Winter revival

It's nearly the end of the year and I haven't posted to this site in many months.  One of my new year's resolutions is to not let the site fade completely.  I won't make any promises to myself about frequent posting, but I do hope to make it happen a few times in this next year.

Radish Harvest!

OK, it's pretty meagre, but I didn't give many of these plants much chance to stretch out their roots.  The few who had the opportunity didn't disappoint.  They look great, but the real test will come when I taste them tonight.

Graduates

Several of my seedlings are lucky enough to relocate to pots large enough in which to mature.  Unfortunately I have only a few of these and many more seedlings still crammed into ice trays.  Poor planning.  The weather is warm enough that I'm going to risk moving them outdoors without the gradual hardening-off process normally recommended.  If it doesn't work out, I take a different approach with other seedlings.  In fact, I turned on the A/C this week, so it's much warmer outside now than it is indoors.  One large pot contains 4 radish plants, which still might be too cramped.  The other large pots will soon contain single chard, chili pepper and tomato plants.

Too much of a good thing?

As I begin to move some of my seedlings into larger pots, I realize I have so far been more successful than I anticipated.  What I mean to say is that I have too many healthy seedlings and not enough pots.  So, I'm scrambling to find old pots, old yogurt containers and whatever else I can to allow these young plants to continue to grow bigger and stronger.  Also, because these plants are not mature enough to start hardening off outside, I'm also scrambling for more sunny window space.  Not that I'm complaining!  I couldn't be happier with how things are growing and I can only hope this continues into and through the summer.

Signs of Life

I'm happy to say that I've managed to not fail miserably in my first two weeks of vegetable gardening.  The lettuce continues to grow.  The radish seedlings are looking hardy and the tomatoes and chili peppers have even begun to emerge.  I planted some radish, Swiss chard (Bright Lights variety) and spinach seeds in small pots outside (west facing deck) and I've seen the radish seedlings emerging there too, despite the coolness and greater temperature fluctuations.

Unfortunately, I think the basil plant is suffering a little because it's been pushed out of the best light in favor of the new seedlings.  If I'm feeling especially lucky, I might try to plant a curry seed or two soon.

Lettuce continues

My lettuce sprouts are still looking good.  The radishes are also coming up fast.  I'm only beginning to see two tomato sprouts and no peppers.  I planted a few more tomato seeds last night in lighter soil.  I might need to do some more if the first batch doesn't come up.

I'm also enjoying reading Alice Waters' "Vegetables" cookbook for inspiration.

Here are the lettuce sprouts as of this morning.

Raphanus sativus

Tonight I planted heirloom "Cherry Belle" radish seeds.  The claim on the packet is that they will be ready to eat in 24 days!  I can only hope it's true.  I considered switching to a dedicated seed germinating soil, which is supposed to be free of chunkier pieces of soil and additional nutrients, but I only saw it available in large bags so decided to take my chances with normal potting soil.  If I'm not getting good results in another week then I'll reconsider.  If the radishes do well, I can plant them again in the fall due to their quick turnaround time.

Also, and this is a bit off topic, but I had some delicious cabbage korma for dinner and felt inspired to try growing my own cabbage next winter.

A new season

Spring officially begins at the end of the week and we already moved the clocks forward yesterday.  I have begun my vegetable gardening experiment by planting seeds indoors for Butterhead Lettuce (Lactuca sativa), Chile Peppers (Capsicum annuum) and Italian Roma Tomatos (Lycopersicon lycopersicum).  This was done last Thursday evening, 4 full days ago, and I am beginning to see sprouts (cotyledons, technically) for the lettuce.

Any plant will encounter several crucial stages during its life and sprouting from seed is obviously critical.  The lettuce seems to be well on its way, so I am now hoping to see something from the chilis and tomatos.  Yesterday I added a flourescent light for several more hours of light to encourage growth.  The seed trays (ice trays) are in an east facing window and we currently get about 12 hours of daylight.  I have the bulb set on a timer for a few additional hours (3:30am to 7:30 am).  If all goes well, the plants will reach full maturity in ~65 to 80 days, but I will move them outside within the next few weeks.