbanzos. The one place that had Garbanzos didn't have the variety broadbean I was looking for, so two different websites. But you can't just buy one packet of seeds -- shipping would cost more than the seeds, so I started shopping....

Ended up with watermelon radish which I read was same as Red Meat that I was looking for (hope that's true -- I gave up on the Red Meat radish website because, you know, that would've been a whole another order Is there anyt truth to the description that flavor is "sweet"? I'm trying to find one that the kids will eat.), Rocky Ford and Jenny Lind melons (like I needed more melon varieties in my seed box -- I WAS intending to wait until next year for this one), Seascape strawberry plants (THANKS A LOT, Eric ), shallots (because I thought you could only get them for Fall shipping but this place had them for spring) and onion sets (because I had the sudden feeling of despair that all those onion seeds I sowed will never amount to much of transplantable/good potential seedlings. )... among other things.

[gixxerific]

Sorting! LOL You girls are too funny.

But really I just put all mine together and than late winter get them out and sort them by early and late and indoor and outdoor as well. I spread them out on my work bench. Not the prettiest but it works for me.

[rainbowgardener]

Spring is coming!

Things that have been potted up into the three inch pots:

lavender, spearmint, red basil, dill, geraniums, broccoli, green pepper, fennel, thyme, parsley

Things that have been planted, that are still in the cells (some are recently planted, just sprouting):

nicotiana, tithonia, salvia, petunias, purple coneflower, marigolds, sage, impatiens, tomatoes, green basil, coleus, onions

I'm looking at the forecast and thinking this weekend I will start planting outdoors, the lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, and swiss chard, and start hardening off the broccoli.... YAY!! It's a couple weeks earlier than I usually do, but the ground is definitely workable and lows are just above freezing most of the days in the forecast. Global warming strikes?

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I started the first seeds. Now the whole bottom shelf is full of plants and it won't be long before I start on the second shelf.

[rainbowgardener]

I always say the hardest part of the seed starting process for me to do correctly is hardening off.

I took my whole tray full of beautiful 6 - 8" tall, leafy broccoli plants and put them out on the deck day before yesterday when in was 60 + degrees out, intending to just let them soak up some sun for a few hours and bring them back in. Then I somehow managed to totally forget about them! They sat out there until about midnight last night, through a rainstorm and a sudden drop in temps. By the time I brought them in, it was below freezing out. They were looking quite sad and wilty.

NOT the recommended way to harden a plant off!! But I brought them in and put them under a light and this morning they are looking quite a bit better, perked up already. Amazing!

[applestar]

Oh, whew! When I started reading, I was afraid you'd lost them!

Glad they're coming back. Another nice day today here.
I REALLY have to get movin' !!

[alaskagold]

Well, for a sure sign of spring... I saw last night some pussy willows on a tree.

When I see those, 6 weeks till spring for me, 3-4 for you all down there.

[rainbowgardener]

After 36 hrs recuperating indoors, the broccoli are looking beautiful, better than ever! They will go back outside for awhile today and hopefully I won't forget them this time!

[M.Clark]

On 2/15 I started the following:
4 varieties of tomatoes,
3 varieties of pepper (2 hot, one not),
Eggplant,
Cucumber,
Chives,
Collard greens,
Lettuce,
Cabbage,
Corn,
Spinach (only thing that did not come up yet)
Leeks
Swiss Chard
Broccoli

For many of these, I only started ¼ to ½ what I plan on for the year. That way things will be ready for harvest at different times and not quite all at once. Since I planted these, the shot up (older heating pad on low under the trays), and already transplanted the tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, and broccoli into larger containers.

I plan no starting more plants on 3/15 in doors and hope that I will have my cold frame hoop house set up which would allow me to sow the root plants and 1st starts out doors. The final sowing will be on 4/15 which might be a direct sowing (depending on temps)

[rainbowgardener]

Potted up the baby onions--something I've never done before, since usually I direct seed onions.

Took the onions, parsley, and thyme outside to start hardening off with the broccoli. 40-some degrees and light rain right now. Supposed to go up almost to 60 today, but not looking like it will make it. All of it will still be going in and out for awhile. Snow in the forecast again on Sun!

Working on up-potting all the tomatoes!

[rainbowgardener]

The soil can be worked! For all those "plant as soon as the soil can be worked" veggies, that is now. I turned the soil in one bed over with a shovel and it just all fell apart into the prettiest seed bed! Yesterday I planted swiss chard, mixed lettuces, and spinach outside.

Planted amaranth indoors.

The trays of broccoli, onions, thyme, parsley are still going in and out, but maybe stay out starting from today... If that works, probably put them in the ground this coming weekend.

[applestar]

Me too! Planted yesterday outside -- Fava beans, Dakota shelling peas, snap peas (of course my snowpea seeds are still not here ), rainbow swiss chard, two kinds of mustard, Red Russian kale, radish, two kinds of spinach.

[2cents]

RG,
Hope you brought everything in.
We had snow over here.
Still I will be putting onions & radishes in the ground this weekend.
What do you think of putting out Kolrabi this early.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, I've got snow on the ground too. The trays of broccoli, thyme, onion, parsley are back in the house. There are seeds in the ground, lettuce, swiss chard, spinach. They will be fine. It's all cold hardy stuff, I'm not worried. Probably the plants would have survived if left out, they've been out enough now, but the onions are mostly still so thin and spindly I decided not to stress them. I haven't grown kohlrabi myself, but I think it is very cold hardy and should be fine. This time of year it gets cold, but it doesn't stay cold real long.

[rainbowgardener]

Took 10 trays of plants over to church to sell off tomorrow. I have already planted a bunch of stuff and have several more trays of plants sitting outside waiting to be planted. That leaves just 7 trays under the lights downstairs and I turned off a couple of the light fixtures. Another couple weeks and the indoor seed starting will be done for the season! Every single seedling is in its own pot now.

Incidentally, something interesting. I got busy with outdoor work and not paying as much attention to the indoor stuff, just throwing a little water in the trays now and then. Since the seedlings were too big to be affected by damping off, I quit bothering with the cinnamon and chamomile in the water. Guess what... I now have a whole bunch of fungus gnats, after not having any up until now. It makes it clear that it was the cinnamon/chamomile keeping them at bay (more likely keeping down the fungus they feed on). ... At this point I will probably just live with them for the last couple weeks. As soon as I shut down the seed starting operation, they will go away.