Sunday, February 15, 2015

Seeds are sprouted. What now?

The bulk of my seeds have been sprouted for a week or so.  Some watermelons haven't come up yet as well as some peppers and tomatoes.  No big shock there.


I'm finding myself with a bit of a challenge, unfortunately.  We're still in the townhouse despite our perennial plan to get out "next year" (sigh!) with this being our 5th year of that plan.  I digress.

The challenge.  The Boy will be six years in a few months.  He's a very active 6 yr old and has Legos and whatnot all over his dresser where I used to put the seedlings until I was ready to transplant and put them on the grow shelves in the basement.  So there's no room in there.

Our daughter's room is kept dark since she's still taking naps.  She also is an exceptionally grabby 2 yrs old.  Far moreso than The Boy was at her age.

For now, we have the sprouts in the kitchen, but that is neither as warm as their bedrooms (which are south-facing) nor does it get all that much sunlight being on the north side of the house.  As a result, they're getting quite leggy. 

I could put them under the grow lights early, but that room in the basement just isn't as warm as elsewhere in the house.  Quite a quandary.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Back to the Blog - looking back at 2014, planning for 2015

Been a while since I posted to the blog.

My resolutions this year are to not ignore the blog and to not neglect the garden.  This year, I intend to return to what I did back in 2013; I'm going to resume weighing my produce and taking pictures as it comes in.  I find it gives me another reason to post to the blog.

So.....looking forward!  I started seeds yesterday.  Don't know what made me want to start it at this point; could be because it was another cold January day in Maryland.

Thus far, it's the same stuff as last year:
  • San Marzano and Old Virginia tomatoes
  • Cayenne and Carolina Wonder (bell) peppers
  • Basil
  • Blacktail Mountain watermelons
  • Lacinato (dinosaur) kale
  • Balcony Petunias
  • French Marigolds
I still need to start my cucumbers.  I'll also be direct sowing sugar snap peas, lettuce, carrots, and radishes (both daikon and standard).  Wifey wants to experiment with purple carrots and potatoes this year.  Hopefully, we actually get around to it.

These containers actually have organic seed starting mix in them.  I just use the containers from year to year to save on cost.