In 26 years my vines have ripened grapes once. In 25 years my garden has ripened cantelope melons once. This year, I have both melons and a huge crop of ripe grapes. Yum.
Job done
Finally, 1100 tomato seedlings (115 heirloom varieties) moved into individual 3″ pots. Now I will have just a week or two of rest before i have to start transplanting them into 4″ and/or 5″ pots in preparation for taking them to retail outlets.
One thing always amazes me. The 115 varieties differ so much in their growth habits that I can identify most of the varieties based solely on the appearance of the 4″ tall seedlings.
A thousand?
Hmmm… it looks like I will be busy this weekend. Time to transfer 1000 tomato seedlings into individual 3″ pots.
It is Spring (somewhere)
It is Spring and the gentle March sun warms the daffofils …. oh wait, I forgot, I live in the Pacific Northwest. When I visited my tomato seedlings in the greenhouse this morning, this is what I saw.
Early veg
My parsley, lettuce, broccoli and Brussels sprout seedlings just grew their first “true” leaves, so I replanted them into their own pots in the greenhouse.
Heated bed
I just placed a new addition in my greenhouse. This 3′ x 4′ bed of sand is warmed to 74 degrees by a buried 250 watt heating cable. My first little tomato seedlings look a little weak and leggy – let’s see what a few days in the new environment do for them.
Strawberry Patch
A one-day hiatus in the rainfall allowed me to get 75 Seascape strawberry plants set into the garden. I kept this bed covered with plastic for several weeks, which kept the soil dry enough to be worked.
Finally a sunny day
Today the greenhouse is pleasantly warm. Onions, parsley, lettuce, brussel sprouts and broccoli seedlings all look very happy.
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Punxsutawney Phil
Don’t mean no disrespect for Phil; no doubt his forecasts are great for the East, but he doesn’t know beans about Pacific Northwest weather. Groundhogs are not native to our area. Probably we need to find a mountain beaver to do the forecast. 6 more weeks of constant rain? Or SUNSHINE?
Inauguration day
January 21 is probably an odd day to start a gardening website. Beginning this task today no doubt reflects my longing for the arrival of spring. At the moment, the weather is better suited for growing hoar frost than vegetables.
Even so, 4 days ago I planted a few 4″ pots with a scattering of seeds for parsley, yellow onions, red onions, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. The Brussels sprouts and broccoli were both sprouted today so I placed them in my greenhouse. As the night-time temperatures are presently about 30 F and the greenhouse is unheated, it will take a bit of luck for the seedlings to survive.