Monthly Archives: March 2011

Did we start too soon?

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It snowed a lot this week and the tomatoes we transplanted have continued their aggressive growth in their new pots. I’m starting to worry we planted them too early. By next week we’ll need to transplant them into even larger pots. I don’t know how long the large pots will last until they need more room, but it will definitely be interesting.

We finally saw the top of a poblano pepper rising in one of the large pots. I’ve started calling them “slowblanos” because of how much longer they have taken to sprout than everything else. Of course, the black beauty (fat) eggplants haven’t come up yet either, but they were planted later.

Here’s what sprouted this week:

Big pots:
1/2 Poblano peppers

Small pots:
6/6 Cayenne peppers
0/6 Eggplant (fat)

Pellets:
9/11 Sweet Red Bell peppers
6/11 California Wonder Bell peppers
6/6 Lettuce
5/11 Banana peppers
3/5 Brandywine tomatoes
3/4 Early Girl tomatoes
2/5 Big Jim peppers
2/3 Jalapeno peppers
2/2 Limon peppers
2/3 Serrano peppers
1/3 Anaheim peppers
1/1 Green Cabbage
1/6 Mini Belle peppers
1/2 Tomatillos
0/1 Celery
0/1 Cubanelle peppers
0/6 Habanero peppers
0/1 Kohlrabi
0/3 Onion
0/12 Poblano peppers

First transplants

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No, we didn’t move any of the sprouts out to the yard, but we did move some of the tomato sprouts that had been outgrowing their pellets into the small pots today. Hopefully they take to their new pots and continue growing.

The peppers always take longer to sprout than the rest, but this year they really seem to be taking their sweet time. I’m starting to think about starting another round of Poblanos, since none of them have sprouted yet.

Large pots:
2/2 Eggplants (long)
2/2 Jalapeno peppers
2/2 Habanero peppers
0/2 Poblano peppers

Small pots:
6/6 Early Girl tomatoes
6/6 Roma tomatoes
2/2 Basil have
2/2 Cilantro
2/2 Rosemary
1/1 Cumin
1/1 Dill
1/1 Tarragon
1/1 Thyme
0/6 Eggplants (fat)
0/6 Cayenne peppers

Starter pellets:
18/18 Roma tomatoes (transplanted to small pots)
12/12 Red Cabbage
9/12 Jalapeno peppers
8/12 Early Girl tomatoes (transplanted to small pots)
7/11 Brandywine tomatoes (transplanted to small pots)
6/6 Broccoli
6/6 Brussels Sprouts
6/6 Cauliflower
6/6 Kale
5/6 Celery
5/6 Cubanelle peppers
5/6 Green Cabbage
5/6 Kohlrabi
4/6 Limon peppers
4/6 Tomatillos
3/6 Anaheim peppers
3/6 Onion
3/6 Serrano peppers
1/12 Banana peppers
1/6 Big Jim peppers
1/12 California Wonder Bell peppers
1/12 Sweet Red Bell peppers
0/6 Habanero peppers
0/6 Mini Belle peppers
0/12 Poblano peppers

Herbs

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In my attempt to become of better cook I am using more fresh herbs in my cooking.   The nice thing is that the food tastes better. The crappy thing is that fresh herbs excluding cilantro are very expensive at the store.  $3.00 plus for a little basil.

This year as we brought out the lights to start the plants for outside and I started the kitchen window container garden.  Our kitchen window does have one problem.  It hardly gets any sun light.  I’ve thought about hanging a light down from the ceiling but that would be ugly.  I’ve looked on-line at a few different products such as aero gardens and some boxes with adjustable lights.  If what I’m doing right now doesn’t work I will have to try one of the other methods.  I’m hoping that has the plant get big that they will do ok in my kitchen.  I have also plants a bunch of herbs to start the herb garden outside this year.

The other things that I’m trying right now is cold weather veggies.  I thinking about planting them on the side of the house this year.  I think the micro-climate over there is a bit cooler than the main garden.

We have also started our tomatoes and peppers and they are coming along just fine.  It would be really cool this year if we could start all of our vegetables and  flowers from seeds.  Then the only thing that we will need to purchase from the nursery this year is a few replacement trees and a few more bushes.

Here we go again now

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So it’s beenmore than a week since we planted a few things, and nothing has sprouted yet. That’s somewhat disappointing, but it’s also confirmation of the need to start these things early. My current working thesis for the lack of sprouts is that the soil (and the air in my house) is too cold to convince them to start. We put a heating mat under the pots today, so hopefully that will help speed things along. We also went to a few more stores and found some of the seeds we’ve been looking for, like Cayenne Pepper and Black Beauty (Fat) Eggplant.

Planted in 2-inch starter disks:
18 x Roma Tomato
12 x Brandywine Tomato
12 x California Wonder Pepper
12 x Early Girl Tomato
12 x Jalapeno Pepper
12 x Poblano Pepper
12 x Sweet Banana Pepper
12 x Sweet Red Pepper
6 x Anaheim Pepper
6 x Big Jim Pepper
6 x Habanero Pepper
6 x Limon Pepper
6 x Mini Belle Mix
6 x Serrano Pepper
6 x Tomatillo

Planted in 4-inch pots:
6 x Roma Tomato
6 x Early Girl Tomato
6 x Eggplant (Black Beauty)
6 x Cayenne Pepper
2 x Cilantro
2 x Rosemary
1 x Basil
1 x Cumin
1 x Dill
1 x Tarragon
1 x Thyme

It’s almost time to bring up the second rack!