Things are getting busier and busier around here with the garden. The frost free date is fast approaching and there is a lot of work to do yet. This post I decided to share photos of SOME of my seed trays. All of the seedlings you will see here were all planted by me from seed and either grown under lights in the house or ... as an experiment grown outside in their flats under sunlight(which seems to be working just fine so far).
Above you can see my first wave of cabbages (with some basil on the right) both red and green. The day this photo was their last day in a seed tray as they graduated to the garden shortly after this was taken. The seeds were planted on March 24th.
Here we have parsley in the front, more basil (I'm determined to have lots of basil this year) and Brussels sprouts. The seeds were planted on April 4th.
In one of my outdoor seed starting trays I planted a whole flat of sunflowers (something I'm also determined to have this year). This shows a before thinning view of some sunflowers that are growing from seeds I've saved from last years ONLY surviving sunflower.
After being thinned a day ago. On the left you have sunflowers from store bought seeds and on the right you have ones from the seeds I saved from last year. Last year I direct sowed sunflower seeds in the garden... only to have most of the seedlings devoured by slugs and the surviving ones eaten by... a ground hog (I think, but still am not sure. What else could be tall enough to chomp off the head of a over a foot tall plant?). The sole surviving plant was actually an accidental planting in the yard, which I let grow of course and saved the seeds from that before the birds got to it. These plants originate from our days in the community garden and warrant their own story another time. These seeds were sown on May 2nd.
Ah squash, yet another attempt at success from last years horrid failures. I swear nothing seemed to work out last year where I either tried to pre-sprout squash seeds in between paper towel or direct seeded into the garden. Most did not even germinate and the ones that became plants were totally pathetic and we'll leave it at that. So this year I decided to do something I've never done before, and that is to start seedlings indoors (here zucchini on the left and cucumbers on the right). Squash plants do not like to be transplanted, its something to do with sensitivity to the shock of the process. Or so I've read. Yet I've heard of gardeners successfully transplanting seedlings they have grown and also see them for sale at garden stores... so I'm wondering if the transplanting shock warning is just a finer point. I'm not typically a fan of peat pots (they dry out too fast) but this was the only way I could see of making a compromise for the plants. Peat pots can be planted into the ground when its time to transplant, which will mean I could minimize any disturbance to the roots this way- I hope.
The seedlings after thinning. As hard as it was to let go, its for their own good. Thinning makes me think about the balance between life and death. I will not wax philosophical here today. These seeds were sown on May 2nd.
Eggplant! I've never ever grown it before. In fact the only time I've seen it grown was in one garden plot back in the days of the community garden. So I'm giving it a try.
Tomatillo! Again something I've never grown before, but am very excited about. The first time I saw a tomatillo plant was a couple years ago in the amazing garden of a friend of my boyfriend's brother. Salsa verde here I come!
Both the eggplant and tomatillo were sown on April 4th.
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