I must be crazy. I have 12 shop lights hanging on 2 racks. I would have more, but the style of shop light I have been buying is out of stock at both the local Home Depot stores in my area. That’s right, I have to wait for Home Depot to restock before I can buy any more (unless I break down and buy some other style). And I’m already chomping at the bit to get 4 more. I must be crazy.

Not a lot has changed this week, other than adding the two lights. Charmaine came home from San Diego and we re-potted a bunch of peppers (which only adds to my need to get more lights). But she also brought the camera back, so the pictures should be better quality (or at least higher resolution).

There are too many sprouts to list now, or at least more than I’m willing to count. Some of the 12×24 planter (with the terrible jiffy soil) have finally sprouted, and I’m just not willing to count them anymore until they are re-potted.

Potted in large containers:
33 Roma Tomatoes
24 Jalapeno Peppers
18 Poblano Peppers
16 Cascabella Peppers
12 Banana Peppers
3 Winter Squash (I should have kept track of what squash I was planting)
2 Anaheim Peppers

Charmaine packed up and headed to San Diego this morning, so I spent the day putting together a second baker’s rack and a few more lights. I also transplanted the first round of tomato seedlings into bigger pots. The first round of peppers are probably ready to be transplanted as well, and I have enough dirt and pots for them, but I’ll need more lights before it makes sense to do. The dirt for the transplant is some new Miracle-Gro potting mix that we picked up at IFA. There was no way I would sacrifice any more plants to the sure-death Jiffy soil.

One thing I didn’t count on was being without a camera today (Charmaine took it to San Diego), so you’ll have to settle for pictures from the world’s worst camera (my iPhone).

Sprouted so far:
33 Roma Tomatoes (we removed 3)
22 Jalapeno Peppers
21 Orange Sun Peppers
20 Big Boy Tomatoes
19 Brandywine Tomatoes
15 Banana Peppers
14 Poblano Peppers
12 Peperoncinis
12 Sweet 100 Tomatoes
11 Habanero Peppers
11 Tomatillos
10 California Wonder Peppers
10 Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
9 Anaheim Peppers
7 Squash (What was I thinking?)
1 Eggplant
0 Hungarian Yellow Wax Peppers
0 Big Bertha Peppers
0 Sweet Red Peppers
0 Big Jim Peppers

The peppers are sprouting! The package said to expect 12-21 days for germination, but the heated seeds sprouted in about 5 days. That’s absolutely amazing. The tomatoes have also sprouted, but it’s not nearly as amazing to me, since tomatoes sprout much more quickly than peppers.

We’re a little over a week into this year’s garden. We haven’t planted anything more, because we have been down in Moab, but here are my observations thus far…

1- Seed heaters are awesome!
2- Jiffy soil is terrible. We bought a bag of “Organic Seed Starting Jiffy-Mix” and I hate it! My 12 x 24 seed starter may be utterly wasted because I can’t get the water to go into the soil. Why does it repel water? I have no idea, but I am extremely frustrated with it.
3- The fluorescent lights are really great, but I still need more.

Sprouted so far:
22 Jalapeno Peppers
7 Banana Peppers
2 Poblano Peppers
36 Roma Tomatoes
4 Brandywine Tomatoes
3 Big Boy Tomatoes
3 Cherokee Purple Tomatoes