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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

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!

And so it begins

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We bought some giant pots this year, so we felt comfortable planting a few things a little early. So far we’ve planted 8 pots:

2 x Eggplant
2 x Jalapeno
2 x Habanero
2 x Poblano

Hopefully the pots are big enough that the roots won’t run out of room to grow before we have a chance to plant them in the spring.

I’m still hoping we can find some Cayenne Pepper seeds. I’m surprised we haven’t seen any. Also we still need seeds for dry beans (black beans, pinto beans, etc.) and the fat eggplants. We may need to special-order some of those.

Giant Pots

Not Messing Around

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We’re not messing around this year. I got so upset with the tiny seed starting sets we had last year that I refused to buy them this year. In fact, I super-sized just about everything. I’m hoping it gives the starts enough room to grow roots unencumbered this year. I guess we’ll soon find out.

The garden supplies are just starting to show up in the stores, but we’ve already been to IFA and Smith’s to see what we could find. This is what we have so far:

Beans:
Fava Bean (Broad Windsor Pole)
Lima Bean (Henderson Bush)
Soy Bean (Edamame)

Peppers:
Anaheim
Big Jim
California Wonder
Habanero
Jalapeno
Mini Belle Mix
Poblano
Serrano
Sweet Banana
Sweet Red

Pumpkins:
Connecticut Field
Dill’s Atlantic Giant

Root Vegetables:
Beet (Detroit Dark Red)
Carrot (Imperator)
Leek (Large American Flag)
Onion (Evergreen White Bunching)
Parsnip (Harris Model)
Radish (Champion)

Squash:
Buttercup
Butternut (Waltham)
Summer Crookneck
Vegetable Spaghetti
Zucchini (Elite Hybrid)

Tomatoes:
Brandywine Pink Tomato (Heirloom)
Early Girl Tomato (Hybrid)
Roma Tomato
Tomatillo

Other:
Cabbage (Red Acre)
Cantaloupe (Alaska Hybrid)
Egg Plant (Asian, Long Purple)
Lemon Cucumber
Lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson)
Strawberry (Alpine)

And if that’s not enough to convince you that we’re not messing around. It’s still February and I planted a few seeds today! Maybe that just means I’m crazy, or a little too excited for the upcoming season… or maybe I just have too much time on my hands. No matter which one it is, I think it’s going to be a great year.