The First Signs of This Year's Garden

 One of the highlights of gardening is having the ability to start your plants by sowing your own seeds. I like the variety you can get and I love the fact that I can stagger when I plant which then allows me to stagger and prolong the harvest of a variety of plants.

I have a confession. All of my seeds are an heirloom variety of one sort or another except for my Sweet Bell Mix. This sweet bell pepper has a nice number of peppers on each plant and they tend to range from yellow, to orange, to a red-orange. It's a hybrid, but I just love it!

My eggplant is something that I have been experimenting with. It seems to produce quite a bit and I just love how much you can use eggplant in different recipes. This year, I have 5 different varieties! I am excited to see how they all compare to one another.

Most of the seeds that I have started were started on February 17th. Some of the seeds were started on February 20th.

At this point I have seedlings for my cabbage, eggplant, chile peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet peppers, and a couple of varieties of tomatoes.

I have found that I really like the seed starting mix from Henry Fields. My seedlings are kept in that until they reach pretty good size with good root development.

Once the seedlings have a pair of true leaves set, then I will transplant them so that there is just one plant per cell or peat pot.
I will be looking at my seedlings this weekend, unless we get another snow day, and then it will be sooner! When I look at how the seedlings have developed, I will decide which ones I should replant. Some of my seeds were packed for 2014, so I want to be sure they are still viable. Unfortunately, it seems that as soon as you carry over seeds to the next year, they only germinate 50% of the time. So far, it looks like I have a pretty good success rate. Time will tell.

I have a plant rack that I set up in the kitchen. I ended up getting aquarium hoods to use for my lighting and I have found that this system works pretty well.
I'm looking forward to seeing how these seedlings develop and I'm looking forward to transplanting them soon!

Garden Plants are Starting to Emerge

 Today, when I checked my seedlings, I saw that some of them are actually starting to develop the second leaves. (The leaf shapes we are more familiar with when looking at plants.) When seedlings first emerge, they all look pretty similar. It's not until they begin to set the second leaf that they begin to look like something distinct.






There are some differences even in the first sets. Plants such as peppers, eggplant, and tomato, often have more long, narrow leaves.

Plants such as broccoli, cabbage, and herbs such as basil (pictured on the left) all begin with a leaf that is more round and short.

Most of the seeds were started in cell inserts and they will be transplanted into peat pots when they start to set the second leaf. This is a tedious process, but if done carefully, you can plant almost all of the seedlings.

I usually have enough plants for me and enough of each variety to share. I always plant more than I think I will need in case something happens along the way. Sometimes they make it all the way to the hardening off process and then I lose them. But usually, I have a pretty good success rate.

Based on how the seedlings are coming along, I will be able to begin transplanting in a few days, a week at the most.

Seed Starting Has Begun!

Today is the day I finally started my garden for 2012. I pulled out the seed packets, seed starting mix, my garden notebook, and all of the odds and ends that tend to make seed starting a little easier.

I am most concerned about getting my seeds started for plants that perform better if they have some size to them when set out into the garden. So, I focused first on my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. In looking at my seeds, I realized there are a few that I never got around to ordering that I need to get within the next week or so.

I have Early Italian Purple Garlic on order that will ship late March. By that time, I may be able to start some of my cole crops outside or in the cold frame. Who knows with how the weather has been this year!

In terms of starting seeds, it is well worth the investment! Once you have your basic set-up, trays with light set-up, it is really not too expensive. I find that I like being able to have more control over the varieties of vegetables that I plant in my garden. Starting my own seeds allows me to have that control. Using seeds also allows you to plant more heirloom plants which is more economical. One, cheaper than buying plants and two, you can save seeds from year to year.
My seed starting for today consisted of the following;

• Golden California Wonder Pepper
• Fish Pepper
• Pole, Black Krim Tomato
• Black Krim Tomato
• San Marzano Tomato
• Cherokee Purple Tomato
• Long Purple Eggplant
• Rosa Bianca Eggplant
• Black Beauty Eggplant
• Genovese Basil
• Cilantro
• Italian Red of Florence Bunching Scallion
• Paris Island Romaine
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard
• Extra Dwarf Pak Choy
• Brunswick Cabbage
• Tango Green Celery
• Large Bottle Mix Gourd

I have a new cat this year, Pica,  he's only 6 months old and boy has he been curious about what I am doing with the seed trays! He has discovered my plant stand is a great place to hang out. Now the fun begins! Keeping the kitty out of the seed trays!