Sprouts! Already!

I have sprouts - some of the tomato seeds are working overtime, I guess. Or, perhaps, (more likely) there are weeds in my potting mix. The leaves aren't unfurled enough to determine whether it's a tomato or not, but I'll guess not.

Since keeping sterile implements and not mixing soil with potting mix isn't my strength, I'll bet it's a weed.

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Edit: April 1 - nope, definitely tomatoes, I have four sprouted today!

ok. I give up trying to make the text look right on that last post.

Everyone will just have to squint or copy-paste into a text editor or something.



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Seeds ordered (Finally!)

Garden seeds have been ordered. I went with Johnny's Seeds again this year, since I've always had good germination from their products, even years later. A few prime choices were either sold out already, or had seed crop failures (Kinko carrots, I was really looking forward to trying greenhouse carrots, too bad)

I have ordered a bunch of dwarf sunflowers and zinnias for half the garden that will be non-vegetable this year, perhaps some sunflowers in the front as well, and the Petunia seeds are hopefully going to be started early enough for filling in around the electrical box in front - I hope the "Explorer Blue" mixed with the "Stella D'Oro" Daylilys work well together. If not, I'll have a clashing garden.

This is my first attempt at starting petunias, but I hear they're not that much trouble if cared for properly. Plus, the cost of a single "Wave Petunia" at retail is about $4 around here, so the $3.95 for 15 seeds gives me 14 to mess up with before I lose money!


LETTUCE
Sylvesta (Lactuca sativa) - Butterhead
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 52
Winter Density (Lactuca sativa) - Bibb/Romaine
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 28 baby, 54 full size

PEAS
Snow Sweet (Pisum sativum) - Snow Peas/Snap Peas
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 60

CARROTS
Navarino (Daucus carota var. sativus) - Early
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 57
Purple Rain (Daucus carota var. sativus) - Purple
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 73
Hercules (Daucus carota var. sativus) - Storage
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 65

BEANS
Fortex (Phaseolus vulgaris) - Pole Bean
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 60

SPINACH
Remington (Spinacia oleracea) - Semi-Savoyed
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 38

SUNFLOWER
Big Smile (Helianthus annuus) - Dwarf Sunflower 12-24"
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 50-60

PETUNIAS
Explorer Blue (Petunia X hybrida) - Similar to Blue Wave®.
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 60-70

ZINNIAS
Sunbow Mix (Zinnia elegans) - 24-30"
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 90

Starting seeds for 2009

After a nice blanket of snow fell last night, I need some dirt to make me feel like spring.


Started 3" peat pots with generic potting mix (actually I think it's a combination of several brands of potting mix that were dumped into the same bucket, whatever works)

What's growing?

• Strawberry - 3 started, I need about 9 more to cover the retaining wall that was stripped of "Lipstick" last fall
• Tomatoes - 9 started, Early Girl, Ace 55, Roma, San Marzano, Oxheart, and Jelly Bean
• Bell peppers - 6 started, Cali Wonder, something else unlabeled
• Cayenne - 3 started
• Basil - 3 started
• Impatiens - 6 started

For now, that's it, I need more strawberries, but I'll start those later. I still need to order some more seeds this year - I'm out of carrots, lettuce, peas, beans, spinach, and I need lots of sunflowers. The plan, with other big events impeding my August and September, is to have half the garden covered in dwarf sunflowers (maybe with pumpkins growing under them). If I get ambitious, I'll put in some zinnias as well.

Eagerly awaiting the snowdrops and daffodils, but it will be a week or more before this snow (and that from the next two storms) melts.
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