Rookie Mistake

I didn't realize that morning glories grew so fast. Now my petunia seedlings have been left in the dust. See the picture below. You can't even see my petunias yet. They're in the pots in front of the morning glories.

I want to keep the grow light as close to the other plants as possible, but the morning glories are too tall. This leaves a couple of options:
1. Tilt the grow light.
2. Push the morning glories to the side.
3. Move the whole tray to the right so the morning glories are to the right of the light.

Morning glories on the right. The tall plants on the left and in the middle are onions.

I performed selective reduction today for all of the plants that had moved beyond seed leaves. It is hard to kill the little guys. This is part of the reason I've been cautious to not plant too many pots of each type of plant. Last year, I bought a six-pack of tomatoes and didn't have the heart to get rid of the extras. I ended up with tomatoes coming out of my ears, instead. Onion sprouts, by the way, are tasty.

Meanwhile, outside, it continues to be winter though the calendar reports that we've passed the spring equinox. The weather is in the 20-40s. And it is mostly brown outside with a few spikes of green.


My garden, March 26.



Chives and crocuses.

Baby Pictures

Seedlings.

Morning Glories. Day of life #4!


Onions.


Thai Peppers.

Marigolds.

Progress

Most of my seedlings have sprouted at amazing speed. I am proud of my precocious little guys who are surpassing their developmental milestones. On the other hand, now I can't blame them in the event of their untimely demise.


Photo: Mostly onions with some little Thai peppers in the background. Plant markers are made from a cut up milk carton labeled with Sharpie.

My grow light is up and running. I have it on a timer so it turns on at 6am and off at 8pm. I've been contemplating getting a warming pad for germination.

Dan planted his bell peppers and early cabbage today. He did a nice, neat job of it. Even sorted the seeds by color in the hope that the pepper mix will produce a true mix of colors. It is so tempting to grow more seeds than we need!

Out in the garden, the soil is warming up a little. More bulbs are sprouting. I think the crocuses are almost 1/2 an inch tall now. Friday is the official first day of spring. We're expecting temps ranging from 28 for a low to 57 for a high and then rain at the beginning of next week.

Plant Notes

1. Thai Dragon Pepper
Lake Valley Seed - 2009
Planted Monday, 3/9, germinated 3/17. Should mature 5/18 (70 days).
2. Spanish Utah Onion
Lake Valley Seed – 2009
Planted Monday, 3/9, germinated 3/16. Should mature 6/17 (100 days).
3. Candy Hybrid Onion
Lake Valley Seed – 2009
Planted Monday, 3/9, germinated 3/16. Should mature 6/2 (85 days).
4. Sweet Basil
Burpee - 2008
Planted Sunday, 3/15, germinated 3/19.
5. Marigolds
seeds from last year's garden, originally a yellow/orange mix from Linder's
Planted Sunday, 3/15, germinated 3/17.
6. Petunia Pearls Royal Blue
Burpee - 2009
Planted Monday, 3/16, germinated 3/23.
3(?)/pot, seeds tiny! Only two seedlings (total). I wonder if the seed packet had leaked and I was just planting the filler/preservative that came in the packet.
7. Morning Glory Clarks's Heavenly Blue
Livingston Seed Company - 2009
Planted Monday, 3/16, germinated 3/18.
Grow tall fast: 1.75 inches tall on 3/19, 5.5 inches tall 3/24.
8. Pepper Carnival Mix
Burpee - 2009
Planted Wednesday, 3/18, germinated 3/27. Should mature 5/26 (70 days).
Tried to sort seeds by color (?)
9. Pepper Big Dipper
Burpee - 2009
Planted Wednesday, 3/18, germinated 3/29. Should mature 5/29 (73 days).
10. Cabbage Earliana
Burpee - 2009
Planted Wednesday, 3/18, germinated 3/26. Should mature 5/16 (60 days).
11. Tomato Super Beefsteak
Burpee - 2008
Planted Friday 3/27, germinated 4/1. Should mature 6/15 (80 days).
12. Snapdragon Tall Deluxe Mixed Colors
American Seed - 1997(!)
Planted Friday 3/27, germinated 4/7.
MANY/pot (old seeds)
13. Petunias
seeds from last year's garden -originally dark purple from Linder's.
Planted Friday 3/27, germinated 4/3.
MANY/pot resulted in many seedlings.
14. Tomato Sun Gold Hybrid
Burpee - 2009
Planted Monday 3/30, germinated 4/4. Should mature 6/3 (65 days).
15. Tomato Big Boy Hybrid
Burpee - 2009
Planted Monday 3/30, germinated 4/4. Should mature 6/16 (78 days).
16. Cabbage Red Acre
Livingston Seed Company - 2009
Planted Wednesday 4/1, germinated 4/7. Should mature 6/15-20 (75-80 days).
17. Cabbage Premium Flat Dutch Late
Livingston Seed Company - 2009
Planted Wednesday 4/1, germinated 4/9. Should mature 6/20-7/10 (80-100 days).
18. Cabbage Early Jersey Wakefield
Livingston Seed Company - 2009
Planted Wednesday 4/1, germinated 4/7. Should mature 6/3 (63 days).
19. Okra Red Burgundy
Thompson & Morgan - 2009
Planted Wednesday 4/8, germinated 4/10. Should mature (85 days).
20. Zinnia Sombrero
Jung Seed Co. - old (?year)
Planted Wednesday 4/8.
Old seed, planted at least 5/pot. Only two germinated. They were both in the same pot.
21. Cilantro
Planted 4/13.

