1 April - starting petunias

Johnny's package came in the mail today (just like Christmas!). So I've gotten started on my petunia seeds.

Fifteen 3" peat pots with potting mix (sprayed down on top with a mister) and soaking in water from the bottom are ready to go on my shelf. I purchased pelleted petunia seeds, since the tiny seeds are so difficult to handle - the pelleted ones are not much better, but at least I can see them when pelleted. The starting instructions I'm using are a combination of what Johnny's provides with the seeds, and what I found online at the University of Minnesota Extension.

The tray has been put under the lights, and plastic wrap is covering it to keep the seeds moist. (petunias need light to germinate). I'm a glutton for punishment, so I put one seed per pot, we'll see how well they do gambling on germination rates, but Johnny's has had very good seeds every time I order from there, so I expect nearly 100%.

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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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Garden Planner Beta testers---

I've sent out a beta to several testers.
Notes for those of you who came here to look for more information...

• you need to install MS Excel Analysis Toolpak - (on office 2007, hit the round button, and "Excel Options" on the lower right, then choose "add-ins" and follow prompts to install)
• I forgot to add a couple succession planting numbers, so it won't calculate multiple harvests for Peas, Pole Beans, and Peppers.

--Mickey

Garden Planner Spreadsheet

I've been putting this spreadsheet together for several years now, and it's finally in a fairly useful stage. Since I haven't been convinced by anyone to make it into a 'real' application, it's currently in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, with heavy use of multi-worksheet formulas, form controls, and a couple macros.

The final output (at right) is a form with drop-down crop variety selections, room for cultivars, order info, source, and it automatically populates a weekly calendar with tasks for the garden. The succession planting column allows for scheduling multiple iterations of the crop without confusing the scheduler. Everything is based off the Last Frost date as entered in the spreadsheet, so the scheduler is portable to other zones.

Future improvements I'm still working on are a automatic bed plan, and some different output options for the schedule. The bed plan will order crops by family (Legumes, Brassicas, Roots, Curcurbits & Grains, Solanaceae, and Alliaceae); and keeps historical records from the last several years of crops to facilitate rotation for pest control and maintain soil nutrients. Schedule output options I'd like to add are a printable schedule based on popular binder-style planners, and outputs to Microsoft Outlook and/or Google Calendar appointment systems.

I've created a small version that I could email, if you want to try it out for yourself.

--Mickey