Sunday, March 31, 2019

Haven't been using heat mat at all

Just a reminder that I haven't been using the heat mat at all.  Used it for the very first batch of things on February 16th, then not again.  (Just trying to avoid the stunted growth issue from last year... no idea if it could have related somehow to the heat mat)

Where are the ground cherries?

Tomatos appeared several days ago and have since been transplanted, but, no sign yet of the ground cherries...  Haven't used the heat mat at all, maybe they'd prefer more warmth.  Will give it a few more days.

Sowed zinnias

Sowed a bunch of zinnias, all from seeds collected last year, in vermiculite tubs.  This is three weeks earlier than last year when I found the blooms started later than I'd like.

- 12 of my favourite reddish/orange tall
- 12 yellow tall
- 12 light pink tall
- 6 each of red, orange, pink, pink/purple tall, mixed in two tubs
- 10 each of short pink and short yellow

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Sowed second round of Italian chard o

Sowed a second round of the Italian brand of chard, since I got only 5 plants out of the first.  Hope to get another 5.  Put this second round into the same container / same vermiculite as the first round.

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Sowed tomatoes, ground cherries, basils, black-eyed susans

Sowed in vermiculite, placed under dome but no heat mat:

- tomatoes large (beefsteak?) collected in 2018
- tomatoes medium collected in 2018
- tomatoes cherry collected in 2018

- ground cherries collected in 2018

- thai basil collected in 2018
- normal basil from seed packet bought last year
- purple basil collected in 2018

- black-eyed susans collected in 2018

Friday, March 22, 2019

Potted celery, fordhook chard, and more parsley

Potted:

- celery x 4

- parlsey x ? for total of 5

- fordhook chard x 10

Of note, the fordhook chard germinated ~2 days before the Italian variety appeared.  Will wait a few more days before transplanting the Italian chard.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Paper towel germination test results -- and transplanted some of the parsley volunteers

On March 1st I began a paper towel / sandwich bag germination test.  Stupidly, I stored them in the fridge for the first week or so.  After that they stayed on the kitchen table for the rest of the test.

Results as of today, after which I'm ending the test:

Celery:  80% germination rate

Parsley:  50% germination rate

Since I only have two good looking parsley going, and unsure if the round two parsleys are going to amount to anything, decided to try transplanting some of these parsleys.  So, put four of them into soil, with two per pot and will thin to one per pot later if they take.

Saturday, March 16, 2019

Sowed swiss chard -- two varieties -- NO heat mat

Two varieties of chard sown today.  Decided NOT to turn on the heat mat for these, just not necessary.  Simply put the dome over them.

1 - fordhook (from old seed packet) -- 8 seed clusters

2 - something in an Italian package -- the photo on the package has very smooth leaves which is what I want (flat leaves = much easier to see insects), so hopefully this one will have nice smooth leaves -- 8 seed clusters

Friday, March 15, 2019

General update

General update:

All of the current vermiculite pots have sprouted now, although not the best germination rate overall.

Celery:  Several have appeared, so I should be good now for celery

Parsley:  Two from the original sowing are now in soil and look to be doing ok.  Two from the second sowing have appeared, but are still tiny and look very wimpy.  Haven't repotted them yet.  Time will tell.

Onions:  Lots of them, looking great, which I potted into soil about a week ago.  Some I put into smaller containers, and some I put four into a single container, so it will be interesting to see if they all do well.

Lupins:  Only one of the lupins sprouted, and is looking good.  (It was sowed in soil, so hasn't been repotted.)

Tuberous begonias:  The one that sprouted (the pink one, sigh) looks great -- hope it will slow down its growth though!  I just now dug into the other tuberous begonia, thinking it was a dud, but found a sprout growth thing.  So, covered it back up.  Hopefully it will turn into something, especially as I prefer the yellow.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Sowed more parsley and celery

Sowed more parsley and celery.  This is because so far only two of the parsley first round have appeared, and they don't look well.  And, I think my celery first round will be a total flop because I think the seeds got all tossed about and ended up deeper in the vermiculate due to some clumsy watering.

Paper towel germination test

For the first time, decided to try the paper towel test.
-  Moisten a paper towel.
-  Place 10 seeds on it. 
-  Fold it up.
-  Put it in a ziploc sandwich bag.
- [edited to add:  Place it in a warm spot, like the kitchen table (not in the fridge).]
-  A week or two or three later, count how many have germinated.

Did this with celery and parsley.