Garden in March

I am extremely grateful to Augsburg College for this Community Garden. The garden was created in 2008. Thanks to some great leadership, it is already a thriving garden.


View to the northwest, toward the U of MN.

View to the southwest, toward Augsburg College.
My plot is the one in the foreground.
The greenhouse is on the far side of the garden.

View to the northeast, toward downtown Minneapolis.

View to the south.

This cottonwood tree is beloved in this neighborhood. When the organizers of the garden asked for neighbors input, they said, "just don't hurt the cottonwood."

The First Signs of Spring

It has been in the 40s this weekend. The snow is melting and everything is brown. The first glimmer of spring has everyone, including me, energized.

I went out to check on the garden last night after dark and was suprised to see a little green! I truly didn't expect to see anything other than brown.

I'm not sure which bulb this is, but it appears to be sprouting (see the little red tip).

My chives are starting to get a little green.

My dianthus is already lush and green.

Onions and Thai Peppers are Seeded

Temporary labels: toothpicks and note cards.

No light needed yet while these seeds germinate.

Seeds

Today I sat down with Dan and decided what we wanted to plant. I went through my "garden box" and discovered that I have accumulated a lot of seeds over the last 15 years. And then we went to Linder's to pick up what I didn't have.

My job: thai peppers, purple petunias, and onions.
Dan's job: cabbage, bell peppers, anc cucumbers.

Of course, we found a few things we didn't know we needed before.

I looked over my planting calendar and it looks like the onions are overdue for planting. So I got them in today. Awww, my first plants. The thai peppers, it appears, like to start early, too. So they're in as well. Fresh potting soil smells good.

Today I planted:
1. Thai Dragon Pepper
2. Spanish Utah Onion
3. Candy Hybrid Onion

In the beginning...

I am doing two firsts this year. I am starting a garden indoors and I am starting a blog.

Like all living things, this is not truly the beginning, but the culmination of events that preceeded. I have a community garden plot at Augsburg College. I planted my bulbs last fall on a beautiful, cool day. And, since that time, I have been dreaming about what I would plant in the spring.

My friend, Aneesa, inspired me to start plants inside. This is something I've only done on tiny scale before (a random tomato, herb, or sprounted potato).

So ideas for this garden have been percolating for months. About the time it seemed that planting time was drawing near, I decided I should probably purchase grow lights. This took a whole day and an education on how to wire fluorescent lights. I am still hoping that I don't burn the building down. But they look great.