Zinnia germination is slow/sporadic

Not a particularly impressive germination among the zinnias.  None of my favourite red/orange colour have germinated yet... hopefully soon.  Most of the other tubs have only a few sprouts so far.  Oh, they seem to like the heated map (I turned it on for them a few days ago).

Ground cherries appeared

Ah good, the ground cherries have started to appear.  They had me worried there for a bit!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Onions have appeared, and one tuberous begonia

Many onions have appeared, and one of the tuberous begonias.  This happened within the past few days or so.

Still no sign of tuberous begonias

Still no sign of tuberous begonias, but that seems to be normal.  In 2017 it took 3 weeks to see growth; in 2018 it was closer to 6 weeks.

Started celery, parsley, onions, lupins

Started these today:

- celery ("Tall Utah Improved" from foil pack)

- parsley ("Single Hardy Italian" - heirloom)

- onions (collected from last year's onions!)

- lupins (collected from last year's lupins) (an experiment)

All are in vermiculite, scattered seeds, except the lupins, which are in soil, two each in a little pot.  All in a mini "greenhouse" on the heated mat.

Used the last of the beets today!

Wow, beets store great in the fridge.  Used the last beets today, for a pasta recipe.

Started tuberous begonias

Started the two tuberous begonias saved from last year.

Cleaned / bleached all pots

Cleaned / bleached all pots. Rinsed off outside to remove excess soil, then soaked in tub with bleach for a while, then rinsed off and air-dried.  What a huge task. 

Hopefully this will help prevent whatever last year's problem was where everything inside became terribly stunted.

(wrote this note on Feb 16th but it was a couple of months ago when I did this task, so guesstimated Dec 20th)

In my fridge / on my table/counter right now

In my fridge / on my table/counter right now!

- tons of tomatoes, cherry and normal, some ripe, some still green
- 5.5 cups of de-husked ground cherries ready for pie
- a huge bag of swiss chard
- a huge bag of beet greens about to be made into a pasta dish
- a big bag of beets
- a sandwich bag of potatoes (puny harvest)
- several cucumbers
- a bag of celery
- a few jalapeno peppers
- one small green pepper

Still in the garden:  more chard (about half has already succumbed to the cold but some still crisp) and celery; a few more beets; maybe a few carrots but not sure if there's much root to harvest