Monthly Archives: March 2009

Peeking Out

The seed pouches claimed we would start seeing sprouts 7 to 10 days after we planted them. It’s been 7 days. We are indeed seeing sprouts. So far we’re just starting to see some tiny tomatoes poking their necks out (their heads are still in the dirt).

The good news is that we got our camera back, so I can finally post a few shots of the planters.

Peppers, Tomatillos, and Tomatoes
Peppers, Tomatillos, and Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes

Poking Out
Poking Out

First Planting of 2009

Charmaine came home from Costco with a seed planter, some potting soil, strawberry roots, and turnip seeds. I was excited to get started, so I dumped a bunch of potting soil in the 50 pods of the seed planter.

Brett and Jess brought some pizza over tonight, while we extracted data from an old laptop hard drive. They also brought Nathan, who helped us plant our initial round of seeds in starter pods.

We planted:
20 pods of California Wonder Bell Peppers (Lilly Miller 2009 Lot F1)
10 pods of Toma Verde Tomatillos (Ed Hume 2009 Lot 1)
10 pods of Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomatoes (Ed Hume 2009 Lot 1)
10 pods of Rainbow Heirloom Tomato Blend (Ed Hume 2009 Lot 1)

We are still without a camera, but hopefully we’ll get it back soon.

Welcome to 2009

Just a few weeks ago we gave away the last of the winter squash from last year, and it’s already time to start planting again. 2008 was a great year, but I think we can do even better in 2009. Before winter set in, we borrowed a tiller from Charmaine’s parents and went over most the garden areas several times. It really made a big difference. The dirt is looking great, but I think we’ll want to till it again before we start planting this spring… and it’s already time to start planting the cold weather crops, so we better get moving.

We left some plants to die over winter, but to our surprise, they kept right on growing. It will be interesting to see how the Leeks and Green Onions taste after growing all winter. I will get some pictures up as soon as we find our camera.

About the same time we gave away the last of the squash, we saw seeds start showing up at the store. One day the seeds were on sale and we went a little crazy. Here’s what we have so far:

Pumpkins:
Jack Be Little (dwarf pumpkins)
Big Max (up to 100 pounds)
Spooktacular (small size for kids)
Sugar (perfect for pumpkin pie)
Orange Smoothie (Hybrid)
Connecticut Field (20 pound average)

Winter Squash:
Butternut (Waltham)
Banana (Pink Jumbo)
Vegetable Spaghetti
Acorn (Table King – Bush)
Golden Hubbard

Summer Squash:
Zucchini (Ambassador Hybrid)
Zucchini (Gold Rush)
Golden Summer Crookneck
Scallop Bush Mix (Pattypan)

Root Vegetables:
Green Onion (Evergreen White Bunching)
Parsnip (Hollow Crown)
Parsnip (Andover)
Carrot (Danvers Half Long)
Carrot (Nantes Coreless)
Carrot (Rainbow – Red, Purple, White, Yellow, and Orange)
Carrot (Big Top)
Beet (Early Wonder)

Herbs:
Cilantro (Coriander)
Florence Fennel (Finocchio)
Garlic Chives
Basil (Italian Large Leaf)
Sage

Peas:
Peas (Sugar Snap – Pole)
Peas (Super Sugar Snap – Pole)
Peas (Oregon Sugar Pod II – Bush)
Peas (Little Marvel – Bush)

Beans:
Beans (Slenderette Bush)
Beans (Blue Lake Pole)
Beans (Rattlesnake – Pole)

Corn:
Corn (Earlivee – Hybrid)
Corn (Kandy Korn – Hybrid)
Corn (Golden Cross Bantam T-51 – Hybrid)

Cucumber:
Cucumber (Armenian)
Cucumber (Lemon)

Melons:
Watermelon (Sugar Baby)
Cantaloupe (Charentais)

Tomatoes:
Tomato (Cherokee Purple Heirloom)
Tomato (Heirloom Rainbow Blend)

Other stuff:
Tomatillo (Toma Verde)
Pepper (California Wonder)
Kale (Nero Toscana)
Cabbage (Red Acre)
Sunflower (Mammoth Grey Stripe)

Seeds we’re still thinking about getting:
Radish
Pumpkin (Giant)
Tomato (Yellow Pear)
Tomato (Roma)
Onion
Potatoes
Eggplant
Cucumber (English)
Lettuce (Romaine)